The Multi Engine Instrument Rating MEP/IR allows me to carry passengers and cargo in Instrument Meteorological Conditions IMC which basically means once I have my MEP/IR I can take off and land even when the airport is clouded over.
Half the course is carried out in a simulator while the other half is carried out in a Siminole PA-44 based in Waterford Airport. It will be the first time we will get the oppurtunity to fly in Ireland since all our flight training to date was carried out in Florida. I am looking forward to flying to Shannon as I'll be passing over my house in East Limerick along the way. We are also scheduled to fly on one international route which will probably be the Isle of Man or somewhere in Whales.

Week 56 Monday 9th March 2009
Went to the IAA office in Dublin Wednesday to collect my CPL licence while leaving 363 Euro behind. Unfortunately the extras are beginning to add up ! While I was in Dublin I contacted Simtech to see could I call to meet them while I was in the area. Simtech are a company based in Dublin Airport and they run an MCC course. I met two other guys from my class and together we went to meet the course coordinator. As luck should have it there was someone there to talk us through the different simulators and we got the opurtunity to fly circuits around Dublin Airport in a Boeing 737-200 simulator. It was a great experience.

Week 57 Monday 16th March 2009
Started the Instrument Rating course in Waterford while staying in the PTC housing which is close to Waterford Iinstitute of Technology 9 km from the airport. The course is held in the new PTC building located beside the Airport. We had three grueling 10 hour days of ground school to complete. The first two days were basic revision and the third day was explaining ILS approaches which was interesting. I found the 3 days really tiring. Not sure if I agree with having guys in a classroom for 10 hours in any day. The focus tends to be lost after the 6th hour. I think most studies on education would tend to agree.
Thursday and Friday we had our first simulator sessions as well as ground school. The simulator is a FNDT 2 which has a very realistic siminole cockpit. It is a stationary simulator so you get no sense of bank,acceleration or attitude but the graphics are quiet good. The handling is a bit different to the real thing but after a couple of days of dodgy flying you tend to get the hang of it.
Saturday evening will go down in memory for other reasons than flying. Ireland won the 6 nations rugby grand slam for the first time since 1948 (61 years). Needless to say we made sure our schedlue had us in early Saturday morning so as we were free to watch the match in the local that eve. Yes you heard it we are scheduled 7 days a week and sometimes twice a day. I thought the CPL was intensive but this is equally as intensive so far. Not complaining though. The quicker I get this course finished the better. It's been over a year now since I last received a wage. It's high time I get back in the work force.

Week 58 Monday 23th March 2009
Monday I flew to Shannon in the Simulator and Tuesday to Cork. Some days go better than others but on a whole I am starting to get the hang of instrument flying. Currently we are planning flights from Waterford using company SIDs to other airports using approach plates with a mixture of DME, NDB, VOR, ILS approaches along with Holdings and DME arcs. The holds are particularly hard when the instructor puts wind into the equation. The Simulator is controlled by a stack of computers so the instructor has the power over the winds and visibility which means if you are feeling over confident he can easily bring you back down to earth with a few gusts and maybe some low lying cloud with a click of a button. The rest of the week was spent flying in the simulator and some classes of ground school.

Week 59 Monday 30th March 2009
PTC now have an online schedule where students can look at their week in advance to check when they have classes/flying. It is great as it allows us to go home when we are free for a few days. Previous to this students had to stay in the student accommodation in Waterford and travel to the airport each morning to check the schedule. This week it so happened I had very little on my schedule so I went home for a few days. Friday on my return I finished my last simulator session.
Saturday after finishing ground school we got ready for the annual PTC aviation ball. This was a black tie dinner dance which took place in Faithleg Hotel  Co. Waterford. It was a good night the highlight probably being a NASA astronaut giving a speech on everyday life inside a space shuttle many miles up in the sky. Sunday there was nothing on the schedule for me so I went home to Limerick to recover from the night before.

Week 60 Monday 6th April 2009
I was scheduled to have my first flight in the Seminole on Monday but the weather took a turn for the worse and it was canceled.
The weather all week wasn't great but I eventually got flying Wednesday. The aircraft  in PTC Waterford are old compared to the aircraft in FIT Melbourne...... far removed from the Glass Cockpits we got used to ! However they seem to be well maintained and handle nicely. Watch out for EISKC though as it is difficult to keep within the centre of gravity limits. Friday I was scheduled for an international trip to the Isle of Man. For me I thought the trip was a bit of a waste as it did nothing for my training towards the IR check Ride. However it is good experience and nice to have an international flight added to your logbook although costly when a two hour flight on a PTC Seminole costs 1000 Euro.

