Use it or lose it: the instrument rating is not an insurance policy

Use it or lose it: the instrument rating is not an insurance policy
Air Facts Journal

One of the saddest things in aviation is a pilot with an instrument rating who’s afraid to use it. They look at a 1500-foot overcast and realize their $15,000 investment has become nothing more than a souvenir. Maybe they used to fly in the soup all the time and simply fell out of the habit; more likely, they can recite the holding pattern entries from the textbook but have never seen the inside of a cloud. Either way, it’s a waste of money and a missed opportunity.

To be clear, I’m not criticizing these pilots for choosing not to fly IFR when they don’t feel up to it. As Paul Craig says in The Killing Zone , “flying in the clouds is the major leagues,” and ATC expects your single engine piston airplane to operate just like a Boeing with two ATPs up front. If you aren’t confident you can hit that standard, you shouldn’t fly.

But often the confidence fades much faster than the skills do, or it was never there in the first place. This is not a pilot certification problem, it’s a pilot experience problem. Fortunately, that means this is also a solvable problem. With a few good habits, regular GA pilots can build IFR confidence, stay proficient, and enjoy all the benefits of that hard-won rating.

Going beyond the ACS

It’s important to define the goal, because the Airman Certification Standards are not enough. To me, having a functional instrument rating means feeling confident enough to make a flight in IMC, probably of more than 150 miles, and maybe with family or friends on board—what many pilots would call “a mission.” It sounds simple, but it’s not, because (as with so much else in aviation) legal and safe are not the same thing. You can pass the checkride and even check the box on currency, but still have no idea how to actually use an instrument rating. That’s especially true if you stay current by shooting six approaches in six months, all under the hood and all in good weather. Sure that counts for FAR purposes, but flying in actual IMC is a totally different sensation.

I believe pilots in this “legal but not proficient” status are actually more at risk than a proficient VFR pilot, because they are more likely to attempt a flight they can’t handle, like blasting off into a 300-foot overcast because it’s a “must-do” trip. Pilots in the “neither legal nor proficient” are hardly better. Remember that one third of VFR-into-IMC accidents take place with an instrument rated pilot on board; my guess is most of those instrument pilots were neither current nor proficient. Quite simply, if you’re going to get an instrument rating, you owe it to yourself to keep it.

How to get started

If you earned your instrument rating at a flight school that never made you poke your airplane’s nose in a cloud (a shockingly common practice), step one is addressing that shortcoming. But ease into it—there is no extra credit for making your first trip into the clouds on a low IFR day with rain and gusty wind. Instead, start small and slowly expand your objectives for each flight with these three profiles.

• The two-pilot flight. For your first few flights in the clouds, take another IFR pilot along—not as an instructor, but as a safety pilot and a confidence booster. If you start to feel overwhelmed, pass the controls to your right seater or at least ask them to check your flying. You may never need them, but simply having another pilot can put your mind at ease and help you overcome your fears.
• The VFR-on-top flight. When you’re ready to fly solo, don’t start with a low approach, or any approach at all. File IFR on a clear day to get used to the system, then on a day with a thin layer to get used to climbing through a cloud deck to find the sun on top, then on a day with high ceilings but with most of the cruise portion in the clouds. This slowly builds confidence in your instrument scan but removes the stress of an instrument approach.
• The approach-only flight. To hone your approach skills, go up on a day when you can fly an approach in IMC, but not all the way to minimums. The ideal day for this is one where the weather is VFR at your home airport, but you can fly somewhere within 50-75 miles to shoot some actual approaches, maybe with an 800-foot ceiling. This gives you a bail-out option of returning home if you need it.

Stacking these three flights will grow your IFR confidence, but in a building block way. Once you know you can keep the wings level in the clouds and you can shoot an approach in the clouds, it’s time to put it all together and go fly a trip.

How to stay proficient

If you’ve earned the rating and learned how to fly in the clouds, the next step—and the one that most pilots struggle with more than anything—is keeping your instrument skills sharp. There is absolutely no shortcut here, and the “secret,” if you even want to call it that, is simply to fly more often . Recency of experience is the key metric to track and it’s measured in days, so forget about six-month IPCs or 24-month flight reviews. In fact, I’m going to suggest a much more rigorous standard, along with some other habits that can keep you sharp.

