4 ms·

I just want to emphasize that getting instrument-rated is not a trivial endeavor and it's not likely something to be achieved by someone whose interest is entir

by nilkn 7y ago

I just want to emphasize that getting instrument-rated is not a trivial endeavor and it's not likely something to be achieved by someone whose interest is entirely in getting to their meetings more efficiently. And without the instrument rating, your travel plans will be instantly foiled the moment there's bad weather. If you have a passion for aviation and flight, an instrument rating is certainly within reach. But otherwise getting it will feel like quite a slog. An an aside, if you're an executive, flying private with your team (all as passengers) makes it easy to continue to work on the flight and prepare for the upcoming meeting. If you're busy piloting the plane, it becomes much harder if not impossible to be a part of that.

base698 7y ago
As someone with an instrument rating even having that can be foiled. I am sitting in Scottsdale when I should have been home last night because of icing. I routinely fly through clouds but don't fuck with ice :) It took my wife and I about three months to do our instrument ratings where that was pretty much our solid focus. It felt like a bit of a slog at the end, but pretty rewarding.
- bitexploder 7y ago
  It is also nice not dying in a fiery crash. I think.
- kitteh 7y ago
  I got iced up in winter at night years ago and learned my lesson. TKS/FIKI is a great safety add on (if you can get it) to give you an extra advantage of you get caught up in it, but it's not a license to plow around in known ice.
gwbas1c 7y ago
A college friend of mine grew up on an island. His father owned a small plane, just to make it easy to travel locally. Apparently, his father wooed his mother by taking her on dates to the "mainland."
scrumper 7y ago
It's not a fantastic idea for safety reasons. A couple of factors are going to add to the already elevated risk levels of GA flight in piston aircraft. 1. You, an exec, are going to want to see an ROI on the substantial time and money commitment you made in getting instrument rated. So you're going to want to use that aircraft as much as possible. Back when you flew commercial, you'd sit in the back of a 737 debriefing yourself after a brutal meeting with a gin and tonic and some angry emails to your minions. Now you've gone straight from having your ear burned off by a furious client to negotiating complex clearances in the clouds. 2. Get-there-itis kills. And now you have a plane, so, sure you can make that widget sales meeting in Spokane and be back in time for your kid's game... But the weather is closing in. You sold your spouse on the idea of a private aircraft just for situations like this, so you could be present for family and grow the business. Oh, but the client is on the fence, so maybe you need to stick around for a bit and admire their factory. Hey, no takeoff time right? Now it really is time to go. Ceilings are low, there's ice, a storm en-route, it's all a bit marginal. But you don't want to miss junior's first pitch so off you go into the murk and a couple hours later some volunteer firefighters from a town you've never heard of are shoveling what's left of you into black sacks while trying not to vomit. All of which is to say, it's a brilliant idea as long as your travel area enjoys VFR conditions most of the time. Now your instrument rating is a buttress for your safety, instead of an excuse to extend your limits.
- benjohnson 7y ago
  >>Get-there-itis kills In my opinion, this is one of the more important things to member. In my life, it explains why I ran out of gas tying to get to a meeting and why I didn't backup $busy_executive Outlook PST file before doing a "repair".
- DennisP 7y ago
  Your second point is the basis for an entire chapter of the fantastic book Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why. The author goes through a bunch of case studies of people in survival situations, some who made it, others who didn't. The ones who didn't generally did something that seems pretty stupid at first glance. He gets into some neuroscience and you realize how easy it would be to make the same mistake.
jacquesm 7y ago
Given the accident rate of GA flights that's also a great way to end your company in one fell swoop. If the company I worked for had an exec/part time pilot mandating I flew with them they'd be my ex-employer in an eyeblink.
- Rebelgecko 7y ago
  The insurance policy for on-the-job injuries where I work prevents you from flying GA for business travel (or from putting more than X employees on the same commercial flight)

by nilkn 7y ago

base698 7y ago

As someone with an instrument rating even having that can be foiled. I am sitting in Scottsdale when I should have been home last night because of icing. I routinely fly through clouds but don't fuck with ice :) It took my wife and I about three months to do our instrument ratings where that was pretty much our solid focus. It felt like a bit of a slog at the end, but pretty rewarding.

bitexploder 7y ago
It is also nice not dying in a fiery crash. I think.
kitteh 7y ago
I got iced up in winter at night years ago and learned my lesson. TKS/FIKI is a great safety add on (if you can get it) to give you an extra advantage of you get caught up in it, but it's not a license to plow around in known ice.

gwbas1c 7y ago

A college friend of mine grew up on an island. His father owned a small plane, just to make it easy to travel locally. Apparently, his father wooed his mother by taking her on dates to the "mainland."

scrumper 7y ago

It's not a fantastic idea for safety reasons. A couple of factors are going to add to the already elevated risk levels of GA flight in piston aircraft. 1. You, an exec, are going to want to see an ROI on the substantial time and money commitment you made in getting instrument rated. So you're going to want to use that aircraft as much as possible. Back when you flew commercial, you'd sit in the back of a 737 debriefing yourself after a brutal meeting with a gin and tonic and some angry emails to your minions. Now you've gone straight from having your ear burned off by a furious client to negotiating complex clearances in the clouds. 2. Get-there-itis kills. And now you have a plane, so, sure you can make that widget sales meeting in Spokane and be back in time for your kid's game... But the weather is closing in. You sold your spouse on the idea of a private aircraft just for situations like this, so you could be present for family and grow the business. Oh, but the client is on the fence, so maybe you need to stick around for a bit and admire their factory. Hey, no takeoff time right? Now it really is time to go. Ceilings are low, there's ice, a storm en-route, it's all a bit marginal. But you don't want to miss junior's first pitch so off you go into the murk and a couple hours later some volunteer firefighters from a town you've never heard of are shoveling what's left of you into black sacks while trying not to vomit. All of which is to say, it's a brilliant idea as long as your travel area enjoys VFR conditions most of the time. Now your instrument rating is a buttress for your safety, instead of an excuse to extend your limits.

benjohnson 7y ago
>>Get-there-itis kills In my opinion, this is one of the more important things to member. In my life, it explains why I ran out of gas tying to get to a meeting and why I didn't backup $busy_executive Outlook PST file before doing a "repair".
DennisP 7y ago
Your second point is the basis for an entire chapter of the fantastic book Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why. The author goes through a bunch of case studies of people in survival situations, some who made it, others who didn't. The ones who didn't generally did something that seems pretty stupid at first glance. He gets into some neuroscience and you realize how easy it would be to make the same mistake.

jacquesm 7y ago

Given the accident rate of GA flights that's also a great way to end your company in one fell swoop. If the company I worked for had an exec/part time pilot mandating I flew with them they'd be my ex-employer in an eyeblink.

Rebelgecko 7y ago
The insurance policy for on-the-job injuries where I work prevents you from flying GA for business travel (or from putting more than X employees on the same commercial flight)