Episode 320 of the pilot the Pilot Podcast takes off now.
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Jason MillerMy name is Jason Miller.
Jason MillerI'm a career flight instructor.
Jason MillerI've been teaching flying since 2002.
HostAV Nation what is going on?
HostAnd welcome back to the Pilot the Pilot Podcast.
HostMy name is Justin Seams and I am your host.
HostToday's episode is a part of the series I'm doing with Jason Miller from Learn the Finer Points.
HostThis series highlights how to Become a Pilot we start how to become a Student pilot.
HostWe did private pilot and now we are doing instrument rating Pilot ifr.
HostIf you haven't listened to the other episodes or you want to start at the beginning, by all means click on those two.
HostFirst, if you're an IFR student, you are in IFR right now or about to start, then this is the one for you.
HostSo Jason and I, we just dive right in.
HostAs you're going to notice, we just start talking.
HostWe joke about how if there's ever a microphone around and Jason and I, we can record and have podcasts forever.
HostIt's just what we talk about and what you see is just our natural conversations.
HostAnd some would call us nerds, but.
GuestI guess we just love what we.
HostDo and love to share this information, but I hope you enjoy this podcast.
HostI think it's a beneficial one for becoming an IFR student.
HostSo check it out.
HostAlso check out the Ground School app.
HostI'll put a code below that you can use to save some money off that app.
HostSo check out in the description that code.
HostOr you can also head over to my website, Pilot the Pilot hq, scroll down to sponsors and partners and you can click on Jason's logo and it'll take you right to that webpage.
HostSo Avnation, I don't want to take your time much longer.
HostSo any further ado, here's how to become an IFR pilot with Jason Miller.
GuestYou never know when the emergency is going to come and there are stories of people on their solos losing engines or people on their first flight losing engines.
GuestIt's anytime you start that engine, engine, there's a chance that it could go out.
GuestIt's a lot of moving pieces in there, right?
Jason MillerYeah, a hundred percent.
GuestYeah.
Jason MillerAnd it's like anytime I can identify what I call the ostrich approach to like, to risk management, where it's just like, people just don't think about it.
Jason MillerYeah, they just don't think about it.
Jason MillerYou know, like an example might be, you could tell a pilot, hey, would you go fly six miles offshore here at a thousand feet in a single engine airplane on a beautiful VFR day?
Jason MillerAnd they'd be like, heck, no, I would never do that.
Jason MillerThat's crazy.
Jason MillerIf you lose your engine, you go in the water.
Jason MillerOkay.
Jason MillerThen two weeks later when the fog rolls in, they're flying the ILS into Monterey and they're five miles offshore at 1500ft.
Jason MillerJust not thinking about it.
Jason MillerIt's just the ostrich approach.
GuestYou're just on the ils, See the water.
Jason MillerYeah.
Jason MillerThat risk no longer exists.
GuestYeah.
GuestWe were invisible.
GuestI was doing aerial survey and this is one of the few planes that were IFR certified.
GuestAnd we're down in Galveston and one of the we're landing.
GuestI can't remember the Runway configuration, but we're landing either north, northeast, whatever it was where the ILS is over the water.
GuestAnd that thought crossed my mind.
GuestI was like, it was like marginal vfr.
GuestIt's like we could kind of get down, you know, it's like, how comfortable do I feel going that far out over the water?
GuestAnd Houston Tech or Galveston, Texas, or just anywhere?
GuestIt's like, you gotta think about that sometimes.
Jason MillerYeah, you do.
Jason MillerAnd to be fair, you know, my mentor Richard was the One who first sort of mentioned it to me.
Jason MillerAnd I think that's all we're really trying to do is get to get pilots to get their heads out of the sand and just consider these risks.
Jason MillerIf you want to accept them, that's fine.
Jason MillerBut I remember starting instrument training with Richard.
Jason MillerThis is back in 1998, I think something like that.
Jason MillerAnd don't date yourself.
Jason MillerI said to him, yeah, sorry.
Jason MillerAnd I said to him, hey, let's fly the ils, you know, whatever the Runway nine approach or whatever it was in the Monterey.
Jason MillerAnd he said, I'm not doing that.
Jason MillerAnd I was like.
Jason MillerAnd I literally didn't know.
Jason MillerI was like, why wouldn't you do that?
Jason MillerHe's like, do you see that?
Jason MillerHe's like, that's four and a half miles offshore and you're at 1300ft.
Jason MillerHe's like, would you do that VFR?
Jason MillerYou know, maybe if you're a Gulf Stream, fly that approach, but not for me and my 172, you know.
Jason MillerSo, I mean, we have to really consider, like, what risks we're taking on.
Jason MillerAnd I think, like, to your point, it's a bit of a finer art in the beginning.
Jason MillerYou're just overwhelmed.
GuestYeah.
Jason MillerAnd then as you get comfortable, I mean, here I am after two decades of experience, really starting to take some of the things that even we've been teaching more seriously.
GuestYeah.
GuestAnd I was thinking about Monterey.
GuestWith my previous job, I went to Monterey quite a bit, and I don't think I've ever landed on nine in Monterey.
GuestI think it's always been the other runways and there's been some.
GuestThe weather's beautiful there until it's not right, and then it's pretty bad.
GuestAnd we've had some storms where we can't get in and go around, and the rain just sits there.
GuestThe clouds get low.
GuestSo Monterey, man, I love the area.
GuestHaving overnights in Monterey is amazing, but it's.
Jason MillerYeah, it's beautiful.
Jason MillerBut there's terrain there, too.
Jason MillerThey've had a number of accidents.
Jason MillerPeople vectored into the mountain before.
Jason MillerRadar was really good.
GuestYeah.
GuestThank goodness for radar.
Jason MillerYeah.
Jason MillerRight.
Jason MillerAnd terrain features on your eye.
GuestYeah.
GuestBut.
GuestYeah, I know.
GuestRight?
GuestAnd Garmin Pilot.
GuestThank goodness.
GuestAnd Garmin Pilot.
Jason MillerRight.
GuestAmazing.
GuestYeah.
GuestSo we were.
GuestWe were previously talking about kind of our series that we're doing, and I figured we could just continue on.
GuestWe stopped Private Pilot.
GuestI figured we just go straight into instrument pilot, and that kind of kicks into releases with your app as well.
GuestSo we'll plug that I'll pro.
GuestI mean, I might just include everything we just talked about, because I feel like we just kind of hit the ground running and we'll just kind of segue into it.
GuestYeah.
GuestI mean, always recording, man.
GuestAlways recording.
GuestSo, yeah, if you're listening now, this is technically the beginning of the podcast, but you got an extra eight minutes of just what normally happens when Jason and I talk.
GuestIt's just always that, like, it's just always a podcast.
GuestWe could always record it and it could be something useful, right?
Jason MillerThat's right.
Jason MillerAnd we should.
Jason MillerMaybe we don't always, but we always should.
Guest24.
Guest7 Streaming podcast with Jason and Jess.
GuestSounds like a terrible idea.
GuestYeah, right.
GuestTruman Show.
GuestOh, that would not be ideal.
GuestBut anyways, let's do a quick intro about yourself and then we'll get started.
Jason MillerSure, sure.
Jason MillerYeah.
Jason MillerMy name is Jason Miller.
Jason MillerI'm a career flight instructor.
Jason MillerI've been teaching flying since 2002, primarily in the San Francisco Bay area.
Jason MillerI focus on technically advanced aircraft and instrument flying, really.
Jason MillerAlthough I teach a little bit of everything except multi and tail wheel.
Jason MillerI built a company called the Finer points.
Jason MillerSo in 2005, I launched the very first flight training podcast, which grew into a YouTube channel.
Jason MillerAs early as 2007, you said, don't date myself, but there you go, you're doing it.
Jason MillerIt's okay.
Jason MillerYeah, the YouTube channel has gone great and it's actually grown into what is my baby is a product called the Ground School app.
Jason MillerAnd the Ground School app is a repository for just about everything I know.
Jason MillerIt's got a private course, an instrument course, better takeoffs and landings course coming soon.
Jason MillerMastering IFR course coming soon.
Jason MillerAll of it for one price.
Jason MillerThe only catch is you need an Apple device.
Jason MillerIt's iOS only.
Jason MillerBut apart from that, you can access all of my knowledge through Ground School.
GuestAll.
GuestYou can access the brain.
GuestYou get the brain.
