Our standard first lesson for new pilots.
You can log up to 20 of your 40 required hours in our FAA-approved AATD. Practice holds, approaches, and comms using real-world Jeppesen charts—synced to your EFB.
The written exam is the easiest part to procrastinate—and the hardest to cram for last minute. We recommend Sheppard Air for the fastest path to a high score.
Flying a six-pack now? That's fine. But we suggest doing your first 20 hours in our Garmin G1000 simulator. IFR flying is about logic and structure—not which button you press.
Earning your instrument rating requires meeting specific FAA-mandated experience and training requirements. This flowchart simplifies the journey, showing how your flight hours, simulator training, and cross-country experience all contribute to the 40 hours required under 14 CFR 61.65.
Explore each step to see how we help you efficiently achieve your instrument rating goals.
If your goal is a Cirrus, C182, or a high-performance checkout, your instrument rating is the right time to start. Our sim models constant-speed props and complex systems—so you can build good habits now and log credit toward your transition later.
Under Part 61, your IFR training can double as required cross-country time. Don't just fly in circles. Pick a 50+ NM destination. From day one, ask your instructor to plan S-turns, airspace transitions, and partial-panel diversions into real routes. You'll train harder—and smarter—while both you and your instructor log meaningful hours.
You'll learn twice as fast watching someone else make mistakes. Most schools discourage this. We encourage it. If you meet another student in the same phase, split a cross-country: you fly out, they fly back. You both get front-seat hours—and backseat perspective that makes your own flying sharper.
Our FAA-certified AATD lets you log 20 hours toward your instrument rating—without weather delays, scheduling chaos, or $300/hour rentals.
Most schools chase checkrides. We build real-world IFR confidence. Learn the logic behind every clearance, approach, and missed procedure—not just how to pass a test.
Every session follows our in-house IFR syllabus—built to help you progress faster, retain more, and avoid repeating lessons.
Located in Lower Manhattan, we're built for busy professionals. Train evenings or weekends—then show up to your next flight lesson ahead of the airplane.
How long does it take to earn your instrument rating?
Most pilots complete their instrument rating in 3-6 months, depending on training frequency and weather. Here's a realistic timeline:
Complete ground school and log your first 10-15 hours in our AATD. Master basic instrument procedures, holds, and approach types.
Transition to aircraft and build cross-country time. Most pilots need 20-30 hours of aircraft time after simulator prep.
Final polish for your instrument checkride. Mock checkrides and scenario-based training.
What does it really cost to earn your instrument rating in NYC?
Realistic cost estimates for instrument rating training in the NYC area:
Assumes 20 hrs simulator + 25 hrs aircraft. Add $1,000-$2,000 if you need extra aircraft hours.
What to expect on your IFR checkride
The instrument rating checkride consists of an oral exam and a flight test. Here's how to prepare:
From Simulator Proficiency to Real-World IFR
You've already done the hard work. The simulator phase builds your scan, logic, and workload management in a focused, distraction-free environment. Now it's time to transfer that discipline into the airplane—where everything moves faster, louder, and more real.
Here's how that transition works, step by step:
Lessons 1-2
Your first IFR flights aren't about proving you can fly instruments—they're about anchoring your simulator habits in the airplane. You'll start exactly as you did in the sim: with attitude, heading, altitude, and power. The difference is physical feedback—sound, vibration, and real ATC. That's where you'll feel the workload spike for the first few hours.
Rebuild your scan, keep the airplane trimmed, and prove your sim discipline holds under motion and noise.
You'll recognize that what felt theoretical now becomes muscle memory.
Lessons 3-6
By this point, your scan feels automatic and your brain is freed up for higher-order tasks: intercepting, sequencing, briefing, and managing energy. You'll fly multiple approaches per flight—holds, vectors, missed approaches—and begin stringing them together under light IMC conditions with your CFII.
Move from controlled repetition to dynamic decision-making.
The radio becomes background music. You're ahead of the airplane again.
Lessons 1-6 Note
Instead of flying circles near the field, you'll start logging real miles and real experience. Each lesson builds both IFR skill and cross-country time—typically 50 NM legs out and back with full procedures at each end. You'll start flying actual routes, managing workload, and integrating ATC communication in context. This phase connects your procedural skills to situational awareness—how navigation, weather, and traffic interact in the real system.
Use each flight to log cross-country time and IFR experience simultaneously.
You'll start thinking and briefing like an instrument pilot—not just an approach technician.
Lesson 6+
You're ready for real cross-country IFR missions—250 NM routes with three different types of approaches. At this point you'll already have: • Your 20 hours of AATD simulator time logged. • Most of your 15 CFII airplane hours completed. • A realistic checkride timeline—often within one month of starting aircraft work.
Complete checkride requirements efficiently while polishing your judgment and endurance.
Transition complete. You're not just instrument proficient—you're operationally ready.
You're trading analog simplicity for situational awareness. You'll learn a new visual rhythm: horizontal scan, energy management, and PFD logic. The simulator is the perfect place to learn this—it gives you access to glass avionics that most training aircraft can't afford to maintain.
The core skills—scan, pitch, power, trim—don't change.
The Perspective+ system is a G1000 with more automation and smarter layout. Cirrus introduces keypad entry, lateral/vertical mode logic, and higher cruise speeds—but the IFR logic is identical.
Everything you learned still applies. We train that logic first. The buttonology follows easily.
G3000 adds touchscreens and advanced VNAV, but the flow is the same. The simulator trains you to think in systems and modes—exactly the mindset you'll need for jet-level speed and workload.
The leap to turbine-level automation looks intimidating—but it isn't. The flow is the same.
Every transition—whether from simulator to airplane or from G1000 to G3000—comes down to the same skills:
Stable, methodical, unflappable.
Know what's next before it happens.
Pace, prioritize, and delegate.
You've already built that foundation. The simulator simply adds realism. By the time you're flying actual IMC with your CFII, you won't be "learning to fly instruments." You'll be executing procedures you already own.
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