I thought it was interesting when my instructor said how some students like to take a break after getting the PPL. I would most likely continue with part 61. So is it usual for people to take a break and do some cross countries prior to initiating with the IR? If so, how long of a break is considered the norm and how many of the 50 hours of cross countries do you usually have down before you jump into the training again? 2 weeks sounds like an okay break, but more than a month just seems not necessary at all. Thoughts?

Guess it would depend on what you did during that break. If you keep flying and go out and use that PPL to cement the things that you have learned then some experience before delving back into training can't be a bad thing. On the other hand - if by taking a break you mean not doing any flying for an extended amount of time then I would think that you would start to lose those so recently amassed skills and you don't want to have to relearn some of the basics during your instrument training.

USMCFLYR

I like part 61 and the cross country requirement. There is a certain amout of seasoning, experience building, and confidence building that the cross country flying gives you. I wouldn't worry about how the long the break is. If you can afford to keep flying, then just keep at it. You could do it all in a month, or do one flight a month and have it take longer. Remember, you have your PPL, so you can make these fun flights. Go somewhere cool. $100 hamburger stuff.

I don't think you can say there is a norm. Some people have a life and need to catch up after getting the PVT. Some folks are out of money. What are you getting the training for? You can't get the COMM till 250 and if you got the PVT at 70 hours and puttered around for 100 hours before you started INST training, what's the difference - unless you crash "CONTINUED IMC." Just saying do what works for you, there's no one way of doing it.

Bud, flying VFR cross countries using your GPS to get a hamburger is going to get you little to no real experience. Don't get me wrong, I am a proponent that hours are a great way to gauge experience, but VFR x-countries are not high up on the list of "quality time", IMO.

I know that you prefer the 61 experience, but any FBO with a "141" certificate is pretty much the same thing. Yeah, you'll kinda follow a syllabus, but really, if you get a good instructor, why would you spend the extra 50 ish hours of money and time to get your COMM? Honestly, I think that doing the COMM 61 is a dumb route. How much "quality" time are you getting acting as safety pilot or running to get a hamburger? Now how much MONEY are you spending to build that time? To me, its not a wise use of $$$$.

So, that long explanation was just to say...if you've got the money to continue on with your IR, do it. There's no reason to take a break. Plus if you really really wanna go the 61 route for the IR and COMM, build your time after your IR. At least then you'll be able to get some actual out of your $$$$ (if you're smart and bring an instructor along for safety).

take a break for what? why waste time unless you have a great excuse? It all depends on your agenda. get your ir so you will have no limitations when doing your x-country flights...

You bring up a very interesting point that ran across me, but I never questioned it. It has to do with the quality time that you mentioned... I wondered how experiencing different airports would enable me to gain a good amount of experience during those 50 hours. I guess it would not make a difference if I used the GPS or VOR, pilotage, dead reckoning, or all of the above. What is, in your opinion qualifies as quality time? I am looking forward to taking some passengers to $100 hamburgers and to experience nice airports.

As far as the training goes, I don't have much of a choice. This is the only FBO (within driving distance) for me and it happens to be a part 61 school only. The other part 141 school that was close to me ran out of business...So I am really leaning towards staying here...

Well, if you don't have the choice, you don't have the choice. Don't get me wrong, there is experience to be gained by dealing with the pressures and time constraints of passengers. You just invited your Aunt and Uncle out for a $100 hamburger and they are only in town for this weekend and moving to Russia. The weather goes below your personal mins. What are you going to do? Its not an easy answer when they are standing right in front of you and the airplane is preflighted.

If you are going to do it 61, the quality of time issue is really taken away. If you gotta do the time, you gotta do the time. All my point was that for the money you'd be spending on the extra 50 hrs, you're not going to get that much experience.

There is something to be said for going to different airports, but once you get used to it, you dont need experience at every airport to learn how to get into every airport. Now, I did not instruct 61, so you'll have to review the regs with your instructor, but this is what I would lean toward. If it's possible, get some time x-country time done before or interspersed in with your IR to solidify your pvt skills. Then save some time after the IR to get some good soup time in. An employer may or may not care about this difference, but I just think you will be a more well rounded pilot if you dont use all that time for VFR x countries.

I also can't stress this enough...even though your instructor will also: do not get your IR and then go up in the soup alone. The IR, more than any other rating/cert, does NOT qualify you to go exercise your privileges.

For those who are aspiring commercial pilots, I tend to advocate taking the break and doing some GA XC flying (assuming you have a day job). It's fun and you will gain some useful PIC experience. I would use all forms of navigation except maybe save the GPS until you really need it. If you get comfortable using VOR navigation single-pilot, that will help with the IR.

I would agree with 250 that if you can REALISTICALLY get a lot of actual IMC while building XC time, it might be better to do the IR now (part 141) and then try to do some of the time building in IMC. The problem is that there are few places where you can regularly cruise around on an IFR flight plan and stay in actual the whole time. You basically need a nice consistent, benign stratus layer over the entire area, without CB, ice, turbulence, etc. Also many schools will not allow a commercial time builder to solo in IMC.

Also you can decide how much you really like flying...if it's gets boring after a few XC's then the airline path may not be for you. I know too many regional pilots who don't like the actual job, but they feel stuck because they spent all the money and everybody back home in Podunk Falls thinks they're a big airline hero.

Experiencing all of the above mentioned things. Getting out and flying OUTSIDE of the training environment is good experience - period. The comments about getting that experience after your Instrument rating is solid too. Experiencing true IMC and accomplishing the flights safely is a great way to build confidence and experience. Fly out of different airports, go to places or shoot approaches at different airports than you train at, talk to different controllers that don't know that you're a student pilot (or newly minted Private pilot) and work in with other aircraft that you might not see on a regular basis. All of that flying adds experience to your tool bag. I mentioned it to my boss the other day when we were flying into Fresno. I made a comment that our students get really good at flying to/from the working areas; but that I think they should experience actually fly to and seeing one of our two major divert fields. With the visibility in the central valley during certain times of the year - even having an idea of where the airport is located is a step in the right direction IMO.

USMCFLYR