Jason MillerI'm online@ learnthefinerpoints.com.
GuestSorry, I'm trying to think of the movie where they.
GuestWhere they uploaded, like, consciousness into AI and it's like what you're doing for your app, it's just Jason's consciousness right there.
Jason MillerYeah.
Jason MillerIt's funny, we've actually looked at that.
Jason MillerWe've been talking to some AI people.
Jason MillerI don't want to derail this conversation, but it's hard to see exactly where that's going.
Jason MillerRight.
GuestYeah.
GuestI feel like every company is trying to implement AI in some way, so be interesting to see how it pans out in applications in aviation Whether we're talking about Garmin pilot or whatever you use, you know, there could be some help with AI with planning flights or doing other stuff, but legality of stuff, it's like, well, don't trust the computer.
GuestAll, you know, just there's a mess in there.
GuestRight.
GuestBut AI is definitely going to come and be a bigger part of what we do.
GuestSo something just to keep an eye on.
Jason MillerYeah, yeah, for sure it will.
Jason MillerAnd you know what's funny is though, like, I really find often what I end up saying to my team and I'm really blessed at this point to have a team of about 12 people helping build ground school.
Jason MillerUm, but I always tell them that I think nobody's really done the basics well.
Jason MillerSo like it's like whenever there's a lot of fancy new things, at least in flight training, like if someone tells me, oh, they can create an AI flight instructor, they can build this tool that does this thing and shows you the data and you're 6.7cm off your center line on every 1.4g landing.
Jason MillerAnd all this stuff is like, I think we can just go back to basics.
Jason MillerI don't believe that for the last 120 years we've really done a great job of teaching the basics.
Jason MillerAnd so a lot of the tools that we've built into the app are not really fancy per se, but they are just valuable in teaching the basics.
Jason MillerYou know, a quick example is we've built this tap target thing where we show video from the cockpit from the pilot's view and we ask people to touch the screen where they see things and when they see things and we can tell them where they should be looking.
Jason MillerYou know, these are very old.
Jason MillerThis is what Richard taught me.
Jason MillerThis is just old school stuff.
Jason MillerIt's not a fancy piece of data or anything.
Jason MillerIt's just a way to evaluate are we teaching you valuable things, are you learning them and can you apply them in the airplane?
Jason MillerThere's a lot of that in the app.
GuestYeah.
GuestAnd that's something that it's hard to teach.
GuestRight.
GuestIt's something that you gotta kind of pick up on your own.
GuestAnd when someone's sitting next to you just saying, all right, look there.
GuestAnd you're like, where, where's there?
GuestBut if you have like an actual guideline of like, all right, tap here, that's where you should look.
GuestThat's what the site picture should look like.
Jason MillerYeah, that.
Jason MillerAnd when I teach, I of course always fly with a heads up display.
GuestYeah, the Expo marker.
Jason MillerSo My students all have a heads up display.
Jason MillerWe just write on the window where you're supposed to look.
GuestOh, that's cool.
GuestNever.
Jason MillerYeah, with.
Jason MillerYeah, but with the technology in the app, you know, we can, then we can show them that and then ask them to prove it, you know.
GuestSo what else is going on with the app?
GuestRecently I know you're, you're more focused.
GuestYou had private pilot.
GuestNow you have instrument rating.
GuestHow's everything been going with that?
Jason MillerIt's been going great.
Jason MillerI think maybe I'm not the world's best businessman.
Jason MillerWe're leaving money on the table.
Jason MillerIt's all one price.
Jason MillerBut there's a reason for that and I'm excited about where we're headed with it.
Jason MillerSo the exciting part for users now is they get everything in the app.
Jason MillerThe private course, the instrument course.
Jason MillerAnd I think some of the challenges for us is to help experienced pilots understand that there's valuable content deep in there that they might not know about.
Jason MillerAnd so we're building this, like I said, mastering IFR course and mastering landings course.
Jason MillerAnd the nice thing about being one price is we can just add all this stuff to the app and it's just a more compelling reason why somebody should own it and engage with it.
GuestAnd what's crazy about it.
GuestI'm really, I'll keep going.
Jason MillerWell, I was just gonna say I'm really fortunate, like I said a minute ago, to be surrounded by such incredible people.
Jason MillerYou know, we're all committed to making what we believe is the best flight training product ever.
Jason MillerAnd that's like what we're focused on.
Jason MillerAnd it's inspiring.
Jason MillerYou know, a lot of the guys are just brilliant.
Jason MillerOne of them is a UPS pilot, one's a prime pilot.
Jason MillerThey're all active flight instructors, former military guys.
Jason MillerI just feel really lucky to be working with the guys I'm working with and girls and building what we're building.
GuestI love it.
GuestI really do.
GuestAnd I'm getting ready to start renting a bonanza at a local flying club.
GuestAnd I was just like some of the concepts of flying a small plane are so, so far removed from my brain.
GuestWith my training, with all my 121 AQP.
GuestI mean obviously they're still there, right?
GuestOnce I get into it, it's going to take like an hour or two and everything should come back.
GuestBut I was just playing through the ground school app as well and just like clicking buttons like, all right, let me try to remember tomato fl.
GuestTomato flames or let me try to remember like this, like just the basic stuff, just so I can kind of have an idea.
GuestBecause it's a total different world.
GuestYou, you as an airline pilot can find yourself in a lot of trouble.
GuestWe're not necessarily flying just regulation wise because when you go to the airplane, you know, you look for the maintenance book, you look for, you sign stuff.
GuestAnd there's a lot of people doing other jobs where when you're flying your small plane, it's pretty much you doing your job.
GuestIf you're running from a flying club, you got to make sure other people did their job too.
GuestSo a lot more to kind of take into consideration.
Jason MillerYeah, yeah.
Jason MillerAnd that's, you know, that's a, that's a good example of the kind of thing I'm talking about because I really believe in ritualization, you know, of the flying.
Jason MillerAnd I know in your professional life there's a lot of that.
Jason MillerYeah, right.
Jason MillerLike when you get into the, to the, when you go up on the flight deck and you are flying with a captain you've never met at what, at the airlines, both of you are sort of involved in executing a ritual that you have both rehearsed independently, but now you're doing it together.
Jason MillerIf you knew your part in a play and the captain knew their part in the play, even though you guys have never performed it together, you could theoretically jump on stage and just start executing the play.
Jason MillerThat's how the pros work.
Jason MillerAnd I'm a big believer in that at all levels, you know, even at the private level.
Jason MillerSo we teach it that way.
Jason MillerI teach it that way in a normal living three dimensional students and we teach it that way in our app.
Jason MillerBut I also think that's a huge bit of like a, of gold.
Jason MillerSo when people say to me like, oh, I don't need your app.
Jason MillerI already did my ground school, I already passed my written.
Jason MillerI'm like, well, wait a minute, you know, check it out, there's a free trial.
Jason MillerYou can go into the flight side, look for these little gold nuggets that maybe you haven't, maybe your instructor didn't teach you that way.
Jason MillerAnd to make it easier for people, that's the kind of stuff we're going to bring forward and just make like a mini course for anybody that has never seen a full set of single pilot SOPs, you know, and they're not, they're not mine.
Jason MillerI mean, I took these SOPs from professional single pilot operators over the years.
GuestYeah, absolutely.
Jason MillerThey're mine as much as they're anybody's.
GuestBut it's one place for everyone to kind of find it out, which is really cool.
GuestBut we are here today to one, talk about the app, obviously, because it's great, fantastic.
GuestAnd then like you said, it's your baby.
GuestBut number two, continue the series of no great.
GuestI love learning more about it.
GuestContinue the series of how to become a pilot.
GuestWe did student pilot, we did private pilot, instrument pilot, and who knows how long we'll go on for this.
GuestMaybe we'll do space rocket pilot.
GuestIf we can get someone qualified to talk about that in your mind, I'll start it off with this.
GuestWhat makes a good instrument student?
GuestWe talked about private students.
GuestWe talked about, before you become a private, all the work you need to do.
GuestBut when you get to instrument, it's a different language.
GuestEverything you learned is going to be so different than what you're about to do and so foreign.
GuestHow much pre work should someone do?
GuestLike should.
GuestShould someone complete a full course before they even go for their instrument flying?
GuestUm, learn on the fly.
GuestJust kind of talk about what I should do before I even start flying instrument.
Jason MillerYeah.
