An instrument rating frequently advances pilot skills, safety, and flight options. For most pilots, those benefits make the challenge of attaining the rating worth the effort. When a pilot has the means to do so, training for instrument flight affords new experiences that broaden horizons even when visibility is limited. We’ve spoken with many pilots who offered insights, advice, and stories of how getting an IFR rating has rewarded them, and we’ll hear from a few more now.
Key Takeaways
- Instrument training can strengthen safety, planning, anticipation, and overall piloting skills.
- An instrument rating can make meaningful trips and international flying more practical.
- Flying under instrument flight rules can provide greater flexibility when conditions are not suitable for visual flight rules.
- Pilots describe the rating as a path to safer, more capable, and more rewarding flying.
How Can an Instrument Rating Make You a Better Pilot?
Safety and piloting skills have been a recurring theme among pilots we’ve talked to. For some, safety is even the primary reason to get an instrument rating.
When asked what prompted him to get an instrument rating, Ty Stender, a pilot and CFI based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said “It wasn’t a particular trip. The main thing was safety, so that if I did get myself in a situation, I would know how to get out of it.”
Leslie Frese, DMD, is a private pilot who flies out of Birmingham, Alabama. She got her instrument rating as a refresher after taking a break from flying to complete her education. Frese said “I believed that if I was going to fly, I needed to do further training. It’s not just about clouds either, it’s about the flight rules that go with it.”
For Frese, acquiring an instrument rating was critical to flying safely in her area and completing the kinds of flights she wanted to make.
Lee Giat, private pilot and president of Flying Ostrich Media, spoke about the resilience that comes from getting an instrument rating, “The instrument rating makes you a lot more resilient . . . you come to a level of experience where you can now not only stay on top of the airplane, but plan and understand and anticipate what’s going to happen next. It absolutely makes you a safer pilot.”
What Can an Instrument Rating Let You Do?
For many pilots, like Jim Kahle, having an instrument rating lets them see new sights and travel to dream destinations. An instrument rating can also be a ticket to deeply meaningful missions and the rewards of serving others.
For Lee Giat, his instrument rating allowed him to make and film an expedition through the Caribbean and South America. Giat’s mission brought science and educational supplies to underserved teachers and students in the communities he visited.
When asked how often he needed to use his instrument training on that journey, Giat said, “Every single flight. I think when you’re flying internationally, an instrument flight plan is the easiest way to stay out of trouble.”
For Giat, his instrument flight plan became a universal language that kept both his origin and destination fully informed about where he was and what his intentions were. Without the instrument rating, Giat said he had no doubt that he would have been unable to complete that trip.
Where Can an Instrument Rating Take You?
An instrument rating can take you to see people, places, and things near or far with more flexibility than being restricted to visual flight rules only.
Leslie Frese said her instrument rating has allowed her to take on fun challenges that would be far more difficult without the rating, “I’m doing this 100-mile challenge where I fly to every airport within 100 miles.”
Clouds aren’t uncommon in her area, and having her instrument rating gives her the confidence to know she’ll be able to go out and back safely under normal conditions.
Frese also credited her instrument rating with allowing her to complete trips to the Cayman Islands flying over Cuba, and along the southern border all the way to California. One of Frese’s most fun experiences using her instrument rating was flying into the busy airspace of the Washington, D.C., area. She said “The radio work was fast, everything was really fast. There was a lot to do . . . but the instrument rating allowed me to navigate it, and that was a lot of fun.”
What Are the Next Steps Toward an Instrument Rating?
You should be well equipped to start or complete the journey to an instrument rating.
We’ve heard many reasons to pursue a rating, what to consider when preparing to train and study, and advice on how to be successful while training and preparing for your checkride.
With the insights and perspectives of so many pilot contributors, the benefits of building the skills and knowledge to fly by instruments are clear. An instrument rating will give you another tool to support safe, fun, and rewarding flying for as long as you continue to fly.
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