Week 61 Monday 13th April 2009
Monday we were off due to Easter bank holiday. It was a good weekend again for Irish sport. Munster overcame Ospreys in the Heineken Cup European Quarter finals and Leinster beat Harlequins although unconvincingly.
Tuesday it was back to the business of flying. I did the usual flight which meant carrying out the company 'Standard Instrument Departure' SID as far as Clonmel CML where I was asked to perform holds over the CML beacon. It was a real good instrument flight as I was stuck in a very thick cloud during the entire flight. After the Holds I was asked to head back to Waterford WTD and perform a DME arc followed by a Localiser approach. This was followed by an Assymmetric go-around and more approaches but this time with the ILS.
It was a good flight overall I think I am nearing the stage of readiness for the check ride.
Wednesday I was scheduled for a flight to Cork but the cloud over Cork was 300 feet above the surface which is below our minimums. Instead I went on a local flight. I was given the aircraft EISKC which is the Seminole with the 3 props and the digital HSI. The flight was very average and I blamed a lot on the fact I couldn't see the RMI needle on the digital HSI very clearly. When you are doing an Instrument rating in Ireland an RMI needle becomes your best buddy as navigation is mostly based on NDBs.
The following day I was on EISKB which has an standard RMI. The flight went really well and I was ready for my mock check ride.
Friday I had my mock check ride. I had to do a flight plan for Waterford to Cork the night before. On the morning of the flight I had to calculate the weight and balance as well as performance calculations. The weather was marginal with low cloud just above minimums but we decided to go ahead. The whole journey from Waterford to Cork was in the middle of thick cloud ...... real instrument flying. In Cork I flew an ILS approach followed by a go-around and then a VOR hold followed by a VOR approach. Afterwards we flew straight back to Waterford for a few more approaches. The flight took 3 hours and it went very well. If only the actual check ride goes as well I should have no problem.
The flight was followed by an oral exam which took 2 hours.

Week 62 Monday 20th April 2009
Monday morning I went to PTC to finish my paperwork so I could be signed off for the final check ride. Once signed off I drove straight to Dublin to the IAA office near O'Connell bridge and handed it in. I could have just posted it but they say if you hand it in personally it speeds up the process.
The IAA informed me there was an examiner available during the week so I should be expecting a call any day.
Tuesday arrived and went without a call. Wednesday still no call until 8 pm the examiner called to say he would do the check ride Friday morning. He explained what the flight would entail. We would be flying down to Cork where we would be executing an ILS asymmetric approach. Afterwards we would fly back to the Waterford control zone where we would do stalls followed by a localiser approach and go-around on runway 21. It all sounds fairly straight forward so hopefully on the day everything will go OK. There is nothing worse than waiting around for a check ride. I would much prefer to have it straight after the mock check ride just like we did for the CPL. It is now nearly a week since my mock check ride.
Thursday I planned to Gemini with a classmate down to Cork but the weather took a turn for the worse. An occluded front was lying right over Ireland and turned stationery which means it will probably hang around for Friday which is bad news for my check ride.
I was up at 5am Friday to check the weather. Unfortunately it had not changed. The cloud base was between 300 and 400 feet and the icing level was at 5000 feet. I had planned to fly to Cork at 6000 feet so there would be icing problems which led me to make a decision to abandon the check flight.
I went home to Limerick Friday afternoon having spent the week in Waterford hanging around for the examiner and the weather. I was disappointed as I was sure I would have my IR license in my back pocket by now. I was due to start the MCC in Simtech Dublin the coming Monday but that would have to be postponed now.
I spent the weekend looking at the weather charts for the following week. Again it's not looking pretty. The main problem is the zero degrees level which is hovering around 5000 feet for the past week. If you fly above this within cloud you run the risk of ice deposits on the wings which can be dangerous. I wasn't used to this as most of my flying to date was carried out in Florida which doesn't have icing problems.

Week 63 Monday 27th April 2009
Once again Monday was not suitable for the check ride. In fact it couldn't have been worse. We had a mixture of sunshine, hail, sleet, wind gusts and icing levels at 3000 feet....typical 4 seasoned Irish day. To give you an idea of the April weather we have to deal with in Waterford here is a copy of the TAF for the day.

EIWF VALID 271500/272400 WIND 30010KT BECMG 151733012KT OCNL G25KT BECMG 1922 31007KT VISIBILITY 9999 TEMPO 1519 5000PROB40 TEMPO 2124 5000 WEATHER TEMPO 1519 SHRA PROB30 TEMPO 1519 TSGSPROB40 TEMPO 2124 SHRA CLOUD SCT020 TEMPO 1519 SCT015 BKN020CB PROB40TEMPO 2124 BKN018CB

At least the cloud base had risen compared to last week. I called my examiner and we decided to plan for Tuesday at 7am.

Tuesday arrived. I was up at 5am to get the weather. I had my breakfast followed by a can of Red Bull which has now become my official pre exam choice of drink. The morning of a check ride is fairly hectic. I had to submit my flight plan, Phone Cork control tower to let them know a training flight would be entering their airspace, finish the flight PLOG, performance calculations followed by weight & balance calculations.

There were 3 of us signed up to do the check ride with the same examiner and I was to be tested second. We met at 7:30am in the PTC building beside the airport. The examiner explained what the exam would entail and what he would expect of us. This was followed by and oral exam where he randomly asked each of us questions on aspects of instrument flying. The oral exam was fairly brief. I suppose at this stage of the course it is presumed we know the theory having gone through several oral exams previously and of course the 14 ATPL exams.

