IFR INRAT Exam
I wrote my INRAT exam this morning at the Transport Canada offices, which are located at Calgary’s Airport Corporate Centre. It’s a nice building but with no parking specifically for the building’s visitors (that I could find) I was forced to park in the airport parkade at a cost of $18.00 for the morning. To me, that seems like a deterant to anyone wishing to setup shop in the building, no matter how nice it is. Of course, it’s not like TC cares how much I have to pay to come visit them. Though, CFC is in the process of getting set up so that all TC exams can be written at the club instead; as of this blog entry you can do your private and commercial but not the INRAT (yet).
I considered taking the actual AeroCourse class but decided against it as I could not justify the cost (I’m a frugal kind of guy). And I figured since I was spreading my training out over many months, I’d have sufficient time to do all the required reading and study. Instead, I opted to purchase the AeroCourse workbook, which contains hundreds of sample questions broken out into various categories. I did most of the questions late last year after doing all the reading and then spent the majority of my time studying the areas that I was weak in. Then I redid most of the questions again last week in preparation for writing the INRAT.
A friend of mine who recently finished up his instrument rating bought the Instrument Rating 2005 books authored by Michael Culhane The texts have a Notice to Users which is very specific in what users, flying schools, clubs and instructors can do with the books but I’ve always felt that, other than copying, you should be free to do with a book as you see fit after you’ve bought it. That aside, I realize that this isn’t like a fiction novel in that the texts only really appeal to the people who decide each year to start their instrument rating in Canada. And given that there are an average of 2500 people issued Canadian pilot licences each year and only 14,400 pilots with instrument ratings, I suspect that there are not more than a few hundred people who start their instrument rating each year. That’s a relatively small market. So I can understand where Mr. Culhane is coming from.
There were several errors in the 2005 version of the Ground School Course book and although updates are available online, neither my friend nor I realized that until afterwards. That said, there was only one posted correction for 2005. There was also very little current information on GNSS and GPS approaches and overlays, which is a pity since both my friend and I ended up with six and four questions respectively on the exam dealing with GPS. Most of the sample approach templates were more than a few years old, which would be okay if the CAP style hadn’t changed. But the look of the CAP has changed, and if you are going to pay a premium for a book like this, I think the book should be as current as possible in all respects, and for me, that means that the sample approach plates should look exactly like the actual CAP plates. Since I read the Air Command Weather Manual and the Instrument Procedures manual first, I found the information in the ground course text to be basically an ultra condensed version of those two texts, plus the AIM. So if you are looking for a Cole’s Notes way to study then you can try the Culhane book. But my suggestion is to go out and buy the AeroCourse workbook (and no, I don’t have any relation whatsoever to AeroCourse), especially if you are the learn on your own type, and do the reading from the actual sources (IPM, ACWM and AIM). It’ll take more time, but I think you’ll find that you’ll learn more and get far more detail. Plus your goal should not be to simply pass the test but instead to learn the material such that you can safely act as PIC under IMC, and at the same time, pass the INRAT.
On a semi-related side note, here’s an interesting press release from ATP, whom Culhane tried to sue over some free exam questions that ATP had made available online. And there seem to be a lot of people with strong feelings on Culhane and his books.
This was the first real exam I’ve written since I graduated from University of Calgary in 1997. And like all the exams I had to write there, I was incredibly nervous despite all the studying. But, yes, I passed.
Update: In a message from Mr. Culhane, I’m told that the 2006 version of the Instrument Rating books have been re-written and have more current information. I can’t vouch for that, however, as I haven’t seen them but go and check it out for yourself. My comments above are based on the 2005 version of the texts only, not the latest, now available, 2006 version. And for anyone who might criticize me for using a 2005 book part way through 2006, yes I realize that I was using an older book. But when I started studying, it was 2005. I read the Instrument Rating 2005 books in 2005. And last time I checked, there were GPS (now GNSS) approaches in 2005. In fact, there were GPS approaches in 2004, since I have an older CAP 3 from 2004 with GPS templates in it.
