Anytime an instrument student gets a chance to fly in IMC in southern California – he takes it. And that’s exactly what I did this morning. Weather was great for IFR training – ceilings high enough to be comfortable, but still plenty of actual.

We flew out to Brackett (POC) for the VOR there. This was the first circling approach I did, other than Whiteman, but we didn’t land at Whiteman. When I hit the MAP, I lifted up the hood, and to my surprise couldn’t really make out the runway. I was looking in the right place, but the visibility was bad enough that I could just barely see it. We flew a typical pattern, and landed. Had some breakfast while deciding what to do next. I thought it would be good to go south, to maybe Fullerton or Long Beach, but given the time that would take, we decided to head back towards home instead.

I asked ground for a clearance to Burbank, and he rattled it off so fast I could barely write it down in time. Got it all, checked the chart to be sure I could fly it, and off we went. Flew it pretty well, if I do say, although the approach was a bit tougher than I expected. Flew it too fast, which meant that I’d arrive at the actual MAP before my timer went off. I’ll pay more attention to that next time. Stopped in at an FBO on the field to check out the planes, then VFR (marginal, that is) back home.

Over lunch we decided that I should plan my cross country. It has to be 250 miles, and do 3 approaches, one precision. Sounds like fun. That’s about 4 hours of time, which will leave about 6 that I need to fulfill the requirements for the rating. Not sure I’ll be ready right at that point, but I should be pretty close.

Today the plan was going to be to do some steep turns under the hood, some more unusual attitude recovery, and a bit more airwork, but the weather didn’t cooperate. The visibility was really bad, so we decided to get Tower Enroute to Oxnard (OXR). Tower Enroute is like a mini-clearance, with published routes to nearby airports that don’t leave the approach control area. We tried this to Fox on Monday (which is pretty close), and there isn’t a route published. Strange because there is one to Santa Barbara which is about 3 times as far.

So we went to Oxnard. After we got our first vector, Kent took away the AI, which was no trouble, considering how easy it was for me the first time we tried it. After about 10 minutes he took it off again, because the visibility was bad enough to be approaching actual, and Kent wanted to be able to see it. Fine by me. I flew the approach within tolerances, but not great. On the missed, I asked the controller if we could shoot the VOR approach at Camarillo (CMA), and he said “I thought you wanted to go back to Van Nuys – did you just change your mind?”. He was irritated. I apologized, and promised to go back to Van Nuys after Camarillo. It sounded like I got a smile out of him, and he set us up for the VOR 26 at CMA. I flew that one much better, staying on top of the plane all the way.

After the missed at CMA, it was back home for the ILS at Van Nuys. This went very well, and I stayed on top of things right down to the DH, where the needles were right inside the donut. I made a nice landing and went home for pasta and kisses from my 3 year old.

I’ve got about 13 hours left, 5 of which I’m going to do in a simulator. Not because it’s cheaper (it’s about the same price as the 172), but because we can shoot 5 times as many approaches in the same time, and do other things like unusual attitude recovery without the influence of the planes forces mucking things up. That will leave a cross country to meet the requirements for the rating. Still studying for the written as well – almost ready for that too.

This was the most fun I’ve had since the training started. Just like with the private pilot license, getting to solo is the most frustrating part – and the cross countries make it all worth it.

Tonight we did a short cross country from Van Nuys (VNY) to Lancaster – Fox Field (WJF). Even though this flight is short – maybe 30 minutes VFR, it took much longer IFR. After being vectored around the valley while we climbed to 7000’, we went direct to the Palmdale (PMD) VOR. This is a good 25 miles out of the way, but it turns out that is the way it goes. This approach not only takes you way east, but you fly back over the airport and do a procedure turn to boot. I asked Kent why this was (since it seemed like we had plenty of time to lose all the extra altitude and there is absolutely no terrain) and he didn’t know.

I flew it all pretty well, keeping up a solid scan, staying ahead, keeping organized, and maintaining heading and altitude. After lifting up the hood to see the runway right where it was supposed to be, we flew the missed. Leaving is just the same. The controller gave us the Lynx 7 arrival to Van Nuys, which goes back to PMD before heading home. They were landing on 34 at VNY, so they issued us a visual approach. Kent vectored me around the pattern, then took the landing himself to stay night current.