After the Oral exam the examiner took the first victim to the aircraft and got ready to fly while I stayed back at the weather briefing room in the PTC building to finish my performance calculations and to revise the Cork IFR plates.

Once I had all the paperwork complete I made my way out to the aircraft to complete the pre flight inspections, oversee the refueling and anxiously wait for the examiner to come back from the first check ride. Eventually after a nervous wait they returned and it was my turn.

For the flight I climbed out of Waterford using runway 21 and turned right to intercept the 253 VOR radial to Cork. We had originally planned to go to Cork via Clonmel but the examiner changed the flight plan just before take off. This threw me a bit at first as I had based my Cork approach from Clonmel. Once climb checks were complete and I had reached a cruising altitude of 6000 feet I set myself up for the Cork approach by tuning in to the Cork ATIS and carrying out my Cork approach brief.

No sooner had I the approach brief complete I was switched over to the Cork approach frequency for radar vectoring into the approach. When I was within a couple of miles of the outer marker the examiner cut my left engine. Once I had the failed engine identified I went through the usual engine failure drills and set up for an assymmetric ILS approach. Unfortunately for me just as the glideslope came alive I hit really bad weather. My windscreen was covered for the entire checkride so I couldn't see out but I could here the hail pelting off the airframe and I was using a 10 degree correction to hold a track. Everything was going fine until I reached 5D where suddenly I lost the glideslope. A large updraft caused me to fly above it more than half scale which meant legally I had to go-around.

At that point the examiner could have failed me as it is up to his descresion to give a second chance or not. To my relief he went on the radio and asked tower coufor a second approach. I presume he took the weather into account when deciding. The second attempt couldn't have gone better. I was under enormous pressure knowing if I messed up it would be a fail which would mean more lessons and of course more time and money. Sometimes I feel it is when I am under pressure I up my game which I suppose is a good thing. On reaching the Decision Altitude while still maintining the glideslope the examiner took control and climbed out in the direction of Waterford. 'Good Job' he said ...... phew.

On the way back to Cork I was asked to perform steep tuns (45 degrees),  Recovery from unusual attitudes followed by a VOR hold. Afterwards we made out way back to the Waterford Zone where I completed a localiser approach to runway 21. I was happy to get back down to earth as I wasn't feeling the best after the bumpy ride due to the bad weather and the unusual attitude recoveries. When the windscreen is covered you have no horizon to reference. Overall I thought the check ride went fairly well although it was far from perfection unlike my mock check ride.

Once back in the PTC building the examiner briefed me on my flight where he advised me on what I need to improve on and eventually after waiting 30 minutes he finally told me I passed.

Instrument Rating Summary
The IR was the last stage of my training in PTC and on the 23rd April 2009 I received my third stripe. It was hard to believe after 62 weeks I was finally finished the PTC course.
I found the instrument rating fairly difficult but I think it was mostly down to my preparation. 1st of all the ILS decided to break down in Waterford in the middle of the course and was not due to be fixed for 4 weeks so I had only a couple of practices doing full ILS approaches before the check ride.
We were told at the start of the course we had to do one international flight so on my second flight we went to the Isle of Man. I ended up flying on the home leg and it took 2.2 hours. Unfortunately I found the flight a complete waste of time as the instructor did most of the flying and all the radio calls. When we finally arrived back in Waterford I did a localiser approach as the ILS was out. There are only 15 hours of flying in total so 2.2 hours wasted on the international flight was a big chunk. It turned out I was the only one to do the flight as the others decided after my experience not to fly it.
Lastly I was unfortunate to finish the course just when the weather took a turn for the worse. I ended up waiting for the check ride for over two weeks. It is a long time between flights and it is amazing how rusty you become after the break.
Since there are not so many hours of flying my advice to anyone is to concentrate on practicing what is going to come up in the actual check ride. i.e.
Assymmetric ILS approaches
Localiser approaches
VOR Holds
Steep Turns
Unusual Altitudes
The other guys doing the Instrument Rating after me made sure to fly to Cork every day for practice as they knew Cork was going to be their destination on the day of the check ride. When you are familiar with a destination it makes it a whole lot easier with radio calls and approaches.

PTC Course Summary
Overall I was happy with my choice in enrolling with PTC. It is relatively expensive compared to some other flight schools but the quality of instruction is quiet good.
I had my moments throughout the course when I was very unhappy with the student support I was receiving.. It was very frustrating receiving emails with excuses explaining why your training was held up but I must say this improved as time went on. I found the student support especially good while I was in Florida during the CPL course. At times I suppose I felt as a paying customer I could have been treated a bit better and treated like a customer rather than just a student.
Now that I have finally finished you'd think it's straight into an aviation career for me but unfortunately I could not have picked a worse time to graduate. The world economy has shrunk and with it the demand for pilots. However at least now I am finished and I can (once the MCC is complete) finally get some sort of a job even if it isn't in aviation to pay the bills.

I got through the flight exams PPL, CPL and MEP/IR with first time passes.
I passed all 14 ATPL theory exams first time with an average score over 90%
Hopefully this will put me in a good position to kick start my career as a commercial pilot.