First Instrument approach in IMC at night, to minimums! 

This instructor is grade A. As a CFII myself I am very impressed with his cool calm and collected attitude. Well done. Thank bank to the left scared TF out of me though

Absolutely nothing like the first instrument approach in real IMC when you come out of the muck and see the runway. You know it's going to be there but it's still a thrill when you see it.

My first time to minimums was into Burbank in the 90's, with a Southwest 737 in trail. I remember how FOCUSED I was, but almost surprised when I looked up at minimums and saw the lights, just a bit right of the nose. Completed the landing, cleared the runway and looked out just to see the Southwest's landing lights as he announced "Missed approach". Grinned all the way home...

As a VFR pilot with 15 hours of instrument training, this video reminds me of just how difficult flying is, and how much more difficult IFR flying is. The pilot workload can become overwhelming SO easily. Between 6 instruments to constantly watch, altitude, heading, attitude, speed + briefing and planning and reading charts and plates, having to think about what to say to ATC and when, thinking about how to enter a pattern, remembering to do the aircraft checklists and dealing with the props and mixture, remembering to turn on the approach lights, and doing all this ideally ahead of the plane by as many minutes as possible...respect for all pilots that do this properly. Especially student pilots, low time pilots and instructors. Especially for pilots that fly steam gauges and manually. In the age of G1000s and autopilots, when the plane flies itself, things as just so much easier and can lead to complacency and loss of real skill.

edit: Just realized this is 4 years old! Maybe you'll still get something out of this though! Stellar CFI and great flying! Here's some critiques from a fellow CFI. 1. On departure, if no ODP exists nor a DP is assigned, then climb straight out to cross the opposite end of the runway at (35') or higher and continue your climb to at least (400') before turning on course. 2. Phraseology for climbs and descents is "[atc]; N480H; 2 thousand climbing 3 thousand", don't use thru, for, at, or to. Also, you don't need to include your type, just use November. 3. NOTE: I like the NATS acronym for approaches. NOTAMS; ATIS, Arrival, and Approach; Touchdown and Taxi; Systems. a. NOTAM: Brief any applicable NOTAMs and how they will effect you (tip - do this during preflight). b. ATIS: Retrieve WX. c. Arrival: Brief the STAR or how you are planning to navigate onto the SIAP. d. Approach: Brief the SIAP or visual approach. e. Touchdown: Brief what runway you are landing on, expected rollout, and where you expect to exit. f. Taxi: Brief expected taxi route to destination. g. Systems: Brief systems usage. This is generally AP and you might brief how much it will fly, when you expect to disconnect it, and what you'll do if it fails or can not maintain a stabilized approach. 4. The PT 2 min and 1 min rule of thumb usually works great, but in a Banana you have to keep in mind that 10nm requirement. If you are doing 140kts TAS with a 10kts tail wind outbound (150 GS) then you're travelling 2.5 miles a minute. If you time 2 min outbound, then 1 min for the PT, include your 180 degree turn at PT, and some fudge factor for timing inaccuracies then you very easily can exceed the 10nm requirement. Best thing is to slow to an initial approach speed or shorten your outbound. I prefer slowing down, puts you closer to a landing configuration. This is more of a concern in an aircraft without a nice range ring. 5. NOTE: Approach clearances follow a nice acronym, PTAC; it stands for Position, Turn, Altitude, and Clearance. You only read back TAC. 6. Avoid abrupt control inputs and moving your head around too much. Both of which can result in illusions very quickly. Keep everything within arms reach and only shift your eyes when looking around the cockpit. 7. NOTE: As you descend on a SIAP the winds will change drastically. Your initial heading bug for wind correction will have to be updated somewhat frequently (you started inbound with a 20-30 degree correction, but ended up with only a 10-15 correction). 8. For missed approach consider a memory aid like the 5 Cs; Cram (throttle and mixture), Climb (level-off then climb), Clean (carbheat, flaps and gear), Configure (SUSP on 530, missed checklist), Call (ATC with intentions). 9. If you aren't looking at your instruments (checklists, bugs, GPS, etc.), do not make control inputs. Lightly leave your hand hovering on the yoke. When you come back to the 6 pack, go straight to the attitude indicator. 10. Stabilized Approach Concept is very important, and your CFI is awesome for hammering it home. For reference here is SAC for my company... a. 1000 from DA/MDA: Configured to land. b. 500 from DA/MDA: Stabilized - Vref +10/-0, lateral and vertical guidance within 1 dot, configured to land. You may correct any errors here. c. 300 from DA/MDA: Stabilized - Vref +10/-0, 1 dot, configured. If by this point you do not meet SAC, then go-around is required. d. Callout each of these altitudes and whether your are configured, stabilized, correcting, or going-around. I really want to stress, that you did exceedingly well as a student in night IFR. You're putting in the work and it shows! Everything here are items that will take you from an amatur to a proffesional.

