From: hurvitz@oscar.UUCP (Dennis Hurvitz)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.misc
Subject: Re: why IFR = "real pilot"
Date: 27 Jan 93 18:30:28 GMT

In article <16611@auspex-gw.auspex.com>, tpickett@auspex.com (Tom Pickett) writes:

> Believe it or not, it is possible to use an airplane for transportation
> even without an IFR ticket!  I have for the past 15 years, having managed
> to fly to Canada, the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Oshkosh,
> and Indiana twice.  I did all that without an IFR license and with a

7 cross countries in 15 years without the ifr ticket ? i believe that. i
don't think you were lucky, in fact i agree with your point. in the
southwest and west, it's generally vfr. i'll wager the majority of the
flying you conducted during those extended cross country trips were
during the day. daytime cross countries are much more fun. it is the
essence of flying, i should think. you can see more. 

i wouldn't want to fly ifr to some of those places. the grand canyon
is one of them. there is no casual ifr up there. it's either monster
cb's, ice in the precip, or severe clear, with the later dominant.

so perhaps it boils down to whether you might fly cross country at
night, or in/out of large tca's. when i take pleasure flights greater
than 100 miles, i like to file ifr so i don't have to fret over how this
tca works, or how that tca works, or this altitude to get in that way.
who cares. when you go ifr, in the system, you're a team player and the
faa isn't breathing down your neck when you enter the tca. tca ? what
tca ? all that bullshit goes right out the window. in fact, approach
takes you by the hand, and places you nicely on the ils. mebbe it's me,
but i think tca's are a big pain in the keester. oh i know some of you
vfr guys are real tca warriors and all that, but i don't have the
patience for it, so if i can simply file ifr, that tca between this
altitude and that altitude stuff goes away. i'd rather plan the descent
and leaning technique.
the faa prefers ifr traffic anyway. face it.  oh, and let's talk about
filing a flight plan. i don't remember the last time i filed a vfr
flight plan.
lookit, g-d forbid i lose a cylinder out in the middle of nowhere, and i
cannot maintain altitude (goin in), center is gonna know within about 5
seconds. they can act on this. this activation is critical, for those
unfortunate enough to be injured during a forced landing will according
to statistics, need help within the first 4 hours or so, or all is lost.

with the vfr flight plan, the unfortunate soul could expire by
the time cap is called. the ifr guy has initiated help before the forced
landing even occurs.
'course the aerobatic guys won't need help because they'll split S to
a perfect landing.


> If you want to "play with the big boys," go right ahead, but for Pete's
> sake don't refer to the rest of us as lesser pilots than you because you
> happen to have spent the money to get an IFR license.  We fly too.

> Tom Pickett 
> tpickett@auspex.com or 74616.2237@compuserve.com
> SHO  GOZE

tom, no one said youse guys don't fly, aren't pilots, etc. my tangent
is against the rationalization, the denial by too many vfr pilots that
they are as complete. i strongly maintain you gotta get the rating.
the money thing is a problem i admit it. it took me a long time to get my
ticket. i spread it out over too long, but i did it. you gotta do it. you
know that when you've completed it, you will understand why. after
you've used it, you'll wonder why you put it off.

dennis hurvitz

Newsgroups: rec.aviation.misc,rec.aviation.owning