Congrats, Joey! That's a big accomplishment.

And don't think you can't use it and still do a bit of back country stuff. I used both this past weekend, first trying to get to Marble on Friday and then coming back from there on Monday. Friday's aborted attempt was 1.7 hours (round trip from Greeley to Rollins Pass) with .5 of that actual IMC. Monday's return didn't have any actual, but as I approached Rollins Pass from the west, it looked like I would need a clearance, so I arranged it with Denver Center, to take effect once I was past the Pass and on their radar. Since I had the clearance, I used it although in good VMC, which allowed me to easily cross the Denver Bravo.

Try to stay current, and use it on cross countries, even if the weather is clear--lots easier. I'm not always "current", but most of the time I am. I can't seem to fly enough actual to stay current, and pilot friends have their own schedules so it's hard to find a safety pilot, so I do the IPC periodically. That's also good to have my CFII correct any bad habits which have crept in.

Cary

The instrument rating is the hardest one. But harder than getting the rating is getting good enough to work the system safely and then staying current and competent. I go in and out of "current and competent" status. I was pretty happy with myself (rightly so) when I got mine, but after I passed the ride my old IFR instructor said to me "You can't claim to be an IFR pilot until you go up in IMC solo..."

Set your personal minimums high. Get out in easy IMC when you can for short local stuff. Get and use at least a heading hold auto pilot for solo xcountry hard IMC. Don't do night IFR until you have a bit of experience in day IFR (it is amazing how much more statistically dangerous night IFR GA is than day IFR).

Congratulations

Congratulations, Joey. You should be very proud of yourself. That is quite an accomplishment.

An additional thought: don't entirely rely on an autopilot for your currency flights. Pilots don't react to autopilot anomalies nearly as quickly as they should, so stay good at hand-flying. When that's all you do, it's not that hard. I haven't had a really long hand-flying IFR day in a couple years, since my flight to OSH 2 years ago. But on that occasion, I had an 8 flight hour day, with just over 7 hours of actual IMC and 2 approaches. I don't have an autopilot, so it had to be all hand-flying. By the time I got to OSH, I wasn't any more fatigued than I usually am, when the entire flight is in good VMC the whole way.

Cary

I've found actually flying IFR and IMC is not that difficult once proficient. What I really enjoy is the challenge of fitting myself into the team concept of the system. Answering the controller's question before he asks, figuring out how I can accomplish my operation while economizing the radio and airspace, where can I be polite to others for the betterment of the "team".

I was on an IFR clearance into some airport in Florida a couple years ago. I descended below the overcast layer on an intermediate leg and was safely VMC. 10-15 miles out I heard a jet announce on CTAF that he was holding short awaiting his IFR clearance. I cancelled with center and heard him get him depart within about a minute. Felt good to know that I understood how my operations was affecting others and how I could safely accomplish what I was trying to do while contributing to the "community".

Although the difficulty of operating diminishes with time and proficiency, I find instrument flight to always have a new layer of challenge to engage me.

Good on you for getting your ticket. From a novice instrument blunderer, work to improve your understanding of the system on every flight.

Brett