Jason MillerThat's interesting.
Jason MillerWell, I think because it's your second thing potentially, or at least you've done a certificate already, it makes more sense with the instruments to go through the written before you get started.
Jason MillerYou know, with the private.
Jason MillerIf it's.
Jason MillerIf you're brand new to flight training and you do it that way, it's.
Jason MillerYou're easily overwhelmed or you're going to read things that just don't make sense.
Jason MillerPappy.
Jason MillerYou read about Pappy three months ago, but then you're out there in the field and your instructor says, hey, there's a Pappy.
Jason MillerYou're like, what the heck was that thing I read about?
Jason MillerYou know, you don't remember.
Jason MillerBut now that you know what becoming a pilot is like, going into the instrument rating, you really should get a lot of that ground knowledge out of the way because you don't want to be worrying about things like chart symbology or what is an mea or what is a mocha or an a roca.
Jason MillerYou want all that knowledge in place because flying instruments is more advanced, it's more complex, and it's straight up harder.
Jason MillerSo that basic knowledge you just kind of need to have in place.
Jason MillerAnd I always say to new instrument students, flying instruments is like doing something you've always done and that you know how to do well.
Jason MillerLike riding a bike, for example.
Jason MillerOnly now you're blindfolded and you have a little elf on Your shoulder telling you what's happening.
Jason MillerHere comes a turn.
Jason MillerHere comes a turn.
Jason MillerHere comes a turn.
Jason MillerOkay, lean, lean, lean.
Jason MillerStop your turn.
Jason MillerStop your turn.
Jason MillerYou know, like.
Jason MillerAnd every bit of information you're getting is by definition old.
Jason MillerYou know, it's just slightly old.
Jason MillerDoesn't have to be that old.
Jason MillerHere comes the turn.
Jason MillerTurn.
Jason MillerNow I turn.
Jason MillerYou know, it's like, that's how instrument flying works.
Jason MillerSo getting comfortable with that.
Jason MillerAnd the.
Jason MillerThere's.
Jason MillerThere's an analogy in instrument flying, too.
Jason MillerAnd I always put these pictures that I'm giving you here and the listeners.
Jason MillerI always put these pictures in people's minds.
Jason MillerThe other one I do is like, imagine you have an office floor, like a whole office floor, where you've got different rooms.
Jason MillerAnd I always imagine something circular, like a circular tower with a hallway that goes around the outside.
Jason MillerAnd there's all these conference rooms, let's say six conference rooms.
Jason MillerAnd you're the boss, and your job is to make sure that all six teams in those conference rooms finish at exactly the same time in 30 minutes.
Jason MillerSo you have to run into one room and say, how you guys doing?
Jason MillerYou're doing good.
Jason MillerOkay, everything's fine.
Jason MillerOkay, I'll be right back.
Jason MillerYou're into the next room.
Jason MillerLike, how you guys doing?
Jason MillerOkay, everything's good.
Jason MillerI'll be right back.
Jason MillerYou run into the third room.
Jason MillerThey're like, sir, we got a problem.
Jason MillerThere's no way we can handle this.
Jason MillerYou're like, okay, good.
Jason MillerHold on a minute.
Jason MillerI'll be right back.
Jason MillerYou know, and you, like, you figure out how you're going to work that problem.
Jason MillerBut you can't go into that problem and stay there till 6 without going into the other rooms.
Jason MillerYou can't just say, okay, you got a problem.
Jason MillerLet's roll up our sleeves and let's spend the next 30 minutes finishing this.
Jason MillerBecause there's other rooms happening, right?
Jason MillerSo flying instruments is a little bit like that.
Jason MillerThere's flying the airplane.
Jason MillerThere's programming the radios.
Jason MillerThere's navigating, there's communicating with air traffic control.
Jason MillerThere's briefing, what you're going to do when you get there.
Jason MillerThere are a lot of different things that have to be done at once.
Jason MillerBut because nothing can be done at once, it's a lot of checking in with little things.
Jason MillerAnd if you are.
Jason MillerIf you find yourself deep in a problem, it's a red flag.
Jason MillerLike, lift your head up and figure out what are you missing.
Jason MillerLike, you're stuck in a room right now, and maybe you do have a problem.
Jason MillerBut if you don't pick your head up and come out of that room, other problems are going to happen and the whole thing is going to go off the rails.
Jason MillerRight.
Jason MillerSo that picture, I think is important also.
Jason MillerAnd then the last one I'll give you for instrument flying is the juggler.
Jason MillerYou know that there is a physic, I call it a physiological reaction, but everybody has it, myself included, everybody.
Jason MillerThe saturation point where you can't think anymore and you can tell when a student's there because you could say like, what's your name?
Jason MillerAnd they'll say standby.
Jason MillerThey literally can't even hear what's your name.
Jason MillerThey can't process the question.
Jason MillerThey can't answer Jason.
Jason MillerSo they say, stand by.
Jason MillerThat person is saturated.
Jason MillerThe good news is the saturation point is like a muscle.
Jason MillerAnd the image that we paint for it is, you know, like a juggler.
Jason MillerJuggling balls.
Jason MillerJuggling one ball, you throw them another ball.
Jason MillerThree balls or two balls, three balls, four balls, five balls, six balls are really good.
Jason MillerEventually there's going to come a ball where they can't catch it.
Jason MillerAnd when they can't catch it, they don't just miss that one.
Jason MillerThe whole house of cards comes down.
Jason MillerAnd that's what happens at the saturation point.
Jason MillerAnd so as a cfi, if you're aware of that and you have to make your student aware of it, you know, like if you work with it is.
Jason MillerWhat I'm saying is, like, you push your student to the saturation point.
Jason MillerYou push them right there and then you dial it back.
Jason MillerPush them right there and dial it back.
Jason MillerAutopilot is a great example.
Jason MillerLet's say you're pushing a student and they're hand flying and they're this, that, or whatever.
Jason MillerAnd you see that they're at the saturation point.
Jason MillerOkay, take control of the airplane and engage the autopilot.
Jason MillerTake.
Jason MillerDial it back one notch.
Jason MillerSame situation.
Jason MillerBut you just took the room called flying the airplane and you put a manager in there.
Jason MillerYeah, you know, like that, that's, that's fixed now.
Jason MillerBut what instrument candidates or applicants or people working on their instrument rating will realize and what CFIs who don't already understand this will realize is that the saturation point is a muscle like it is.
Jason MillerYou'll notice that it's like maxing in weight.
Jason MillerYou can, you know, what saturated you 2 months ago is no longer saturating you, and you are now able to handle that much more and that much more and that much more.
Jason MillerAnd, you know, it's not just flying.
Jason MillerI'm sure this goes on in life.
Jason MillerI mean, I've heard people say, like, can you imagine somebody?
Jason MillerYou know, just think of any billionaire person you could think of, like an Elon Musk or something.
Jason MillerHow much he has to do in a day versus how much I have to do in a day.
Jason MillerAnd he wasn't born that way.
Jason MillerThat's like the saturation muscle that's just getting better and better and better and better and better until you're like, what Jeff Bezos has in 1.9 million employees or something, you know?
Jason MillerYeah.
Jason MillerAnd so flying and flying on instruments is like, that.
Jason MillerYou can get really good.
Jason MillerSo.
GuestYeah, I totally agree.
GuestI mean, I'm just thinking back when you were saying all the stuff I was thinking about to my experience with instrument flying, and there's definitely a moment, and you really have to count on your instructor to kind of.
GuestI feel I think it's best for your instructor to ease you into it.
GuestRight.
GuestNot just throw you to the wolves, because then you're like, all right, screw that.
GuestI'm not doing that.
GuestBut figuring out where your saturation point is and your breaking point of where you just shut down and, like you said, like, the house falls down and crumbles.
GuestLike, you can't do simple math.
GuestYou can't turn.
GuestYou can't say luck.
GuestYou're just done.
GuestUntil we can figure out, all right, what do we need to do?
GuestJust fly the airplane, and then we'll focus on that and then go from there.
GuestUm, which, by the way, is the most important thing for you to ever do is just make sure you're always flying the airplane.
GuestUh, you can worry about headings out.
GuestJust fly the airplane.
Jason MillerUm, but it's the breathing part.
GuestYeah, I know, right?
GuestYeah.
GuestMaybe breathe through that helps as well.
GuestBut there's definitely a break point for everyone.
