Federal Aviation Administration

I passed three instrument knowledge tests yesterday (FII, IGI, IRA) so I'm shelving this and the [Instrument Flying Handbook] as read even though I'll go back and consult throughout my instrument airplane training.

I have to say that this is the worst of the FAA handbooks that I've read. Usually the FAA handbooks (like the [Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge] or [Airplane Flying Handbook) are maybe not the best written books ever, but are terribly useful for the beginner pilot because show more they lay out all of the necessary information in a reasonably well-structured way.

I can't say that is true about the instrument handbooks, especially for this, the Instrument Procedures Handbook. One of the most important things for a student instrument pilot to master is approaches, and having no more than just an idea of what approaches are, I need to know what they are, how they're designed and flown... start with the basics, and build up.

The chapter about approaches in this book starts by talking about getting weather from DUATS (phased out) and 1800wxbrief (thankfully still in existence) and other weather products like HIWAS (phased out) and TIBS (phased out). So not only do I not want to know about products that haven't been in use for years, I also learned about how to get a weather briefing in my private pilot training. Then there's more information about ATIS/AWOS/ASOS including way more detail about the automated weather systems than I ever wanted to know. I still know zero about flying an approach meanwhile.

Then the very nitty-gritty regulations about weather requirements for part 91 / 135 / 121 is laid out in very intricate detail. This was the point at which I got completely demoralized reading this chapter, because it's too much too soon. I still don't know how to fly an approach or read an approach plate!

Maybe you get the idea? The handbook is poorly written. It was probably outlined by a committee of pilots who all got their instrument ratings decades ago and can't remember what the most important things are to *start* with, when talking to a beginner student instrument pilot. Start with the basics, then build on it from there. Include weather details in a separate chapter.

And that's only the chapter on approaches! Yikes! At any rate, if you're starting your ground training for instrument ratings, I recommend [The Pilot's Manual: Instrument Flying] as a primary source, and maybe just hit up the FAA handbooks for an informational nugget here and there. show less

I passed three instrument knowledge tests yesterday (FII, IGI, IRA) so I'm shelving this and the Instrument Procedures Handbook as read even though I'll go back and consult throughout my instrument airplane training.

I really hated the Instrument Procedures Handbook, but found this one to be more in-line with the quality of other FAA handbooks (such as the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and Airplane Flying Handbook). Reasonable information about how to fly on instruments that a show more beginner instrument student can grasp. show less

A very useful reference to use with your sectional charts and TACs, but I'm not sure how in this day and age the FAA couldn't manage to get higher resolution chart graphics in here. The images are unbelievably blurry to the point of being almost unusable.

I look forward to the day that all FAA practical tests have ACS rather than PTS. I was originally planning on getting my private ASEL, got mired in the difficulty of obtaining a 3rd class medical, and decided to get my sport while waiting for FAA Aeromedical. Because the sport and private for ASEL are so similar, I never bothered to read the PTS, having already combed through the private ACS numerous times.

Now I teach ground and am a few hours shy of taking my sport CFI checkride, so it show more makes sense for me to have a copy of the "guiding document" for sport checkrides. In addition, sport CFI is included in this PTS document.

First, I find the PTS to be just a confusing document altogether. The sport PTS includes airplane, weight-shift, and powered parachute so the whole book is really dense when all the applicant is going to need is a small portion herein. I was reading through the sport CFI section and I was so confused about how I had never heard of some of the things I was expected to do before I even realized I was in the weight-shift sport CFI section of the book. There really aren't good header/footer labs to make this clear. The table of contents for sport airplane has two sections which are labeled section 1 and section 4. I don't know what happened to sections 2 and 3; they're probably lost in some bureaucratic nightmare somewhere.

The ACS for private pilot contains lists of all references that are useful to each task to be included in the checkride. No such luck here in the PTS. Not a big deal if you're just getting a sport certificate as you can mostly just read the private ACS and figure everything out from there. Not as much luck for sport CFIs.

All in all, you can't exactly avoid this book if you want to really know what goes into the sausage of your sport pilot or sport CFI checkride, but you'll wish you could. show less