Any licensed private pilot who has tried to earn their instrument rating knows that traditional instrument flight training can be slow, frustrating and unnecessarily redundant. Medford, Oregon-based Certified Flight Instructor Field Morey realized long ago that he needed to get his instrument students away from the distractions of day-to-day life so they could focus on the process of learning IFR mastery.
To separate life from flight training, Morey takes two students at a time on what he calls "West Coast Adventure Flights" spanning six days flying throughout the American West. He has used this technique to teach instrument flying for over 40 years, with over 600 pilots building hours towards their IFR rating while seeing the Western United States from inside Morey's 2008 Cessna T182T Skylane aircraft.
Morey offers three different IFR adventure flights:
The Alaska Adventure is an incredible area to spend a week of flight training while enjoying the majestic scenery and grandeur of the great America wilderness. On this once-in-a-lifetime trip, is as important as the six days of IFR flight training you'll receive, much if it in the kind of real-world IMC that is found in Alaska.
After departure from Medford, IFR flight students cross over into Canada and clear Canadian customs using CANPASS. The flight then travels north along the British Columbia coastline, and after clearing U.S. Customs at Ketchikan, the trip has planned stops at Anchorage, Sitka,Yakutat, Cordova, Juneau, and other points of interest. If weather allows, students may also see Mt. McKinley (Denali).
For pilots seeking to learn backcountry flying and operations, Morey offers the Wilderness Adventure Flight, a six-day flight designed as an instrument refresher as well as a chance to learn the skills for operating in the Idaho backcountry.
The course begins in Medford with two flight students and Morey traveling north into Washington, Idaho and Montana to learn the "ins and outs" of operations from mountain strips as well as canyon techniques. On this adventure, pilots get time to hike, fish or just relax and enjoy the solitude of the Idaho Wilderness.
Pilot and flight student Blake Picquet of Fort Worth, TX was one of Morey's students on this adventure a few years ago. "Never will you find another opportunity to combine a legendary instructor with the panoramic views and intensity of the Idaho backcountry. The result is a trip that will put all your skills to the test...commercial, instrument, and of course, fly fishing," Picquet said.
Morey also offers the Rockies Adventure Flight, a six-day training session that combines IFR mountain techniques with beautiful scenery from the Rockies and American Southwest. After stops in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona, the training continues in the busy Class Bravo airspace of the Los Angeles and San Francisco regions before arriving back in Medford, Oregon.
One aspect of Morey's Adventure Flights is the a brand new Cessna 182 Skylane with glass cockpit. The turbocharged Skylane provides the additional performance needed in the mountainous areas along with additional power to climb above the icing conditions during the winter months. The aircraft has a full Garmin G1000 instrument panel and is soon to be equipped with Garmin "Synthetic Vision Technology" plus TAWS-B Terrain and Obstruction Data, GDL-69 Datalink with XM Weather and Radio, and Garmin GFC700 Autopilot, Morey has even outfitted his Skylane with Bose noise canceling headsets to create a quiet training environment.
The training program has proven to be such a success, all trips during Morey's 2008 training season easily sold out. He has launched a new website that is sure to continue making his West Coast Adventure Flights one of the most popular IFR training programs in the country.
Author Resource:-
Author Dan Pimentel owns a creative studio in Oregon and frequently writes about aviation topics on his blog, World of Flying.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlelayout.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
