Flight Time–Instrument Proficiency

As part of my goal to get a job in aviation, I’ve been busy checking all the boxes that I see on applications for pilot jobs. Over the past year and a half, I have received a first, then later a second class medical, I have added over 200 hours of flight time to my logbook, I have acquired an Aircraft Single Engine Seaplane rating, I have a restricted radio license, and I started building night flight time. One key thing was still missing – instrument currency and flight time. To remedy this, I recently signed up for an IPC (Instrument Proficiency Check) at Melbourne Flight Training. I told them going in that my last IPC was in 2009, so it would take longer than usual to acquire. A lot has changed since back then, especially in the areas of GPS routing and approaches.

March 2

On March 2, I went to the flight school for a two hour ground session followed by a two hour flight. The ground session started off as one would expect. We covered many subjects like weather and physiology. It became apparent that we wouldn’t wrap up on time, so we cancelled the flight and continued the ground discussion.

March 3

The next morning, I went to the flight school and I flew basic maneuvers while wearing my view limiting glasses. It was different flying a Cessna 172 again, but not too different. I flew a Cessna 172 on floats in November to get my seaplane rating. Today’s Cessna had two Garmin G5s and a Garmin touchscreen GPS, so it was fully IFR-capable.

March 4

During this flight, I got a different Cessna 172. It was basically all analog and had a much older Garmin GPS. I flew a GPS waypoint hold and a DME arc around a VOR.

March 6

In yet another Cessna 172, I flew a localizer back course, an RNAV with vertical guidance approach, and an RNAV with side-step approach.

March 9

For the final flight, in yet another Cessna 172, I flew a non-precision RNAV approach into Sebastian and an ILS approach into Melbourne.

Up until the final flight, my instructor handled nearly all of the inputs to the GPS and some of the radio calls. For the final flight, I wanted to be responsible for everything. Although mostly unfamiliar with the modern GPS, I was able to figure out what I needed with minimal input from my instructor. I flew slower than best speed to give myself more time to set things up, and I listened closely to ATC to avoid missing any radio calls. I also kept an eye on the heading and altitude to make sure I was still flying the plane as directed by ATC. Overall, I was pleased with how the flight went.

Back on the ground, we debriefed the flight. My instructor was satisfied with my ability to aviate, navigate, and communicate, so he endorsed my logbook with an Instrument Proficiency Check sticker.

Flight Time: 4.9 hours
Total Time: 697 hours