GuestAnd it happened just because, you know, you and your buddies start at the same time.
GuestJust because they can do more than you at a certain point doesn't mean that you're a bad pilot.
GuestDoesn't mean that you can't get it.
GuestThere's this point in instrument flying, which I can't really explain why, but it's essentially you're just hitting your head against the wall until you break through.
GuestThat's going to happen at someone for 20 hours of instrument flying.
GuestIt's going to happen for 40 hours for someone.
GuestIt's just however your brain can kind of conceptualize and put the big picture together.
GuestIt was all Steps.
GuestFor me, it was learning, like you said, like the verbiage, learning what everything meant on the charts, learning how to talk on the radio.
GuestAnd then toward the end, it was learning how to put everything together and be like, all right, this is why I'm holding.
GuestThis is why I'm turning this one.
GuestListening to two planes ahead of you or the plane ahead of you.
GuestBe like, all right, well, they're getting vectored on in the approach.
GuestI can expect this vector as well.
GuestOr they're holding, so I can expect this hold.
GuestKind of understanding the why behind instrument flying and the why the controllers are doing what they're doing.
GuestUh, so it's definitely.
GuestIt's definitely gonna take steps, it's definitely gonna take time, and eventually you're gonna break through.
GuestUh, it might take you a while.
GuestThat's fine.
GuestThere are plenty of people that I know that it probably took them a long time, and they're flying for the airlines.
GuestSo you're good, man.
GuestYou're good.
GuestOr girl, whatever.
Jason MillerYeah, yeah, you will get there.
Jason MillerUm, I like.
Jason MillerYou know, this is like, I have.
Jason MillerI have.
Jason MillerHow do I say this?
Jason MillerMy instrument program is, I believe, radically different from all others.
Jason MillerAnd I realized, like, the way you described it, by the way, and I think you're absolutely right, that as you go through, you get that the finer points, the kind of awareness of the.
GuestWhys, context and all that.
Jason MillerBut the way you described the training is the way most people do it, right?
Jason MillerWhere you're like, okay, you learn to fly the plane, then you learn to work the radios, then you learn to fly the courses, then you learn to fly the ils.
Jason MillerI don't do it that way, so we don't do it that way.
Jason MillerAnd in the ground school app, if you go to the instrument course, you'll see the way we do it.
Jason MillerAnd I think, for example, so what I do is I use what I call template flights.
Jason MillerAnd so if you and I were working on your instrument rating, the first template flight might be San Carlos to Stockton, specifically along airways.
Jason MillerSo we will request the airways.
Jason MillerSo we'll go Santa, you know, San Carlos radar vectors, Oakland, Victor 6, Altam intersection, then direct, maybe.
Jason MillerWho knows?
Jason MillerI don't know if that's the exact right route, something like that.
Jason MillerBut we're going to repeat, we're going to fly that flight on your very first day when you come as your intro flight, we're going to fly it in the system with all equipment working, autopilot on.
Jason MillerAnd just so you can see the context of Everything.
Jason MillerGetting a clearance, waiting for release, taking off, seeing the whole thing point to point.
Jason MillerThat'd be the first time we fly the template flight.
Jason MillerThen we might take two or three days to go out and build some skills.
Jason MillerOkay.
Jason MillerYou're going to have to learn how to fly the plane.
Jason MillerYou're going to have to learn how to navigate the radios and all these things.
Jason MillerBut then before too many days, we go back to that very first flight.
Jason MillerOnly now you're flying it maybe, and I'm, you know, flying still autopilot, still everything.
Jason MillerAnd we plug the skills back into that same flight and we'll keep revisiting that, just that one flight, until you can understand what it feels like in your body to be ahead of the airplane, to be thinking and talking ahead of the airplane.
Jason MillerRight.
Jason MillerAnd only then will we take what we've learned and move it to template flight two.
Jason MillerOkay, now let's see what this looks like.
Jason MillerIf it ends at a non precision approach and, you know, or a non towered airport or something like that.
Jason MillerAnd in the course of training, there'll be three, maybe four template flights until we start getting really advanced and then we're going, you know, all over.
GuestYou know, you're still, in a way, you're still easing them into it though, right?
GuestLike you're showing them the big picture, but you are.
GuestMaybe not.
GuestMaybe you'll do the radios or maybe they'll fly, but each time you're kind of adding another scale in there, which essentially is, yeah, is still easing them in.
GuestAnd I think that's like we both talked about is you can't just really, you can, you can throw them to the fire and that Some people might figure it out, but it's definitely a good way to ease them in like that and take some of the burden off of their, their hands so they can just focus on the flying or the learning.
GuestUm, so you're still doing that in a way for that.
GuestWhich I really like.
GuestIf I was a cfi, that idea sounds great to me.
GuestCause it is funny how if you just ch as simple as changing the flight plan or as simple as changing an ILS to an RNAV or a VOR approach, like just that one change can mess you up for the whole flight, right?
GuestLike you could take off, everything go fine.
GuestYou're like, all right, well, we're going to do the approach you've never done before and probably haven't looked at in a while other than I told you to look at all the approaches last night.
GuestBut you're not going to do the vor.
GuestI'm going to be like, what?
GuestAnd you're just going to think about the vor.
GuestYou're going to miss calls.
GuestYou're going to do just sloppiness.
GuestRight.
GuestSo I think that's, that's definitely the way to do it.
Jason MillerYeah, a hundred percent.
Jason MillerAnd that's, and it's maybe a subtle distinction.
Jason MillerCause like you said, you're still easing them in.
Jason MillerBut what we're doing is putting the primary instructional focus on the ability to think and talk in front of the airplane.
Jason MillerFor example, what I want more than the student understanding the differences between an ILS and a vor.
Jason MillerThat's less important to me than the student realizing they're getting a little stressed.
Jason MillerThey need to slow the airplane down and they're able to say, okay, when I get to Altam intersection, it's going to be a right turn to a heading of 040.
Jason MillerI'm going to switch my GPS to the navigational signal.
Jason MillerI want.
Jason MillerI verified that.
Jason MillerI identified it.
Jason MillerMy flow checks and checklists are done for right now.
Jason MillerI have no time to start and I'll report reaching.
Jason MillerOkay.
Jason MillerWhen I get there, I will.
Jason MillerSo their ability to recognize the big picture, create the time they need to push their mind out in front of the airplane and verbalize it is way more important to me as a fundamental skill.
Jason MillerLike I always say to students, I'm not worried that you're going to be able to hold altitude, hold needles, hold headings, fly approaches.
Jason MillerZero concern.
Jason MillerI have zero, zero concern that by the end of this instrument rating, you'll be able to do that.
Jason MillerWhat I'm more concerned about is that you're going to be the kind of pilot who understands the big picture and can think and talk in front of the airplane.
Jason MillerAnd that has a ritualized procedure based on decades of professional experience that you're going to use to fly this like you're the chief pilot of your own flight op.
Jason MillerYou know, like you would hire yourself to fly your kids, you know, to be like a real, like 1 percenter in it.
Jason MillerAnd so it's subtle.
Jason MillerIt's like all the things you said, you are easing them in, but you're orienting it around these scenarios to how does it feel?
Jason MillerWere you able to talk in front of the plane?
Jason MillerWere you able to do all your checklists?
Jason MillerWere you able to.
Jason MillerAll those things.
Jason MillerAnd there's an.
Jason MillerLike you to your point, there's enough variables in the same flight over and over again for people mostly not to get bored.
Jason MillerYou know, ATC will try to vector you or they'll have to give you delay things or maybe a hold or like, things will come up.
Jason MillerBut it's not like, like, like what you said.
Jason MillerIf you switch the approach, which is this is when I noticed that when I was going through instrument rating or instrument training, was that like, for me, it was more like my instructor would say, okay, last week we went to Napa.
Jason MillerWe did the localizer.
Jason MillerThis week, let's go over here to NAS and I'm going to show you an LNAV approach and then next time.
Jason MillerOkay, well, we did those two already.
Jason MillerSo let's go to Santa Rosa.
Jason MillerI want you to see an ils, right?
Jason MillerThere was a lot of that.
Jason MillerAnd it's like if you do that, like you said, there's so many changes going from ILS to VR that this 100% of the students learning energy and all of it will be put into the details.
Jason MillerWhat's different about this?
Jason MillerOkay, this has this approach or what does this mean?
