After a particularly tough few days at work, Kent gave me a break. We just went up, shot the ILS at Oxnard to the missed approach, and then back to Van Nuys for the ILS there. I flew it all pretty well I think, with Kent pointing out things here and there. The lesson learned through today was to stay ahead. Even if you think you’re ahead, you’re not. Keep looking, testing, thinking. More confirmation that having the plane configured way in advance, just saves crucial time during the “busy” part of the approach.

This was a nice break. Now I’m ready to dive back in, really hone my control skills, and get things finished up. I have about 15 hours instrument time now, so 25 more should be plenty to make the checkride a non-event.

After watching Tiger win yet another major (ho hum), I talked Kent into going up before he rushed home to watch the replays. Got to the plane and asked him what we would do today. He said “Let’s try this with a few less instruments” – meaning partial panel simulation. This is where your evil instructor covers up a few select instruments, and laughs where you try to fly the plane.

It turns out that this is not as hard as it sounds. We flew with the AI (Attitude Indicator or artificial horizon) and DG (Directional Gyro or heading indicator) covered for the entire flight. This leaves the electric turn coordinator, compass, and pressure controlled vertical speed indicator to control the plane. This is exactly what you would have if you had a vacuum failure in the clouds. We flew turns using the compass only, which is hard because it leads or lags depending on your heading, and is very unstable overall. It never fails though (unless it leaks out all it’s fluid) which makes it a friend in an emergency. We flew a “no-gyro” ILS back to Van Nuys – this is where ATC just gives you turn instructions (“turn left”, “stop turn”) to vector you to the approach gate. I flew well, and felt very good about my chances of survival if there ever was a failure.

Haven’t posted in a while, mainly because I’ve been too busy to train seriously. That changed a couple of weeks ago, when I committed to getting my rating before the end of the year. Shouldn’t be a problem – I’ve got about 13 hours of hood time now, and am going to train twice 3 hours a week. 10 weeks, and I’m there.

To this point we’ve been working mainly on aircraft control – constant airspeed climbs and descents, climbing and descending turns, trimming, and radial tracking. We’ve also done some basic navigation (departure procedures) and holds (both at VOR’s and intersections) as well as an approach or two each time up. I’m feeling much more confident, although I admit that figuring out entries and wind correction for holds has me a bit stymied. Some time on the simulator (and in the air, of course) should fix that.

I’m studying for the written with the King Instrument CD course, and I’ll be using the IFR test prep software from Dauntless Software to make sure I ace it. Kent is also quizzing me with some instructor-type stuff that he has. When it comes time for my written, oral and checkride, I’ll be more than ready.