I just published a new video on my channel: These 6 IFR Flights Tested Me the Most.
It’s a look back at the six real IFR flights that tested my decision-making the hardest in the five years since I got my instrument rating. Most of my flying is completely normal — nothing dramatic. But these six stood out: thunderstorms and ice on a long European leg, a genuine Cat I minima ILS in deteriorating weather, a fast-moving cold front on the way into Ibiza, delayed departures with weather closing in, and a couple of other situations that forced hard choices about fuel, alternates, and whether to continue.
These weren’t training scenarios. They were real flights with real weather, real ATC constraints, and real consequences. In the video, I walk through what happened on each one, the mitigations that worked (and the ones that needed improvement), and the honest lessons I took away: better weather briefing habits, tighter SOPs, stronger situation awareness by listening to other traffic, and the value of having a clear “get-out” plan before destination fixation sets in.
I put this together because looking back at the flights that stretched me the most has made me a better pilot. Sharing the raw decisions and reflections feels useful for anyone who flies IFR in general aviation, especially those of us who don’t do it every day. I’d genuinely like to know what you would have done in the same situations.
If you’ve had similar “this one tested me” IFR flights, drop them in the comments on the video or here. Always good to learn from each other’s experiences.