The best Instructors fly 3 steps ahead of the Student. This Instructor was teaching you how he does it. You got lucky by having him mentor you.

Very educational way to go over an IFR approach. We, as observers, get to see the issues we all have seen and catch them as they happen from the comfort of our desk. My first ILS at night to minimums was into LNS. We were holding a noticable crosswind correction when the approach lights appeared. When I started a bank toward the direction of the lights, my instructor stopped me with a quick hand to the yoke and said "don't turn...hold your current heading". That was a revelation to me. My current heading was what was needed to get to the runway...obviously. Live and learn. Some things can only be learned by doing.

As a student doing their IR rating this is the most enlightening video i have seen so far. Super helpful seeing it all done in real IR. Thanks for sharing

I remember my my first solo IFR approach was a busted forecast into Fredrick Md another 100 feet it would have been minimums. I just got my rating but I wanted just a few more lessons before I thought I was ready. I was in a Piper Arrow no gps then all gauges all I kept thinking was I done this at least 100 times before with my instructor gentle and deliberate control movements cross check everything and stay focused and calm. WHEW when I broke out there it was the runway your first real instrument approach is something you never forget.

Great video! And I have to say that Matt's 'nuggets of wisdom' basically saved your life on about 40 occasions!

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. Incredibly beneficial learning experience for anyone watching who understands basic aviation terminology. Real world example on why sticking to procedures especially for missed approaches is so very important.

I feel stressed watching this, in spite of my IR(R)...! It’s amazing how much harder this is when you swap the sim for a real aeroplane. The vestibular illusions (which we of course ignore but it’s yet another sensory input which we must use executive function to discard), the radio chatter in..... varying volume (good old AM radio), throwing the entire approach brief in the can when something changes, not having an AP to help the workload so programming, gaining SA for the new procedure whilst flying and not losing the scan, managing prop, MAP, gear. Well done to the trainee; this is properly hard and managing the workload is sooooo much harder than in the sim

A trick on many garmin units to load a 2nd approach is to go to an empty/inactive flight plan and hit the “menu” key, and load an approach on that separate flight plan using the menu-key method (instead of the PROC procedures button), and then when it’s time to switch approaches you just make the other flight plan your primary flight plan and activate the approach.

Excellent----thank you for sharing this! I've been flying VFR for 40 years but love watching what it is like to fly IFR. Can not imagine what it was like to fly IFR before FMS's or GPS.

I used to provide instrument training at night in IMC all the time. This was well before any type of GPS. Now 35+ years later and a career in FAR 91 two pilot corporate flying, I sometimes wonder what the heck was I thinking. The CFII did a fantastic job here. The experience the student gained in this training was invaluable. The actual missed approach for example. For those of you watching that are instrument students…once you are rated and plan on night IMC flight, be very conservative with it. Raise your minimums, plan your alternates&fuel carefully. Lastly, any widespread low IFR, forecasted icing or convective WX should be avoided.

I got my private and instrument rating at the Cedar Rapids Airport many years ago. Watching this video brings back a lot of memories - lots of nights flying with my instructor, Harley Noe. May he rest in peace. This was back when Wathan Flying Service was where Signature is now.