Jason MillerThe timing thing has absolutely nothing to do with those core fundamental skills of staying in front of the airplane that I was talking about and having like a ritualized procedure for checklists and all the things that at the end of the day, I believe are going to keep you safe.
Jason MillerYeah, you know, we can argue about the, I mean, not argue, but we could not.
Jason MillerYou and I, I mean, the student and I, we could talk about the differences between different approaches, like, you know, till we're blue in the face.
Jason MillerThat's why I always say to the students, it's like, I'm not worried about that stuff.
Jason MillerLike, at the end of the day, we're going to run through so many different approaches.
Jason MillerWe're going to have so many little mini oral sessions and phase checks.
Jason MillerLike, there's no way you're going to get through this without being able to hold altitude and fly approaches.
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GuestHow so in the airline world and you know, bigger jet world, what's very important in any approach and what's being taught.
GuestWhat has been taught is being stabilized, having criteria where you're stabilized at a certain spot, whether it's 500ft, a thousand feet, you need to be in certain parameters.
GuestNow smaller airplanes, you don't have someone to tell on you.
GuestYou don't have a chief pilot looking over you.
GuestSo it's a lot of the honor system.
GuestWhen you're flying 172s and you're flying smaller banana or bonanzas or whatever it is you're flying, how important do you or how much emphasis do you put on stabilize approaches in instrument?
GuestUm, cause like you said, there's a lot going on right now.
GuestYou might be getting all these kind of, you may be getting all these instructions and all of a sudden you're, you find yourself at the final approach fix and maybe you haven't put your gear down or you're not configured or you're going 15 knots fast.
GuestUm, how like is, is that something you're constantly thinking about in this world?
GuestI know smaller airplanes have the assumption that they can be more forgiving, which I mean obviously you're not going to stop in 6,000ft or to 3,000ft like these bigger jets.
GuestBut there is danger, especially when you get into Moonies that just don't want to stop flying that you over on runways that you have incursions and when you, when something bad happens, you want everything going in your favor.
GuestSo stabilization is amazing and is huge.
GuestBut I kind of long worded that question, but how important is stabilization for you when you're teaching ifr?
Jason MillerIt's.
Jason MillerWell, it's certainly not as important as it is in flying heavy jets, you know, and I, and I always want to use a little bit of caution when we like I think for example, how checklists are used as an example of how we've really misunderstood two crew versus single pilot environments.
Jason MillerRight.
Jason MillerWe don't use in.
Jason MillerI mean I do, but in general in ga pilots are teaching checklist usage as though there are two pilots there.
Jason MillerWhereas if you go get hired by Pac Valley or Ameriflight or I don't know if Ameriflight does single pilot anymore, but you get hired by somebody that does single pilot.
Jason MillerIt's all about flow checks and acronyms and then pick up the checklist because there's no other pilot, there's no pilot monitoring.
Jason MillerRight.
Jason MillerSo we have to be careful when we take crew or heavy transport category procedures and bring them down into ga.
Jason MillerA lot of times it's fantastic, but we do have to use caution.
Jason MillerSo with stabilization, for example, being stabilized is a just more critical for an aircraft with a lower thrust to weight ratio.
Jason MillerI can arrest a thousand foot per minute descent in about 3 seconds in assess time.
Jason MillerThat's just a reality.
Jason MillerThat's just a truth.
Jason MillerBut if you're coming down in a big heavy jet at 1,000ft per minute, you're not going to stop that in three seconds.
Jason MillerIt's going to be six or seven seconds before power even hits the engines.
Jason MillerSo you're just in a situation where stabilization in the ways you're talking about it matters more.
Jason MillerFor example, this comes up a lot of times when people ask me, hey, do you put flaps down outside the final approach fix?
Jason MillerAnd it's kind of a trick question.
Jason MillerIn most light airplanes, I do not.
Jason MillerAnd my logic is, how often are you out there flying 5 mile finals with 10 degrees of flaps?
Jason MillerLike that's a very unusual situation.
Jason MillerWhy would you put yourself in an unusual situation when you can't see out the window?
Jason MillerLike, why would you not fly the plane?
Jason MillerIn a way you always fly the plane.
Jason MillerAnd a lot of the things you're talking about with the Mooney, this is another buffer that we have that you guys do not have at all.
Jason MillerLike in a heavy jet, when you're coming in at 130, 40 knots or whatever, you guys approach at 120 maybe sometimes.
Jason MillerOr what do you approach at 130?
GuestThe 737 is fast.
GuestSo the 737, it's like 149 to 150 something.
GuestThe latitude was like 100 to 110, right?
Jason MillerYour whole world is more critical.
Jason MillerSo not only are you not able to arrest descents if they're not stabilized as rapidly and just have to be that much further in front of the airplane.
Jason MillerIf you don't hit the touchdown zone of the Runway, you got a problem.
Jason MillerAnd you've got a short window of time to figure out that that's true.
Jason MillerIn a light airplane, even a Mooney, some of that is like we have consider that we have a huge buffer.
Jason MillerFor example, if the weather is low enough to require us actually flying down to say 200ft above the ground, then it's an ILS and we have 5,000ft of Runway in front of us.
Jason MillerYou have to be pretty off on your speed to blow 5,000ft or more of Runway.
Jason MillerAnd Even in a Mooney.
Jason MillerBut you'd have to be 20 knots fast or.
Jason MillerI mean, I don't even know.
Jason MillerI do remember one time flying into McCarran in a DA20 where I had 737s behind me.
Jason MillerSo I flew the approach at 120, I think, or 130, and then just pulled power to idle over the threshold.
Jason MillerAnd it took me the full length of the Runway, which was like 8, 000ft, to actually slow down and land.
Jason MillerI don't know if I saved anybody time.
Jason MillerBut my point is there's a huge buffer.
Jason MillerThose are two completely different worlds just before we even really start talking about it, right?
Jason MillerTwo different worlds.
Jason MillerSo when it comes to flaps outside the final approach fix, like I said, if I'm in a 172, I do not do that.
Jason MillerI fly in at 90 knots in a clean configuration because that's the most familiar and comfortable and normal configuration.
Jason MillerAnd there's no world in which I'm not going to see that Runway, be able to go power idle, add my flaps and land if I need the flaps.
Jason MillerThat's how I've always done it.
Jason MillerThat's how I do it.
Jason MillerThe alternative to that, the quote stabilized version, would be to set the 10 degrees of flaps at the final approach fix, figure out some power settings.
Jason MillerSo now you're in this somewhat unique configuration that you only use when flying final approach fix inbound, you know, on an instrument approach, and then you'll be able to come down.
Jason MillerNow you're still probably going to add more flaps if you see the Runway.
Jason MillerI mean, I don't know if the assumption is you land with 10, you don't ever change flaps after that.
Jason MillerBut there are people that are trying to take the heavy transport world and the, the things that you're saying are really, really important there and bring them down into ga.
Jason MillerAnd my point is just we have to use caution.
Jason MillerLike sometimes it's not necessary.
Jason MillerNow if it's a high performance plane, a Bonanza, a Mooney, a Cirrus, something like that, I do add flaps outside the final approach fix, just the first notch.
Jason MillerSo there you go.
Jason MillerI flew may not have rhyme or reason and I think the only value I could add there is just to have people use caution.
GuestYeah.
Jason MillerThe other one really quickly is the thousand foot per minute descent which I feel is completely stabilized in a, in a light aircraft.
Jason MillerSo my students all can fly 90 knots and 500ft per minute or a separate non precision approach descent of 90 knots and a thousand feet per minute.
Jason MillerBut again, in assassin, you can arrest a thousand foot per minute descent just by power into the green, and it's.
Jason MillerIt's over.
GuestYeah.
GuestUh, this is a comment about putting flaps in.
GuestWell, before the final approach fix, I was fine with Josh from Aviation 101.
GuestWe flew to Garmin headquarters from Dallas.
GuestUh, hopefully the video's out by the time this comes out.
GuestBut I.
GuestIn my mind, I was, like, thinking, how do I fly this when I fly jet?
GuestIt's like, all right, well, we're putting flaps out, like, on downwind, on base, or put another notch.
GuestWe're fully configured gear flaps full.
GuestAnd it's.
GuestAnd I was like, I forgot how long things take in a 1 72, if that makes sense.
GuestLike, yeah, initial approach adds another 20, 25 minutes to a flight, which is just what was kind of baffling to me.
