Pilot Life: Instrument Rated!

As of today, after a little under two years after earning my Private Pilot Certificate and a little over a year of additional training and time-building, I have passed my checkride and received my Instrument Rating! This was a long-time coming considering the setbacks I've experienced, particularly throughout this year. But I'm glad I finally got over this hurdle and I'm ready to embark on the next phase. As for the checkride itself, I did it with a different examiner from the one I started with (mainly due to him being booked solid until October now!). I actually got through and passed the oral portion last week on Monday, but had to discontinue due to weather (mainly thunderstorms) in the general area that prevented us from flying in the first place! Regardless, I was so thrilled and relieved to have actually passed the oral last week after my utter failure back in March! The discontinuance from last week put me at the mercy of my examiner's schedule (who is a corporate pilot), but I found out yesterday that she would return early from a trip she had been assigned, so it was a scramble to get ready for today!

N98241, the Piper Cherokee that eventually saw me through to the end of Instrument flight training!

Due to a low cloud ceiling in Salem, my instructor and I flew up together from Albany. He gave me the option to fly under his instruction or watch him do an approach and kind of relax a little bit prior to the checkride; I took the relaxed approach! But I also acted as his crew member on the quick flight up. My instructor shot the RNAV 13 approach into Salem and we landed there uneventfully. My instructor planned on having another one of his students pick him up in Salem and go do a flight lesson and I briefly met with my examiner to brief the plan of attack. I filed two IFR flight plans for us, but we ended up waiting an extra hour in order to let the weather clear up, which was fine, because I was able to use the time to go over the approaches we planned on doing and get myself into a relaxed state. The weather did improve as forecasted so it was time to finish this checkride and put behind me another challenging chapter of my flying career so far!

After doing a pre-flight walk-around together, we hopped in and got the plane started. I got our IFR clearance to Corvallis and taxied out to Runway 13. After run-ups, we eventually got our IFR release from Seattle Center via Salem Tower and got cleared for takeoff. On departure, I flew us on the Salem Four Departure and got in contact with Seattle Center (I also went under the hood, as instructed by the examiner); from there we got radar services and then handed off to Cascade Approach. I requested the ILS 17 to a missed, which was granted. I briefed the approach plate and shot the approach to the best of my abilities; my examiner (who is a cool person!) was taking notes and giving me quick pointers as needed, otherwise I was in control of the plane. After going missed, plans changed. We wanted to do some holds over the Corvallis VOR and then do the VOR-A approach into Corvallis with a Circle to Land procedure, but it was a nice VFR afternoon and there was a lot of VFR traffic in the area along with bigger and faster IFR traffic in the area, meaning Cascade Approach couldn't approve some of our requests.

My examiner on the other hand, was totally on her A-game and came up with a Plan B for the checkride, and I was surprisingly cool with it; I was actually surprised at myself for how I handled what was turning into (the way my examiner describes it!) the checkride from hell! We did manage to get one holding lap over the Corvallis VOR before Cascade Approach advised us to get away from the airport. We then cancelled the IFR plan (we didn't even activate the second flight plan I had on file for the return to Salem!) we were on and went VFR to do some maneuvers, mainly recovery from unusual attitudes partial panel; needless to say, I had no problems doing them! After that, my examiner tried to get us another approach in, preferably a VOR one. After being unable to get a proper approach clearance request, she decided to wing it and had me do an abbreviated approach by way of the VOR-A approach into Albany with a circle to land procedure; I was NOT expecting to do this approach at at all! Once again, I briefed the approach plate. Because we couldn't start this approach from the Corvallis VOR as normal, my examiner had called out heading vectors to fly to get established and I then utilized DME to judge my distance to properly establish my location relative to the VOR and the airport.