I am not a pilot and watching videos like this I am pretty impressed with the amount of workload on the pilots. A lot of things to memorize, check and do. Fascinating stuff. Will keep learning.

Refreshing to see an instructor that’s comfortable and good at instructing, allowing mistakes, calming letting the student fix it. They can’t learn if the instructor is always hovering on the controls. Good job. New subscriber, not sure why I just found your channel

I think this is the first IMC approach video that I have seen. Thanks for posting this! Something to look forward to for later when I finally have my Private Pilot!

I am not a pilot and loved watching this. The instructor was top notch to detail.

just got my ppl a few months ago. Wow! this is really cool. I am sweating just watching this. So much to learn about IFR. Well done.

Lots to like here - particularly the calm of the CFII and the student. I would've been pretty stressed as an IFR student, even as a current instrument pilot, with 500+ hours - in night flight, at minimums, using (what I'd call) old school avionics and DEFINITELY working a hard VOR approach (with procedure turns). Finally, as if all that wasn't enough -- my god -- a one yoke bonanza! Even if there was a pilot freak out, could a CFII take control? Probably not. Even on the 2nd approach, with complete VFR sight of the runway, the approach was unstabilized and botched. Even so, All in all, very very impressive. Nice job - but not for me, thanks - either as pilot or safety.

Awesome video. Had me feeling task saturated just watching. Great work by CFI Matt. Makes me want my instrument rating even more.

My old instructor used to say “ stay ahead of the aircraft “ meaning know what should happen next and be ready for it not to happen. Easy to say, hard to do. Good job, good video. Stay safe.

This is great stuff, extremely educational.

Most CFIIs I know wouldn't shoot an approach to min with a student in actual. Honestly, I don't blame them. Instrument students are often very low time pilots and can get overwhelmed very easily. It's a skillset that can be learned without going to mins in IMC, but doing the thing for real is a psychological challenge in itself, outside of simply applying learned skills. That has a lot of value. This instructor was able to bring the student just barely past his workload limit which is the best way to improve skills. There were times when I thought some of the concept teaching he was doing would have been better done on the ground after the landing (especially after the FAF). That would be my only criticism, only because most (if not all) students aren't going to be receptive to new information at 1500 feet, at night, in IMC, tracking a localizer, scanning instruments, and looking for the runway.

After learning to fly in Iowa, then living in AZ for almost 20 years, now that I'm back, I have renewed respect for IFR WX and not just the mountains. Great Video, Thank You!

Thank You very much for sharing this! I don't have a PPL yet, but I'm thinking about that for many years now, and I thought that I would immediately go for instrument rating as well to be on a safe side, when conditions deteriorate, but seeing this shows, that before your brain has enough capacity to handle instrument flying, it first needs to have basics (basic instrument scans, keeping level, rate of turn etc.) deeply etched in. So basically You no longer need to "think" about flying - it's your second nature, so that you had brain capacity to handle IFR procedures. I didn't take that into consideration before I saw this video, on how workload-heavy it might become, doing IFR approach in IMC.

This video is buttery smooth. I thought this was flight sim 2020

Importance of very small corrections becomes real when inbound on course and glide-path in the soup at night. Great flight!

Altimeter is WHAT IS HAPPENING... VSI is WHAT'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN. 🙂

Great student, great instructor. Lots of pointed conversation and reflection. Overall, good control of aircraft and comfortable on the COMMS while fiddling with hard IMC, night, and a complex aircraft. Nice job all around!

Good instruction. Very aware of student's actions and the overall situation.

This was a wonderful, real world instructional video. Brought back fond memories of my training days. Thanks for sharing.

Man, flying instruments only looks so stressful. I'm currently saving my money so I can get my PPL!

This is a great video for me I am studying for my IFR rating and I own a 1960 beechcraft debonair

wow, I'd be freaking out and wouldn't be able to do this by myself....great calmness and skill....Impressive!!

