Approaches on my own
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!
A little frustrated, a little better
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 radialâ€. 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.
More by myself
An early morning flight, we decided to do some more airwork, with an approach into Camarillo (CMA) and then the ILS back into Van Nuys. The VOR into CMA was educational, because the step-down fixes come pretty quick, so the workload is high. I flew it fast as well, which made things even tougher. I handled it OK, flew the missed approach and headed home. Flew a pretty good ILS there, just momentarily losing the glideslope about 150 feet above DH.
The airwork was very good today. I was very focused on all the maneuvers, and am gaining confidence in my ability to control the plane. This week I’ll try to NAIL Kent’s brutal exercise at least once. That will be the clue that I’m ready for more approach work and cross country planning.
Too much time off
I’d been unable to train for almost two weeks, so we decided to just go out and work on maneuvers and perhaps shoot a VOR approach or two. We did Kent’s “brutal†exercise once – he says if you can master that, instrument flying is a no-brainer. You basically fly a big square, with climbs and descents both while flying straight and in the turns. The whole thing is timed, so you have to be very aware of rates of climbs, descents and turns at the same time. In addition, you have to read the “chart†that tells you what to do next. Very tough. I did OK, considering how long it had been since I was under the hood.
We shot the VOR approach at Whiteman, which was pretty easy except for the fact that the lighting in the 172 is abysmal (it was dark by then) and Kent had to hold a flashlight on things for me. Most surprising was where we ended up relative to the runway. Every approach I’d done to this point kept me basically aligned with the landing runway. This one had you flying directly at it midfield. Strange
A little break
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.
Partially there
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 leftâ€, “stop turnâ€) 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.
Pulling it all together
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.
Hold on!
Ironically, lousy weather kept me from doing instrument training lately. Finally got a nice clear day, and a clear (albeit somewhat bumpy) night.
I mentioned to Kent that I wanted to work on more accurate trimming, so we did. The trick is to pitch the plane by hand until it is stable, then trim off any pressures. Doing it this way, you can basically get the plane properly trimmed (even after a major power/configuration change) in about 20 seconds. This helped a lot, not just for trimming, but to be able to better feel the plane. Then some stalls, unusual attitudes, constant airspeed climbs and descents, and VOR tracking.
Next I was told to hold south on the 180 radial of the Fillmore (FIM) VOR. I had to weed out the entry method (parallel) on the way there. Flying it was pretty easy, as I’ve done it several times on my simulator. A few more tries and I should have the entries nailed. Then I just have to work on compensating for wind, and I’ll be all set. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?
Try to hook the ILS on the way back, but we came in too high and too close to the runway. By the time we caught the glideslope, I was at the DH (decision height) already. Made a descent landing, and taxied home. Felt pretty good about this lesson – I’m really beginning to feel the plane.
Getting control
I really want to get into training more frequently (to gear up for a big trip in June), but this was the first chance I had. My work schedule coupled with some bad weather kept me out of the sky.
Today we worked more on trimming, flying constant airspeed climbs (vertical S’s) and just general aircraft control. Some unusual attitude recovery went well, and then Kent did another demo to prove that you simply MUST trust your instruments. I closed my eyes while he flew the plane. He flew for a while, climbing, descending, turning, then asked what attitude we were in. It absolutely felt like a climbing left turn – and a steep one at that. I looked up, and saw us in a steep, right hand spiral dive. If we had been in IMC, with me not trusting the instruments, we’d have been dead in 15 seconds.
This was a very good lesson. From now on, I think we’ll talk about the things we are going to cover before each lesson, so I know what to expect.
The “easy” stuff
Had a bit of spare time before I needed to get home, so I called Kent, and the plane was available. Set up my new HoodLamb (a device that hooks on to your headset that goes over your face to limit your view to only the instrument panel), and got right into it with a zero-zero (zero ceiling, zero visibility) takeoff. The trick here is to line right up on the runway centerline, set the DG (directional gyro) to match the runway heading, and focus on it during the ground roll. I was a bit squirrely, but not bad for my first time.
Then it was just off for some straight and level flight and VOR tracking. Trick here is to PRECISELY trim the plane, leaving you free for all the other items. After a bit of that, we did some constant airspeed climbs and descents, climbing and descending turns and then some altitude control exercises. Very enlightening. Turns out that the VSI (vertical speed indicator) is actually a very useful instrument.
Then we asked SoCal approach for a practice ILS into Van Nuys to go home. I can hardly say I flew it myself, but I learned plenty. I’m excited about training again!