Instrument Ride....
 

DONE and PASSED! Woot woot....

Definitely my FAVORITE checkride so far - if you can call checkrides favorites!

Congrats! Definitely a great feeling...

...now dont forget to stay current!

passed mine back in may and havent touched ifr since...and by now it intimidates me a little

You now have the rating that can most easily kill you. All of a sudden that black and white choice of going or not going became a lot more grey.

Fly safe, and enjoy it! If you haven't done it yet, go shoot some approaches in actual (with an instructor). It's different than being under the hood.

Congrats!! As Pilotpip said, be safe because an IA does not mean you can fly in any weather. That being said, enjoy the rating!

Isn't that the truth. I fear being instrument-rusty quite a bit, and for good reason. I stay current by law but that is barely enough. I set up a desktop sim set up to shoot approaches which helps, but the best practice is launching off into the soup with another pilot and make some cross countries on some cloudy overcast days. This appeals on another dimension kind of like disappearing into the clouds and coming out in another town where the skies are overcast and mysterious.

Well said, so true. I'm not current now, but...my personal minimums go up and down in exact proportion to how much IMC I fly. Coming off a couple of 15-hr weeks with 75% in the clag and in the dark, I'd alternate my clearance copying with ham sammich eating. No autopilot, so left hand was always on the sidestick. After two months with nothing but VMC, I'd break into a cold sweat flying into a cute puffy cloud. I would launch on "nice IMC" days every chance I got just for practice, pick my altitudes to plow along under the tops, etc. Always loved disappearing into the clouds, and either staying in them or above them, never seeing the ground for 600 miles, breaking out on final. It's a sickness :D

I actually find flying real IMC easier than the hood..... its is a sickness...

My very first PIC real mission landing in the Herc was an ILS down to mins in Goose Bay Canada with the wind blowing 25kts right down the runway with blowing snow...... damn that was fun!!!

Thanks guys!

I've got some use out of the rating so far on my cross country's....up next in a couple is the multi-comm....

I'm having a hard time getting hours for my INST checkride. I need more hoodtime and safety pilots can be hard to find. I am very anxious to get that ticket so I can start doing more X-C for my COMM and not be held back by the clouds. The past week I have had 3 canceled X-C's due to low clouds. it's so frustrating. I WANT MY INST!!! lol I am at my school 3 times a week and it's still taking me forever to get this rating