I did my 1st instrument approach after getting my private from Tacoma to Olympia in IMC, rain and winds with a Cessna 172SP. None of the instruments worked because of the driving rain. I was completely lost! My flight instructor was awesome. We did a missed approach and back to Tacoma Narrows. I've never been so scared in my life. That is the perfect video for a new instrument pilot!

This brings back so many memories; and I didn’t have the world looking over my shoulder via RU-vid! Great job and thanks for publishing.

God damn this is pretty nuts. About 10-15 hrs into my PPL and I can't imagine flying like this. Will get there someday though!

Very experienced instructor. Single yoke yet. He trusts you ;)

Very calm & knowledgeable instructor. Enjoyed being taken back to my old flying days. Cheers.

Fascinating video, real nailbiting at times! I'd say you did a great job. I've 28 years of VFR flying in (what we now call) LSAs and tip my hat to you sir. At my age and concentration abilities I could not do what you did here. The level of critical multi-tasking you did at times would have fried my old brain. Well done!

What a phenomenon training experience. Most IFR training these days is on advanced avionics eg G1000 and mostly simulated. My personal minimums, I will never fly in actual IMC, single engine, single pilot, at night on needles (G1000 or better avionics is preferred for better situation awareness haha in such conditions. Unfortunately at my first job, it wasn't like that but at least it was a crew environment 🚁 haha. This video is from 4 years ago so I'm sure both of you guys probably fly for the majors 🐐. 121 safety is better and amazing equipment 🛫

Wasn't at night, but my first approach close to minimums after earning my ticket taught me a lesson I never forgot. I was so incredibly focused on nailing all the procedures and being perfectly aligned with the runway and hitting every altitude, which I did, that I descended from cruise to the middle marker without ever touching the mixture control. Silence was deafening. I was rather busy for a couple of minutes. Don't EVER make that mistake!

My multi engine IFR exam actually was in the same conditions. My examiner was really happy as he told me that couldn't be better scenario for exam. I wasn't that much happy :D

Wow great example of IMC. Thanks for sharing.

This is bad ass..you were in the soup. I love that landing light in the clouds. Im working on my instrument right now.

I did a non-precision approach on a medevac mission at a county airport. It was a non terminal approach using time and bearing from the NDB. Minimums were 700 AGL. The clouds were 300 scattered. We could see the approach end of the runway through our chin bubble. Fortunate thing in a helicopter; you can bring it to a halt and hover through sucker holes easily. It was daylight. We would not have tried that at night.

As I was watching this I am reminded of the difficulty in SPIFR. You do not have the guy whispering words in your ear, cross checking you and helping. I find I talk to my self a lot. Great training doing instruments at night. I spent a lot of time teaching guys in Pakistan instruments in a Huey :) Even VFR in the high desert it is dark dark.

This is a great example of how automation makes everyone non-current. Even though the student is learning, it is showing you exactly how hard it is to do all these tasks and hand fly the airplane without hundreds of hours of experience in the make and model. If you have auto pilot, it’s suggested to use it, but you should also do some hand flying in VFR at altitude and getting used to the airplanes, power, setting, pitch, configurations and dissent rates. This way you have better control, setting up a profile, rather than chasing power, heading, and airspeed.

You always remember this flight… almost more than your first solo. I made one of these flights… departed into a 400ft ceiling… arrived at minimums.

Not something I ever wanted to do. Salute to you brave souls!

That instructor is awesome! He is very good! Great video guys! Thank you!

Kudos to the instructor! Very thorough

My first IMC ILS was with a Piper Archer into MDW with an ATA B727 on my ass. I broke out at about 800 tho.... so I'm really impressed how these guys flew down to mins in their Bonanza. Thanks for the video gents!

This might be the best IFR video on the internet....

Well done video, good training. Just remember: The most important factor in successful IMC flying is your COMMITMENT. Learn to instantly forsake what is outside your windshield and commit to your instruments. Nice job on this production.

Great video and good job staying calm! Your cfII did a great job as well!

Excellent work! Thanks for the ride and education on the challenge and even terror IMC offers.

