Instrument Rating Checkride Prep
Review one IFR trip from preflight weather through the missed approach. Change the weather, equipment, or clearance as you study, and work out what each change affects.
Choose what to review
Instrument ACS topics
The current FAA Instrument Rating – Airplane ACS listed by the FAA is FAA-S-ACS-8C. The strongest way to use it is to brief a complete IFR trip: weather, alternate thinking, fuel, route, clearances, departures, en route navigation, arrival, approach, missed approach, equipment failures, and what would make you stop the plan before launch.
Subjects to review
- Instrument privileges, currency, inspections, equipment, and IFR flight-plan requirements.
- Weather interpretation, icing and thunderstorm risk, ceilings and visibility, and deciding whether the approach is worth attempting.
- Navigation systems, failure indications, RAIM/WAAS concepts where applicable, and how to keep a usable backup plan.
- Departure, holding, arrival, approach, missed-approach, and circling concepts using current procedures.
- Partial-panel and automation management without losing the basic attitude-instrument scan.
Tools for instrument practice
Aviation Weather
Pull current METAR and TAF data, then open the official source when the flight depends on it.
Route Planner
Build a route and keep the planning numbers together.
3° Descent Rate
Turn groundspeed into a target vertical-speed reference for a three-degree path.
Top of Descent
Practice altitude-to-lose and gradient math.
Navigation Reference
Review course, heading, wind, DME, coordinates, and navlog relationships.
Oral-review prompts
Practice answering these aloud: When does an alternate become required, and what source are you using? What would make a legal alternate a bad choice? How do you know whether a GPS failure changes the approach you can fly? What is your plan if the weather drops while you are already in the hold? Where does the missed-approach procedure actually begin?
FAA references
Find the current standard for your certificate on the FAA Airman Certification Standards page. Use relevant chapters from the FAA handbooks, the AIM, current regulations, and aircraft documents. For procedures, use the current chart and read its notes before briefing the approach.