Menu Sign In Contact FAQ
Banner
Welcome to our forums

IR Test Route Help

I’m doing my IR test next week and the route I’ve been asked to plan is EIWT-EINN. I just want to run it by people here to make sure I have my thinking is right. It will be steam gauge only, PBN later. There’s an unpublished SID that is basically just to fly the BAL320 radial until you’re given a direct by Dublin to your first waypoint. My plan is to fly this and intercept the DUB247 radial outbound to 41 DME which corresponds with waypoint PELIG and basically tracks airway V14. Then I’ll fly it to SHA which is the beacon for the ILS procedures. Plan would then be BAL320009-DUB247041-V14-SHA

Dublin CAS base steps up to 4500 ft on this route up to PELIG and is class C above 7500 ft thereafter. There is also a restricted area on the way with a base increasing from 1000-1500-2500 ft to FL240 and an MOA that extends almost the whole way to the Shannon CTA so my thinking is that one should attempt to fly the whole route in CAS to make all of this ATC’s problem and it should be filed at FL080, even though one could theoretically fly the route lower. I assume the absolute minimum is FL060 as the MEA for the airway is 5000 ft. I’d appreciate if you experienced IR flyers and trainers could go through my reasoning and check its OK, and also maybe point out any other gotchas with this route.

Last Edited by zuutroy at 14 Sep 17:05
EIMH, Ireland

What sort of service does OCAS IFR traffic get in Ireland?

That is the first Q to answer, because you don’t want to get screwed up by ATC when already under pressure.

In the UK, the FTOs have “standard routes” for training and tests, which are partly OCAS (Class G) and the flight plan states that it is for training. I can’t remember how this is done; it may be a RMK/something, or the aircraft type may be EXAM or some such. The callsign is certainly EXAMxx where xx is a number assigned sequentially to the CAA authorised examiners (I think the EXAM01 guy is long dead now; mine was EXAM09 and I vaguely recall numbers around 90 nowadays). The training can be all in Class G but the IR test requires a bit of CAS, and this bit tells London Control to “be nice to it” rather than dump it the moment it leaves CAS which is what they normally do. On my JAA IRT I didn’t actually do this procedure since the flight was done (out of Shoreham EGKA) mostly in Class G along the south coast and had a bit of Class D at EGHI which was straightforward.

The next Q is: if in CAS, how far in do you have to be to get a continuous service? In the UK they want to see you substantially in, by 1000-2000ft at least. Also they have certain standard routes which work around the traffic to the big airports.

On the day you may get IMC and icing at an altitude which gets you properly into CAS. This is one of the issues in IFR; often, to avoid icing, you need to climb to oxygen levels. Hopefully you can avoid this since you can’t do the IRT with cannulas The examiner will expect you to cancel in such a case. The actual flight needs to be in VMC, or in IMC well below freezing levels.

Finally, the best person to know should be your IR instructor. He ought to have been training you to pass the test

Don’t forget to do your homework 100%. I got notams and found the EGHI NDB was INOP, which meant I got the VOR approach and not the horrid NDB one Whether the examiner knew this, I will never know, but I suspect he did because nothing got past him. Now imagine I didn’t get notams and discovered this when arriving at EGHI…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Yea I suppose the instructor is the best person to ask. O think IFR in class G officially just gets FIS here. As you probably no there aren’t the various services you have in the UK. I assume once you’re in CAS here even by 100ft you get the full radar control as they’re pretty relaxed and straightforward here. None of the funny UK tricks!

EIMH, Ireland

Weather and scheduling problems meant I only got around to doing the flying portion today, and thankfully I passed! Small mistake in the unusual attitudes bit and my ILS was far from great as I fixated on the needles and flew it 10-15 kts too fast, but good enough to get the job done. Funny to think I could launch off into the Eurocontrol system next week without having learned everything I have here, and from watching real-life Euro IFR YouTube videos. I’d certainly get a shock! Great to have it done, but my plane is currently in the sick house so I guess with low icing levels my first IFR flight in anger will be next spring.

EIMH, Ireland

Well done!

Now, the skies are open for you (in ATC co-operation terms; the wx doesn’t care unless you can get above it ) and you will never look back.

What’s up with your plane?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I’m a bit reticent to post it, but as I’m dealing with it by the book and not trying to hide anything I guess its fine. Basically the same thing that happened to you after 1hr of ownership. Encounter with a rabbit hole resulting in minor turf impact for the prop, but enough to make me not want to fly regularly over the Irish Sea and the Channel without following Lycoming’s guidelines.

EIMH, Ireland

Congrats on the IR. Sorry for the mishap.

Where did you go for the ILS? Waterford? Quite a long ways…

I guess with low icing levels my first IFR flight in anger will be next spring.

Advice is not to do that. You will lose all your currencly and confidence. Rent a plane and do a little IFR cross-country very soon. Even in November, there are days when you can be on top and not have any problems with ice…

Last Edited by boscomantico at 18 Oct 20:47
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Oh yea I wouldn’t launch on my first IFR after such a long lay off; I would at least do another lesson or bring a current IR pilot. Maybe your idea is better though.

ILS was at EIME which is a military airport next-door to Weston who are very accommodating, but have been to Waterford on some lessons to build up the hours, as my school didn’t have a single engine certified sim.

EIMH, Ireland

What a bugger. Sorry to hear. I know how it feels – really horrible.

Yes definitely rent some “can” can do simple IFR flights. Pop over to the IOM

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Congratulations Zuutroy.
I can imagine it’s a massive relief to be ‘Done’.
I’m still wrestling with the exams, but hope to be in your shoes by the spring.
Well done, and sorry to hear about your misshap.

United Kingdom
13 Posts
Sign in to add your message

Back to Top