Thanks, that was fun.

Awesome video! Good practice and good instructor.

That was fun. Can't wait to do it myself someday.

I remember a Navajo flight I did into Des Moines Iowa in 1987. Day time but fog and a ceiling on the runway. Several other A/C shot the approach going missed trying to get the fog to clear up a bit. When I did my approach I broke out at about 50 feet. A real sweater that one was.

One of the best ifr videos Ive seen. If you noobs out there got chills on that imagine a twin with an engine fire or failure and the expectation that no needles move as you expertly shut it down. 14:15I don't see a faf symbol on that plate. I don't think there is a faf. Also I think the question should have been ...where CAN we leave 2700 feet. Answer...when ON the inbound track and within the 10 mile ring for the approach. Because of the students high rate of turn inbound he ended up skinny and was not technically ON the inbound track when the instructor authorized a descent to 1800.

Very educational for future flight training.

Thank you mister. Fells cosy, exactly as is on msfs. Thank you!

Nice! This gives me something to aspire to! Matt seems like a great instructor.

I feel for you too! Great video, thank you.

Bruce Dickenson in his memoir “What Does This Button Do?” told of his solo IFR landing in zero visibility. I got sweaty just reading it. So many good aviation stories in that book.

Great CFII, and good hand flying this high performance in night IMC. Great job guys!

You can load the next approach by creating a fight plan in the catalog using the menu, not the PROC key. That leaves the current flight plan intact. Then it's ready to a load when you are ready.

As random dude at home, I love the mix you did with the Headset comms in one ear and the Cockpit audio in the other, You can pretend to be a passenger if you mute one of the audio channels :D

Lots of hours/cycles flying in and out of CID hauling checks back in the day when the FBO was on the west side of the ramp. Miss those days.

beautiful. I love that video

On a missed , I used 5 C’s Cram, climb, clean, cool, communicate. The 5 T’s are great tool too, although we don’t have to twist with an HSI Good in air review of Ground and Space based approaches. I’m sure your last approach was an ILS, making it the trifecta of complexity for the student IFR pilot. Great instruction

great stuff. I'm prepping for my IR checkride and found this real world IFR flight helpful.

it amazes me that anyone can actually do this.

Wow this is such an interesting way to fly

I was so confused, I thought this was gonna be a MSF video, the moment I realized it was real it was even scarier.

I remember my first IFR landing. I was sweating buckets. It was like flying inside a light bulb. ALL i had was instruments. But, the ILS system brought me down right in line with the runway. No issues landing.

Wow! Very intense and huge workload. Thanks for sharing this. This scared the crap out of this VFR pilot. IMC at night. I can't imagine doing this is windy, gusty conditions...

What an experience! Thanks for sharing! Awesome job!

AMAZING vid..... brilliant with all the details ...

Using your handheld phone for the approach plates in IMC is wild lol

Great IFR flight with your CFII

Very nice! It took me a while to trust the reindeer in IFR and not my own senses 🎄

Great training video. Scary how easy it is to get disoriented. Great pilot and great CFI!

Looks pretty hard... respect for all of u pilots that actually fly blind like this... super scary

Great video and great job. Also, good call on your instructor's part by noting the "evasive" actions you would have to make to complete that landing. Always rememeber 91.175 for your requirements to land under IFR. Keep up the good work!

Did all my flight training in DBQ. This brings back good memories.

I like this instructor.

Gradually drifting off course is really a challenge when you are too focused on procedures. Been there, it's not an easy task for first few hours flying IFR. Btw great video and superb instructor.Salut!!!

Keep the practice up and stay safe out there! Great video!

Fantastic, well done guys! Thanks for sharing this..

Huge pucker factor! I can't imagine training in IMC to mins without a yoke for the CFII.

dude, i would have been shitting. scary as hell. nice instructor

I remember hand flying my first few low approaches in actual thinking OMG!!

Awesome CFII. Wish I had one that good during my instrument training.

Great video reminds me of my flight instructor! I hope you add more videos like this one!