GuestAnd I was like, all right, we're still on downwind.
GuestWe haven't even turned base yet.
GuestIt's been eight minutes.
Jason MillerWelcome to my world.
GuestYeah.
GuestIt's like, wow, this takes forever.
GuestIt's like I wasted.
GuestWasted a ton of money on my instrument training by just shooting approaches all the time.
Jason MillerRight.
Jason MillerBut anyways, this is a great dovetail.
Jason MillerWhat you just said is reminded me, because that's how pilots in Europe are taught, and it drives me crazy.
Jason MillerSo I'll have these guys come over from Switzerland or France or Germany, and they want to fly with me to improve their VFR skills.
GuestRight.
Jason MillerThey think I'm a cowboy because they're all taught to fly 172s.
Jason MillerLike you just said, it'll be like.
Jason MillerAnd they say it like airline pilots.
Jason MillerThey'll be like, at the abeam position, they'll be a flaps one, you know, and then.
Jason MillerThen we go out, you know, four miles out, and we turn, and it's flaps two, and everything's set.
Jason MillerAnd Richard would have pulled my power to idle and said, you just lost your engine over East Oakland.
Jason MillerWhere are you going?
Jason MillerYou know what I mean?
Jason MillerSo back to that ostrich approach.
Jason MillerThe real issue in a Cessna is, do I have enough altitude to glide to the Runway?
Jason MillerWhich is a totally different issue than you have when you're out there flying in your 737.
Jason MillerYou're not worried about where you're going to go if your engine fails.
Jason MillerSo you're flying these, you know, you're putting flaps in on the downwind or whatever.
Jason MillerBut it drives me bananas when I fly with, like, instrument European pilots that fly small airplanes that way.
GuestYeah.
Jason MillerI'm saying where are you going to go if your engine fails?
Jason MillerLike Oakland is back there.
Jason MillerYeah, like four miles now back there you could have gone power to idle and glided around in a short approach, you know.
Jason MillerSo that's an example of where a big transport category procedure would be the wrong thing to do in a light airplane.
GuestYeah, for sure.
GuestAnd I think more Europeans are taught to fly every plane like an airliner because I think obviously their, their kind of mold is, you know, at 250 hours you can go through a cadet program and be flying right seat in a 737.
GuestSo they're just teaching you to fly an airliner.
GuestBut just the concepts.
GuestYou start in a 7,172.
GuestMoving on a little bit from that.
GuestWhat do you see are big kind of threats or are big stumping grounds for instrument students?
Jason MillerWell, I think there's a lot of instrument students that never actually learn how to fly instruments, unfortunately.
Jason MillerI think there's a lot of people that get instrument rated that don't feel comfortable flying in the clouds, that don't ever fly in the clouds.
Jason MillerI hear stories of double eyes instrument instructors that say they don't feel comfortable flying in clouds.
Jason MillerSo there's that.
Jason MillerYou know, I think there's a lot of people that figure I'm going to get my instrument rating, I'm going to get my commercial, I'm going to get my CFI and get hired and I'll fly in the cloud soon enough, but I'm going to do it in an airliner with a captain next to me.
Jason MillerAnd that's like where they get their first imc, you know, or in their first job.
Jason MillerYeah, so that's a real hazard, you know, because I mean, it's not a hazard, I guess, if you're never going to fly instruments in a light airplane.
Jason MillerBut it would be a hazard if you're a person who wants to fly instruments in a light airplane and you meet that flight instructor and that's like, you know, and you don't know it.
Jason MillerSo.
GuestYeah, a hundred percent.
Jason MillerAnd then I.
Jason MillerSorry, go ahead.
GuestI was a hundred percent agree.
GuestI mean, going straight into flying single pilot IFR is much different than doing simulated instrument and simulated approaches with the foggles.
GuestYou still have some sort of idea of where you are.
GuestLike your body can tell a little bit if you're straight and level.
GuestIf you're turning, you know, you can still see the ground.
GuestRight.
GuestYou can still see out of the small corner of your eye, but IFR and then you start adding thunderstorms.
GuestYou start adding icing and your brain, you're constantly moving and your equilibrium's getting all off.
GuestIt's like having the actual versus simulated instrument flying is huge.
GuestEspecially if you want to be an airline pilot and especially if you ever think you'd be flying an approach.
GuestYou know, it's like you don't want to have your first time flying actual instruments when you actually need it.
GuestIf that makes sense.
Jason MillerRight?
Jason MillerYeah.
Jason MillerNo, 100%.
Jason MillerAnd I think, you know, like, if people wanted to see, just check out what we put in the flight side of our instrument course.
Jason MillerI think really what we want to emulate is like we said earlier, single pilot, professional operators.
Jason MillerThat's who.
Jason MillerIf we in ga, if we want to aspire to be anybody, it's those amazing short haul cargo pilots where they've got one pilot in the plane.
Jason MillerYou don't ever hear about them because they never get in accidents.
Jason MillerThey're up four in the morning.
Jason MillerRight.
Jason MillerAnd they're out, you know.
Jason MillerRight.
Jason MillerLike the procedures that they use.
Jason MillerIf I had to give something to the instrument folks that are going through it right now, I think take that template idea is really the most valuable, valuable thing I can add.
Jason MillerGet, get your instructor to stop forcing you to shoot pool while the balls are still moving.
Jason MillerYou know, like settle it all down by repeating the same flight, going out and like you said, Justin, you know, slowly walking into the skills, but then go back to the same thing you've seen so that you can actually measure.
Jason MillerDid the work you did on the skills, did it, did it really do anything?
Jason MillerI think that's a big thing.
Jason MillerAnd then seeking out imc, like even vacations.
Jason MillerI, I've always thought about doing, you know, how we run those airplane camp trips.
Jason MillerThat's where we started the call.
Jason MillerI always thought a great one would be like living the life of a freight dog for a weekend.
Jason MillerYou know, come to California in August and we'll get up at 4 in the morning and we'll just be IMC all day on the coast.
Jason MillerYou know, we'll go from Lake Santa Barbara to Eureka and just fly approach after approach.
GuestDon't invite me to that aviation camp.
GuestI don't want to come to that one.
Jason MillerYou don't?
GuestI've already done that.
GuestI don't need to do that again.
GuestI want the one where Catalina.
GuestI want the one where we're going to Napa, you know, we're stopping at Wineries, you know, I want the fun part, which fun might not be the right term because you would think that was fun because you haven't done that before.
GuestBut I have done that enough.
GuestI'm good.
GuestGood.
Jason MillerYeah.
Jason MillerWell, I mean, I get to do it all, all the time.
Jason MillerMaybe not at 4 in the morning, but, you know, lesson signs of 0600.
Jason MillerBut I just happen to think, I think.
Jason MillerMy point is, I think that here where I live, and I'm up in the mountains now, but the Bay Area is right there and it's some of the best instrument training in the world, really.
Jason MillerThere are probably parts of like Israel, Lebanon, Turkey that get the same effect off the, off the east side of the Mediterranean, maybe parts of Spain.
Jason MillerBut like, there aren't that many places that get the.
Jason MillerThis deep, thick advection fog and it's, you know, bases at sometimes 200ft and a quarter mile is tops at 5,000ft.
Jason MillerNo wind, no ice, no thunderstorms, no nothing.
Jason MillerJust a blanket of fog.
GuestYeah.
Jason MillerAnd you know, you can go experience that and get your ticket wet and make it a vacation.
GuestYeah.
Jason MillerCome out, stay for a weekend.
Jason MillerAnd yeah, I'm not the only guy either.
Jason MillerI mean, I think honestly, if anybody who's listening to this is interested in doing that, that just call any of the flight schools in Palo Alto or San Carlos and they'll get you up there making an IFR vacation.
Jason MillerNow, all those instructors are comfortable with it.
Jason MillerYou have to be or you can't teach them.
GuestYeah.
GuestAnd then you have complex airspace to throw into that with San Francisco, with Oakland, with all the deltas in the area.
GuestSo, yeah, it's definitely a little bit interesting out there, that's for sure.
Jason MillerYeah, I mean, it's good for that.
Jason MillerIt's not good for understanding other weather.
Jason MillerSo I always like, worry about my students when they tell me they're going back to fly in Virginia or something in the summer, I'm like, okay, let's talk again about thunderstorms just one more time.
GuestYeah, there's a difference between, between shooting a minimum to an approach to minimums in fog that's relatively smooth and calm.
