Your first licence, the Private Pilot Licence (PPL), teaches you to fly by looking outside. Airlines fly almost entirely by instruments. The instrument rating is the step that connects the two, and it sits at the heart of any professional pilot program, including Pilotaj at Özyeğin University.
VFR: flying by what you see
Under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) you navigate and control the aircraft mainly by visual references — the horizon, the ground, other traffic. VFR flights need weather with enough visibility and distance from cloud. When the weather drops below those minimums, a VFR pilot stays on the ground.
IFR: flying by instruments and procedures
Under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) you fly by reference to the flight instruments, inside cloud if needed, following published procedures and air traffic control clearances. Commercial airliners operate under IFR on practically every flight, whatever the weather.
What an instrument rating involves
- theory: instruments, radio navigation, procedures, meteorology and air law for IFR
- flight training in the aircraft and in approved simulators
- a skill test with an examiner, including instrument approaches down to minimums
For an airline career the rating is usually combined with multi-engine training, because airliners have more than one engine. At Özyeğin Pilotaj, instrument and multi-engine training is done with AYJET on the twin-engine Diamond DA42 and in simulators.
Why it matters for your career
- It is required: a frozen ATPL means a commercial licence with multi-engine and instrument privileges plus ATPL theory.
- It is how airlines fly: standard procedures, clearances and approaches in all weather.
- It is safer: instrument skills protect you when weather turns worse than forecast.
Want to know how the flight training is organised at Özyeğin? See the program page or send us a question.