I've been steadily plugging away at my Instrument rating the past few weeks at a Part 141 school in a 172SP with steam gauges and a 430. Yesterday we had some weather in the area so we filed and went flying. I'll tell you what that first time the cockpit goes dark as you enter the soup is pretty exciting!! We weren't in it very long but it was solid with zero reference to the outside. Anyways I know it's nothing for a lot of you but for a guy that has 90% of his flying in a snowmobile engine powered piece of lawn furniture that doesn't even have an attitude source, it was a pretty big achievement.

Good for you! It is different and it's that much more experience under your belt. Been there and seen that kind of a thing.

Way to go man!

Hand flying in actual IFR can be really tiring because of the level of concentration required but it is also immensely satisfying and confidence building. Congratulations on getting your first real taste of this kind of flying.

Army aviators are required to train IFR in IMC as much as practicable and all annual instrument check rides are IMC when possible. It really helps keep you involved, however, we had two pilots. Train IMC as much as practicable and take a second pilot as much as possible when you have the rating. He doesn't have to be rated.

It's a rush for sure. I didn't finish my instrument rating but I did get a lesson once in actual IMC, and it was awesome. Good luck, man!

Congrats! It is satisfying and gives you a new appreciation for those gauges. You will enjoy holding an IR. I've enjoyed mine. A friend of mine without a rating flew into a low layer of clouds and came out of it in an inverted spin. Safety is the reason to get the rating.

Thanks everyone! Logged almost a full hour in the weather today and got in 4 approaches at 4 different fields. Made some changes in my scan and it helped a lot. It's amazing how much different your flying gets going from foggles to the real deal.

Hand flying in actual IFR can be really tiring because of the level of concentration required

...but after you've done it for awhile, it's no harder than flying VFR. The last real long IFR ride I had was a couple of years ago on the way to OSH--in 8 flight hours, I spent about 6 1/2 in IMC, shot an approach to GRI and to DBQ, and was set for an approach into OSH because it was marginal and I had a reservation, but was able to do a visual. All that was hand-flown, because I don't have an autopilot.

The improvement in your discipline and precision are the greatest benefits of the IR training in addition to adding safety. It also means being able to complete flights you might have had to scrub, but it also means you have to work harder at judging whether it's safe to go, since our size airplanes aren't nearly as weather capable as the big boys are.

A couple of books to consdier buying: Richard Taylor's Instrument Flying, and Bob Buck's Weather Flying. None better.

Cary

Wait until fog season and you blast out of the top of the fog into bright sunshine. That is pretty cool.
I know you have heard it before but watch for the optical illusion when shooting a minimums approach, you really do look like you are high. More than one CFII has had to take the controls on short final to an 8000 ft. runway because the student was diving for the approach lights.