My first filed IFR flight. To Teterboro. Must go faster! 

Thanks for watching. Good luck with the flight to Teterboro! It’s not as bad as you’re probably thinking. 😀

Indeed!

Thanks John. Ambitious indeed. Wouldn’t have been my first choice if the weather had been better the previous couple of months, for sure!

Thanks, TJ!

Thanks Reale! That one coming up was fun, if a bit stressful keeping a constant eye on the temps to make sure icing wasn’t a concern. I’m planning to have it out within a couple of weeks.

Thanks very much, I appreciate that. Yeah, I completely understand why they need me to go fast, it's just a bit stressful when I've never done an approach that fast before. :) Thanks for watching!

Nice! Speed brakes. Something I should add to my wish list. Right alongside more speed. 😀

Thanks, Gary! lol, yeah on one flight a controller was calling me a Comanche. He caught himself after a few transmissions and apologized, I just said "hey, I wish I was as fast as a Comanche, I'll take it!"

Thanks Peter! I completely agree, it was a bit of an ambitious choice. If the weather had actually been IMC I wouldn’t have done it.

Thanks, Dan!

Thanks, Zach, it makes me really happy that my video(s) have some sort of positive impact. And if I can give you a piece of advice: don't wait, go for that instrument training! It's already made me a better and more attentive pilot, and it makes more flights open to you. Not unlimited, of course, but it widens the aperture.

They are indeed! But that was mostly US ATC in that video. 😀

Hey there, thanks for watching. I tend to start going through FBOs pretty far in advance of my flight. My main criteria are: 1) cost, 2) proximity to the city or whatever I'm trying to visit, 3) availability of a courtesy car if I'm just stopping for a couple of hours, and 4) cost of fuel. Obviously smaller airports often have only one FBO on the field, so unless I can consider other airports, there's no option. But if the field has multiple FBOs, or if I have a few different airport options, I'll go on their web sites to check for prices, and call them up to get more details about the REAL availability of courtesy cars, etc. Coming down from Canada, customs is a consideration, too - the FBO has to be close to or have easy to access from the customs ramp (if that's separate). And finally, rental cars - I'll check to see if an FBO has rental cars available right at the FBO, and if not, then how easy/difficult it is to get one from a nearby location (on or off airport). I'm cheap - I'd rather spend my money flying than on extra amenities - so I'll compare the prices of rental cars from the FBO vs direct from the rental agency, too. New York is great. Teterboro is fun to fly into, but it is a bit stressful. If you have the flexibility, go into one of the airports on Long Island or in/close to Connecticut, instead. I've had people reach out to me to suggest Westchester KHPN, and Farmingdale KFRG.

That would be fun, I’ve thought about flying to Long Island a few times.

Thanks very much! I know what you mean about that first solo. Mine was WAY back in the late 90s in a Diamond DA20, before life intervened and 19 years went by before my second first solo. But both of them will stick with me forever. I'm curious, did you get to do much IMC during your IFR training? I was lucky and probably had 6-7 hours of IMC during training, which meant I knew what to expect and how I'd react. I can't imagine being in IMC for the first time all by myself.

@@WingsOverTO In Central Texas IMC is hard to come by! I had very little during training. I wasn't concerned on that flight because the big cumulus clouds were widely scattered & easy to escape from if I changed my mind about going through them. I was nervous for sure, but super-confident and excited to do it. The longest I was in any one cloud was maybe 10-15 seconds. I had autopilot in the Archer II but didn't touch it!

Thanks Thomas, that’s good advice!

Oddly, I quite enjoyed it. :)

Nice. At DFC?

@@WingsOverTO next door, CFA.

Thanks Peter, yes indeed! I barely flew once a month during the winter this year.

Thanks! I find out what FBOs are there and then email or phone them to ask for details on services, prices (ramp, parking, fuel, extras), availability of crew cars/rentals/rides to nearby transit, etc, and then pick whichever seems to meet most of my criteria. If you're wondering about the logistics, I use Foreflight to figure out which FBOs are at each airport, and it provides email addresses and phone numbers for them as well.

Hi Nelson, thanks! That’s actually a CO monitor from Aithre. It’s great, it connects via Bluetooth to my iPad so I can actually see the exact CO levels and it warns me through my headset if the level gets high. aithreaviation.com

Thanks! I use the iPhone for my checklists (I keep a paper backup in the door pocket just in case) and as a backup map in terrain mode so if I lose my engine I can quickly flip to it to find a road or a field if necessary. The iPad runs my main map with VNC or IFR map layer, and I use it for a scratchpad, reviewing plates, keeping track of fuel consumption, etc. I do my main route planning/revising on my iPad, which then sends the route to my Garmin 430w, which then sends it to my iPhone. I love the setup, it works well for me.

Nicely done. Do you have a Flightstream 210 installed? I was wondering the same when you were ready to taxi so soon after receiving the clearance even though it turned out the route was expected. Filing IFR makes it so easy to get in the system and stay with them. You might not have experienced it yourself while in Florida on your Bahamas trip but probably heard others not being able to get flight following due to work load. It can leave one in a bad position uncovered with all the traffic and restricted/military areas which can increase the workload dramatically in some parts of the US.

@@terrypedersen7 that's right, I have a Flightstream 210 installed - it's a game changer! I have a love/hate relationship with the user interface on the 430w, and entering flight plans is absolutely the worst part about it, but the 210 makes it a breeze. Yeah, I wish I had the instrument rating when I did my Bahamas trip, it would have made it so much easier! And even here in the Toronto area, VFR flight following gets denied a fair bit because of workload, and as you said, filing IFR makes that a non-issue.

I fly with a GTN750 and glass have been throwing around the idea of a Flightstream 510 card for the last few years. Every time I get near proceeding I keep finding reasons why not to. The GTN makes flight plan inputs a breeze but there are also times where I get stumped and can also use the experience to familiarize myself with the functions. Earlier this week in busy Florida I was given a head scratcher but I didn’t want to indicate unable and get pushed back in the system. While trying to think and fumble through the request I knew I had the trusty iPad to bail me out. The controller indicated a descend to 4000’ by 15 NM northeast of KVNC which was my destination. Unfortunately this was nowhere near being on my route. I have never been handed such an odd request before but realized it was being provided to clear airspace then I would be directed out into the gulf after to join the active runway. Direct to a fix or vectors would have been more common. Long story short I bailed from trying to configure a user waypoint within the 750 and scaled and found a point close enough on the iPad to pick a heading and fly to. So for the last few days I have been contemplating how the Flightstream could have helped if I was more proficient in user waypoints within ForeFlight but as well if I was more proficient with the user waypoint functions within the GTN it would have been properly input. For now I think I will stick to learning the GTN functions that I never thought I would use and save the Flightstream for another day. I certainly would not hesitate for a moment if I was using a 430. That’s a lot of twisting, scrolling and button pressing.

@@terrypedersen7 Thanks, that's actually really good input for me. I'm getting a GTN650Xi put in next month, and although I've played with the simulator a bit, it's not the same as using the real thing. I'm going to try to use it directly more often, but I'm glad I'll have the 210 as a backup (and just to make sure all the devices are in sync).