• Every 30 days. A good stretch goal is to never go more than 30 days without “touching the system,” even if it’s just a practice approach in VFR conditions. If that sounds impossible, get creative: maybe you can’t fly in the system that often, but you can ride along with another pilot who does, listening to the ATC chatter and watching the needles move. This second-hand exposure can be remarkably helpful, whether you can log it or not. I know how hard this 30-day rule is—due to terrible winter weather and illness, I recently went 45 days without an IFR flight. That’s not a long time, but the subtle erosion of my instrument scan was noticeable on my first flight back (fortunately, with a co-pilot and in VFR conditions). We simply have to face reality, and going 90 days between IFR flights is too long. Physics and Mother Nature just don’t care about our busy schedules.
• Master your avionics. Proficient instrument flying requires a variety of skills, from basic instrument scan to ATC procedures to weather. Most of these require time in the left seat with the Hobbs running, but not avionics proficiency. A variety of tools, from simulator apps to online courses to illustrated manuals , make it easier than ever to know your panel cold. If you have the “buttonology” figured out before you ever step into the airplane, you’ll spend less time head-down and more time practicing the application of all those button pushes. Autopilots deserve particular attention, because they can be a huge safety enhancement for single-pilot IFR but they can also become a liability in the hands of an untrained pilot.
• Use home simulators. These are simultaneously overrated by some boosters and underrated by most curmudgeons, but any objective pilot has to admit that a decent home sim absolutely has a role to play in maintaining instrument proficiency. Besides, this isn’t an either/or situation: just like a patient with high cholesterol will probably be told to change their diet and take statins, a pilot trying to improve their IFR skills should fly sims and real airplanes. The latest version of X-Plane or Microsoft Flight Simulator still aren’t very good for for crosswind landing practice or upset prevention training, but they are excellent for practicing cockpit flows, instrument scan, and IFR procedures. Even better, add simulated ATC (from services like PilotEdge or VATSIM) to make your sim flights even more realistic. If you don’t have a home simulator, most flight schools have one and they are usually quite affordable.
• Keep your head in the game. While nothing can replace time in IMC with your eyes scanning the panel, there is value in keeping your instrument decision-making skills engaged when you can’t fly. As a young pilot I religiously read IFR Magazine for just this reason, and while that magazine has faded away, there are plenty of new options that are either free or very inexpensive. I’m also a huge fan of the IFR Mastery series from PilotWorkshops, which delivers a new instrument scenario every month that really makes you think about weather, risk management, and airplane performance. If nothing else, try to read an aviation weather forecast every week and exercise your go/no-go muscles.

Again, these habits work in a building block manner. If you are constantly practicing decision making, communications, avionics, and instrument scan—even if each one is done at a different time—it prevents rust and makes your limited time in the airplane more efficient.

The benefits of IFR proficiency

After a to-do list like that, it’s natural to wonder whether an instrument rating is really worth it. My answer is an unqualified yes . While it may sound counterintuitive, flying IFR is actually a stress reducer, not a producer. Filing IFR on a VFR day makes the flight easier: ATC is watching over you, routes are well defined, there is no temptation to scud run, and you have far more flexibility to manage changing weather. If it’s an IFR day, the benefits are even more obvious.

That doesn’t mean an instrument rating eliminates weather cancellations, but even then it still helps. A pilot who is comfortable in the system is better at saying no to a flight, because they understand exactly what the weather is asking of them. That matters, because saying no is the single most powerful safety tool we have in general aviation.

So many pilots treat their instrument rating as an “insurance policy” they hope never to use. I think that’s backwards. It should be a passport to personal adventure and unique travel experiences, a tool that keeps your mind sharp and your airplane active. Besides, an instrument rating that is never used is not much of an insurance policy—it won’t be ready when you need it if you haven’t been paying your dues.

If you earned the rating but don’t know what to do with it, don’t overthink it. Grab another pilot, file IFR, and go find some gray.

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