GuestThen thunderstorms are down drafts and updrafts and crosswinds.
GuestRight.
Jason MillerOh, yeah.
Jason MillerIt's like.
Jason MillerNo, you get spoiled.
Jason MillerIt's a.
Jason MillerI call it a playground.
Jason MillerI mean, it's not to say that you can't get in trouble.
Jason MillerYeah, you, you can.
Jason MillerBut as far as IFR IFR goes, it's benign.
Jason MillerIt's what we would call light ifr.
GuestI love that.
Jason MillerYou know, even if it's at minimum, it's like, you know, I Don't know.
Jason MillerYeah, it's not hard IFR for sure.
GuestThat's good to know.
GuestYeah.
Jason MillerBut it'd be incredible practice.
Jason MillerJust the ability to fly the approach all the way to minimums and then execute the mist and still be in the soup and.
GuestYeah.
GuestAnd I'm guessing icing is not necessarily something you have to worry about constantly where you are now, the higher you go, obviously.
GuestBut, I mean, in the wintertime in North Carolina, I remember when I was doing my training was about 3,000ft was where the icing level seemed to live.
Guest3 to 4,000ft.
GuestSo you could sneak a flight in there.
GuestUh, if it went higher, you're good.
GuestBut when I did my private pilot training, it seemed like the freezing level is always on the ground in Ohio.
GuestSo it was much different up in Ohio than it was in North Carolina.
GuestIt gave you the ability to fly more hard.
GuestI.
GuestHard ifr.
Jason MillerYeah.
Jason MillerYeah.
Jason MillerAnd, you know, that's, to be fair, a world I don't know a whole lot about.
Jason MillerI mean, I know that I get away with a lot.
Jason MillerSo in terms of my own personal minimums, I don't fly IFR when the freezing levels are at or below the mea.
Jason MillerBut partially that's because I fly in California, you know, I mean, I know.
Jason MillerI think I said that to flight shops once.
Jason MillerAnd he's like, well, yeah, but I'm in Toronto, so I'm gonna call a different instructor.
Jason MillerYou know, I mean, like, there are folks that understand the.
Jason MillerThe way ice works.
GuestYeah.
Jason MillerIn those really cold temperatures, you might be one of them.
Jason MillerIt's a world that I don't have to deal with, at least not yet.
Jason MillerAnd so I just make my minimums easy.
Jason MillerAnd I fly tons of ifr primarily because of where I live.
GuestYeah.
GuestYeah.
GuestIcing sucks, man.
GuestStay away from it if you can.
GuestSo stay where you're at.
Jason MillerYeah, yeah.
Jason MillerOnce I.
Jason MillerI think it was Mac McClellan from Flying Magazine.
Jason MillerHe used to write the business, or maybe he still writes the business column.
Jason MillerI don't know.
Jason MillerAnyway, he once said that he thought fiki was just silly for any airplane.
Jason MillerLike, he thought no airplane, zero.
Jason MillerHe's.
Jason MillerAnd he flew golf streams and all sorts of things.
Jason MillerHe said, like no airplane should be approved for flight into known icing.
Jason MillerHe said, I don't care what airplane I'm in.
Jason MillerWhen I start to ice up, I look for a way to get out, you know?
GuestSo, yeah, it's cute.
GuestI mean, sometimes you gotta go in and lay it.
GuestI don't know.
GuestYeah, I mean, this is different than talking a 172 or whatever it is.
GuestBut, you know, a lot of these routes are, you're going off to Buffalo and people want to get in and the plane's capable of knocking off ice.
GuestSo why aren't you gonna go?
GuestYou know, it's kind of, obviously there's, there's levels to it.
GuestIf it's too bad you don't go, you go around, you go somewhere else.
GuestSo there's definitely a safety factor there.
GuestBut, but I mean, you're picking up some ice and planes like you said, Fiki flying in and icing, it's good to go.
GuestYou got a hot wing for a reason.
Jason MillerYeah, yeah, no, that's true.
Jason MillerAnd in an airliner, hey, that's a whole different animal.
GuestYeah.
Jason MillerLike, by the way, when I say I don't fly in freezing levels at or below the meas, that's an aircraft without deicing equipment.
Jason MillerYeah, yeah, deicing equipment.
Jason MillerThat minimum is not.
Jason MillerYeah, but I think, you know, we have to use caution in a plane like a cirrus, for example, which is technically feaky.
GuestBut when trouble pretty fast.
GuestOne of the last questions I'll ask.
GuestWe can.
GuestDon't want to keep you too long with this.
GuestI don't want it to be like a two hour episode.
GuestBut when you talk about going to the IFR checkride, talk about, obviously we had the written knocked out.
GuestWe talked about that.
GuestIt's important.
GuestKnocked the written out early on.
GuestUse the ground school app.
GuestUse whatever you need to do to get it done.
GuestMock oral, check rides.
GuestEverything is in there.
GuestBut talk about.
GuestI guess I'll say it this way.
GuestMy very first check ride, I was not prepared for ifr.
GuestI actually feared my failed my IFR check ride.
GuestUh, I didn't prepare well enough.
GuestI just trusted my cfi.
GuestIt was kind of like, all right, let's go, let's go, let's go.
GuestAnd I was like, all right, cool.
GuestLet's go, let's go, let's go.
GuestAnd then I got there and it was just like a disaster.
GuestUh, then it didn't feel ready for the check ride.
GuestJust took it anyways.
GuestBut I.
GuestHow do you go into the IFR check ride?
GuestDo you think it's easier knowing that you know how check rides work from the ppl check ride?
GuestDo you think it's just a whole different beast?
GuestBecause it's like a different language.
Jason MillerIt's kind of a whole different beast.
Jason MillerYou know, the mistakes, like at the end of the day that I see A lot of pilots make silly things like not like, like they get rushed or they'll be flying around with, with hsis that aren't tuned to any nav signal.
Jason MillerYeah, they enter a hold maybe the wrong way just like they get tired.
Jason MillerSo like, like I do a bit of coaching with instrument students going into the checkride.
Jason MillerI always tell em to bring a Snickers, it's a long checkride.
Jason MillerOr bring some like blood sugar boost, whatever, you know, picks you up a little bit.
HostSome piles.
GuestCoffee.
Jason MillerYeah, yeah, like iced coffee or soda or something like that.
Jason MillerCause there's going to come a point where you're tired.
Jason MillerThe main thing that will save your life under IFR is the ability to slow the airplane down to recognize.
Jason MillerI mean on the checkride thread, to recognize when you're getting pushed.
Jason MillerOne of the tricks that I always do to my students and I know there are examiners out there that do it when things are going well, we'll fly an approach, we'll miss the approach.
Jason MillerAnd I'll say I know they're not ready.
Jason MillerLike I know they're not ready.
Jason MillerThey haven't even quite got to the missed approach hold yet or something like that.
Jason MillerAnd I'll say, okay, you ready for the next one?
Jason MillerYou know, I'd like to just like nudge them along and see if they go, yeah, yeah, I'm like I'm ready for the next one or whatever.
Jason MillerWhat they really need to say to me is no, like standby, I need a second.
Jason MillerYeah, like once they're able to say that to me and to air traffic control and understand they need to kind of slow down and create space for themselves.
Jason MillerI feel a whole lot better about the checkride, that ability to sort of recognize when that's happening, create the space you need to stay in front of the airplane.
Jason MillerWhen the examiner sees that there's going to be something that flips in their brain, they're looking for that.
Jason MillerYeah, they want to see that, you know, that you can handle that.
GuestYeah, they want to see how you handle adversity.
GuestEvery instrument check ride is going to have come to a point where they're going to push you.
GuestAny good examiner, at least they're going to push you to, to the point where they want to see how you handle it and they want to see if you overcome it and if you just breeze right through it.
GuestAnd if you don't breeze right through it, they want to see how you react.
GuestRight.
GuestThey want to see if you slow the airplane down, if you take a little Bit of time.
GuestIf you ask for vectors off the approach to kind of go hold and figure it out, do it again.
GuestThose are all good answers.
GuestThe bad answer is just blowing down the ils, just happy, dumb and just smiling and having no idea what's going on.
GuestYou know, if you find yourself in a checkride and you think it's too easy, it's probably because you're missing something, right?
Jason MillerYeah, 100%.