Eventually, my examiner had me take off my foggles and I headed into Albany visually. I had to make a circling approach, which I executed for Runway 34. After getting on a stabilized final approach for the runway, my examiner called for a go-around and we departed out of Albany straight-out; I wondered if the Infinite Air Center guys wondered what we were doing if or when they saw us! I turned us out towards the east and my examiner had me go back under the hood; all we needed to do was an RNAV approach and the checkride can end! My examiner took a moment to tell me I was doing well in spite of all the original plans not happening. I confided to her that it was okay and I was strangely, having the time of my life on this checkride! I think all the extra time I spent brushing up on my knowledge and skills preparing for this day so far was paying off...

My examiner tried several times to contact Seattle Center (since we were now north of Albany) to request the "practice" RNAV 31 approach in Salem. Eventually, the request was granted with a new squawk code for the transponder, and of course a clearance for a "practice" approach into Salem. We say it's a "practice" approach, but it was still totally legit as far as the checkride was concerned! Once again, I briefed the approach. Needless to say, I executed the approach as I have done many times before and landed uneventfully back into Salem and the checkride was over after taxiing back to the Salem Air Center ramp and shutting down. I passed!!!

Following a post-flight debrief in my examiner's office going over what was accomplished, what little improvements I can make, and considerations for the future now that I'm Instrument rated, I received my new temporary airman certificate and my examiner cut me loose. Special thanks to Lisa Dahl for being an incredible examiner despite administering the checkride from hell (by no fault of our own!) when working around ATC went wild!

With certificate in hand, I returned to the airplane, where I did my pre-flight, hopped in, got the engine started, and picked up my taxi clearance for departure with Salem Ground. This was actually my first time flying solo in this Cherokee! Following a quick run-up at the Runway 34 run-up pad (and reporting some foreign object debris I spotted in the run-up area to the ground controller!), I departed Salem via Runway 34. Following a left-downwind departure heading south, I exited the Class Delta airspace towards Albany. I positioned myself for a 45-entry for the left-downwind of Runway 34 at Albany. After extending to allow what looked like a hot air balloon pass the short-approach end of the runway, I made my landing. After taxiing off the runway and to the ramp, I parked the Piper Cherokee the flight school affectionately refer to as "Jane" and shut the engine down, one last time in this airplane...

After hopping out, I was greeted by my flight instructor, Devin, and the operations manager of Infinite Air Center, Tony.

With my instructor, Devin Burroughs after getting back to Albany!
(Photo credit: Tony Hann.)

After receiving words of congratulations and a few pictures for Infinite Air Center's social media, I finished up with my post-flight checks and buttoned down the airplane before heading home following what turned out to be a long day!

Now that I have my Instrument ticket, I want to extend my gratitude to quite a few people who all played a role in helping me get to this point in receiving my hard-earned Instrument rating:

First, I want to thank my current CFI-I, Devin Burroughs for helping me finish up Instrument flight training and for all those flights we did together in both the 172 and Cherokee.

I am also grateful for operations manager of Infinite Air Center, Tony Hann, who was just as invested in seeing me complete the Instrument portion of my flight training and for his overall support.

I'm also grateful for my uncle Alan, who helped kick-start a huge chunk of the flying I needed to do as far as requirements for the Instrument rating was concerned by offering me the opportunity to use his Cessna 172 to practice flying countless approaches in and to build the flight time I needed. He was also my go-to safety pilot many of those times!

I also want to thank my first CFI-I back from my days in Spanish Fork, Utah, Harold Rice, who got me started with my Instrument training and showing me some of the basics, in a DA-20 Katana of all planes!

And I can't forget to thank my second CFI-I (my first here in Oregon!), Craig Ulrich, who helped me pick up Instrument training where I left off after I moved back to Oregon, and not to mention the 250 nautical mile IFR cross-country flight we did in the dead of night!

And lastly, I want to thank my friends and family for the overall support and motivation to keep me going despite the setbacks and hiccups and when things were looking down at times.

With Instrument done, now it's a matter of staying current and proficient. Like my private, Instrument took a lot longer than I wanted it to... At least now I can finally focus on the single-engine commercial rating followed by the multi-engine add-on. Time to aim for the next target!