This felt really good. I’m learning what’s important, and staying ahead. I’m also starting to focus on the checkride, and tightening things up.

Today was lesson in more ways than one. I’ve been frustrated in the past because I felt like things weren’t moving fast enough. Today I learned that the faster they move, the worse it gets.

We started out doing an intersection hold – something I’d only done on the simulator – and took quite a bit of time to get set up on. Kent gave me a pretty easy hold to start with – a direct entry, holding on the airway on which we were already flying. I made the HUGE mistake of saying “this should be easy”. That’s when my “amended clearance” came along. Now on the crossing airway of the fix, at a different altitude, and left turns instead of right. This irritated me a bit – too much too soon – but I figured it out on the way. I got into the hold OK, and actually flew it just fine.

Then came the real trick. Kent said “57 Echo, we need to reposition you for spacing. Hold north of Kimmo intersection (a different intersection than the one on which I was currently holding) on blah blah blah…” I looked at the chart, and saw Kimmo just south of my current position, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out how I was going to get into the hold. I said “Kent – I have no idea how to do this”. He gave me a hint, and I got in just fine.

What I learned here was that you can’t just throw in the towel whenever things get difficult. In IMC, this is going to happen, and there might not be anyone there to help you figure it out. I need to stay calm, focus on the task at hand (and more importantly the next task, and the next after that) and get the job done. I do this in other aspects of my life – time to apply it to my flying more seriously.

On the way to the LDA-C approach at VNY (the ILS was out of service), we did some unusual attitudes under the hood, which went OK. I haven’t done them since my private checkride, so I was rusty. I recovered OK, but it took me a bit longer than it should have. The approach went fine, and we circled to land on 34. It’s coming together now – I’m feeling confident I can be a proficient instrument pilot.

Once again, there were a few lessons between this and the last one, but there was nothing exciting enough to report. I’ll do that more no doubt, but this is the last time I’ll mention it.

Tonight we went out to do more maneuvering work, and ended up doing holds instead. I’m at the point now where I’m tracking VOR’s accurately, maintaining altitude, and generally flying the plane much better. Coupled with trimming (which I’m working hard to master) this will significantly reduce the workload that is so hard to manage during IFR flights. The holds went fine as well – I need to be more careful about not changing groundspeed during holds (it wreaks havoc on the timing) but I nailed the entry, and eventually got the time right.

Kent took the approach back into Van Nuys, which was a good learning experience for me. Seeing him 1 dot off the localizer 2 miles out was a real eye-opener. He was WAY off course from just 1 dot.

Today we had planned to do more airwork to get everything tightened up, but it was SO nice out, we decided to shoot approaches instead. Just the VOR-A into SMO and the VOR-A into VNY. Did it all myself – no help of any real substance from Kent, which made me feel good about my capabilities. We did some chart review over dinner at Typhoon (recommended), and learned a few things that I thought I already knew pretty well. The flight home was pretty straightforward, with a descent night landing to top it off. Even with a flight as short as this one, there was so much to do. It reminded me that you can’t ever let your guard down. Always be thinking of what is next, no matter how far ahead you think you are.

Finished the King Instrument CD’s, and am now preparing to take the written. I’d like to have that out of the way within a couple of weeks, so I’ll be doing some serious studying. Starting to get closer now!

There were a couple of other lessons in there that focused mainly on aircraft control, but I didn’t want to bore you with the details.

Today the plan was to do a hold, some airwork, and an approach. After departure, he told me to “proceed direct Fillmore, hold north on the 360 radial”. Easy enough. Figured out the entry (parallel) correctly, and then got a little confused, thinking that 360 was the inbound – instead of outbound – course. Once I had that figured out, the hold went fine – nailed the time within 1 second.

The airwork was marginal at best. Not holding anything very tight – especially altitude – made it a frustrating day. At this point in the training, I feel like I should be more in control, but Kent says not to worry. A few vertical S and constant airspeed maneuvers went pretty good, so that made me feel a bit better.

Then we shot the ILS at VNY. Beautiful clear day meant lots of bumps. I did a good job, not overcorrecting and staying focused all the way down to the DH. I guess that’s the important part, right? I’m now at exactly 20 hours of instrument time (you need 40) and am nearly done with the Kind Instrument CD’s. I’ll do some cramming for the test in the next week or so, and have Kent sign me off for the written.