Jason MillerAnd for CFIs who are listening to this, the way I would walk into what I just said to test your student is, you know, you have to do three approaches.
Jason MillerSo after the second approach before you think your student is fully ready, like they haven't briefed that approach yet would be a great indicator.
Jason MillerThey haven't pulled out the plate and briefed it yet.
Jason MillerJust say to them when able, tell air traffic control you'd like the localizer Runway three at Hayward next.
Jason MillerOr whatever air traffic control.
Jason MillerAir traffic control will do all the work after that.
Jason MillerIf your student keys the mic and says to air traffic control, hey, we want the whatever approach it is next.
Jason MillerAir traffic control immediately is going to say, okay, I advise when you have the ATIS, turn left heading 030.
Jason MillerLet me know when you have the one minute weather.
Jason MillerWhatever they start saying to you, they're going to take you off the task you were on.
Jason MillerNow, your students should recognize this as a.
Jason MillerHoly cow, my instructor, I just called this person.
Jason MillerI'm overwhelmed.
Jason MillerYou know, the instructor introduced this.
Jason MillerYour student should say like, either tell you, no, I'm not going to call them right now, or when ATC comes back, say, actually I'm not ready for that approach yet.
Jason MillerI'd like some delay vectors while I get, you know, prepared.
Jason MillerATC would be fine with that.
Jason MillerThey'd go, okay, roger, turn left, whatever, 090, I'll give you some delay vectors.
Jason MillerIf your instructor or examiner saw you do that, like a big box is checked, okay, this guy did not get pushed into rushing.
Jason MillerDid not get pushed into something you.
HostCouldn'T do for sure.
Jason MillerThat's key.
Jason MillerSo yeah.
Jason MillerAnd then scientific method.
Jason MillerSo one of the things that people will see in the app is whenever I talk about flying, it's like everything's a hypothesis until we can prove it's true.
Jason MillerSo like a holding pattern, for example, if you think it's going to be a parallel entry, prove it.
Jason MillerAnd there's this little methods we can do to prove that you have the right entry.
Jason MillerAnd then, then you can talk in front of the airplane.
Jason MillerIf you can verify if you can guess at it, it prove it, and then say, okay, when I get to that fix, here's the five things I'm going to do.
Jason MillerYou're kind of bulletproof.
GuestYeah, one thing I'll say I'm so thankful for flying more advanced fmss.
GuestWhen I was doing management training, I was on a standard six pack with maybe a 430.
GuestBut having, you know, G1000s, now having the Garmin G5000 that I flew at the.
GuestAt NetJets on the latitude, having the plane know exactly how to enter hold, it's life changing, right?
GuestLike, obviously you need to know what comes next as well and be prepared if that doesn't work.
GuestBut, you know, learning how to do holds is pretty hard for me.
GuestI had to, like, take myself out of the airplane, think about where I was.
GuestSome people are like, doing this to everything.
GuestIt's like just learning how to do that can be kind of difficult.
GuestOnce you get it, it's like, wow, why did I ever struggle with that?
GuestBut I actually think I watched one of your videos when I was like 21, trying to figure out how to do whole.
GuestSo thank you for that.
Jason MillerI think I got.
Jason MillerWe have a great system, and first you visualize it on your HSI and you use your thumb to check it.
Jason MillerYeah, it's funny, my.
Jason MillerOn my instrument check ride, it was going fantastically well.
Jason MillerAnd the guy that I was with was an old Corsair instructor legend, Blue fields.
Jason MillerHe was 89 years old or something like that.
Jason MillerI think when I was doing my check ride, you know, really, I'm very lucky to have known him at all.
Jason MillerYeah, and it was a tough checkride, man.
Jason MillerLike, I mean, it was tough.
Jason MillerThe oral was tough.
Jason MillerEverything was tough.
Jason MillerEverything about Lou was tough.
Jason MillerJust by nature.
Jason MillerI mean, it's just like one of these old army guys, guys, Navy guys, really.
Jason MillerBut he must have thought I was doing a good job.
Jason MillerHe must have wanted me to pass because when it came time to enter holds, I was about to turn the wrong way.
Jason MillerLike, we got to the fix and I was about to turn the wrong way.
Jason MillerI can say this now because Lou's not alive anymore.
Jason MillerAnd I went to turn and the yoke wouldn't turn.
Jason MillerLike it just wouldn't go the way I wanted it to go.
Jason MillerAnd I look over at Lou and I could see his finger, his thumb and his index finger just holding it down.
Jason MillerHe didn't look at me, he just looks straight ahead.
Jason MillerBut he blocked me from turning the wrong way.
Jason MillerSaved my butt on the checkride that's awesome.
GuestShout out to him.
Jason MillerYeah, shout out to Lou.
GuestYeah.
GuestWell, I mean, some examiners know, you know, like, they're like, all right, this dude's got it.
GuestLike, this is clearly like a fatigue mistake or something like that.
GuestAnd, I mean, there are some that won't let any mistakes go.
GuestYou know, they're like, oh, sorry, dude, you failed.
GuestBut there are definitely some out there that are like, ah, I got you, dude.
Jason MillerAnd you're like, I know.
Jason MillerThis was older.
Jason MillerThis was.
Jason MillerI don't know if that would fly today.
Jason MillerI mean, this was.
Jason MillerWas.
Jason MillerWhat was my rating?
Jason Miller1999?
Jason Miller2000, maybe.
GuestYeah, boy.
Jason MillerAnyway, kind of a different world.
GuestDefinitely a different world.
GuestBut, Jason, I appreciate you coming on.
GuestAs always.
GuestI appreciate just talking to you and like I said, we just literally just start talking and feel like we just.
GuestWe'll leave it in, like I said, but just talking.
GuestGreat information.
GuestSo I appreciate coming on.
GuestWe'll complete the series eventually, but we'll do commercial pilot next whenever we have the chance.
GuestI know.
GuestOur schedules are so crazy for that one.
GuestLet's go.
GuestLet's do it.
Jason MillerThank you.
Jason MillerThank you, Justin.
Jason MillerI appreciate being here.
GuestSo thank you for coming.
GuestAnytime.
GuestIf we want the Ground school app, tell them where to go and how to get it.
Jason MillerWell, I mean, LearnTheFinderPoints.com is a place you can go.
Jason MillerI think your viewers have a code, right?
GuestThey do.
Jason Miller10% off.
GuestI'll put that down below as well.
Jason MillerYeah, I think it's like.
Jason MillerAnyway.
Jason MillerYeah, if it's in the description.
Jason MillerOr email us to get that discount.
GuestYeah, I think it's code Justin.
Jason MillerOr the app Store.
GuestYeah, yeah.
GuestLearn the finer points of the app store and use code Justin, which I'm pretty sure.
GuestOr pilot to pilot.
GuestWe'll find out.
GuestYeah, but look at the description.
GuestThat's where you can find it the best.
GuestYeah, I should probably.
GuestI should look at that before I said that.
GuestBut, you know, it is what it is.
GuestGot a little podcast.
Jason MillerThat's all right.
Jason MillerYeah, I think it's Justin.
GuestYeah, let's go with that.
GuestBut yeah, man, I appreciate your time and I appreciate your knowledge.
GuestIt's just a lot of fun talking to all the time times.
GuestAnd if everyone wants any other questions, we can always do a part two.
GuestSo send a question either to me.
GuestMy email is justinilotepilothq.com or reach out to Jason.
GuestAnd I'm sure you guys know how to reach out to him.
GuestSo thank you so much for your time and we'll see you later.
Jason MillerOkay.
Jason MillerAwesome.
Jason MillerJustin.
Jason MillerThanks.
GuestCool man.
GuestThanks.
HostAV Nation.
HostThat's a wrap on today's episode.
HostThank you so much for listening to the podcast.
HostI hope you enjoyed it.
HostIf you haven't left a review yet, please go to Spotify, please go to itunes.
HostI want to try to get to a thousand reviews on each individual platform.
HostSo go ahead and leave a five star review.
GuestI mean that'd be beneficial and hopeful.
HostBut if you like the podcast, please leave a five star review on both of those and also write a nice little comment there.
HostIt helps more people find this podcast.
HostAnd that's the goal, right?
HostTo get more aviators to find more people in aviation.
GuestIf you already left a review, grab.
HostYour dad's phone, leave a review on his end.
HostBut AV Nation, I hope you're having a great day.
HostAnd as always, always happy flying Pilot.
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