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Description
Steve's IPC request was reasonable, only he didn't understand how unreasonable an instructor I can be. He'd let his IFR currency expire again, and was in his usual rush for redemption. "Bless me, Instructor, for I have lapsed. It has been 12 months since my last ILS to mins. How's 'bout a quick (wink-wink) logbook entry in, say, an hour? I pay cash."
I agreed to meet him but on my turf--literally a grass runway--and on my terms. "Excellent," he exclaimed. "I'll get 'em to pull out the Mooney." By the sound of the car horns in the background, I gathered he'd simultaneously tried to end the call and reverse course on the freeway. I briefly wondered if it'd be unethical to present his widow with an invoice for the IPC at the funeral.
Not the Old 61.57
Instrument Proficiency Checks (IPC), like VFR flight reviews, are aviation's Kabuki theater. Mixed cultural metaphors aside, they're stylized pieces wherein instructor and client go through the motions of realigning the administrative stars to restart the currency timer.
Useful, perhaps, but often more ritual than education and frequently dull. What's often lost in instrument experience is... |
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On the air., August 01, 2007
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