Rob's Instrument Training Experience

Lesson 1
Date: January 24th, 2008
Hours: 0.9
Total Hours To Date: 0.9
Summary: straight, climb, descend, turn, & timed intro

Had my first instrument lesson. Going through the Cessna 141 program with Marcair. Requirements are simply written, oral, checkride, and 35 hours dual. I worked with the Cessna 141 program and Marcair for my private and although nothing to compare with, I was completely happy with it. There are 25 dual lessons/xc's for the instrument and each has 1-2 hours of dvd ground school that you complete before the flight. There is a checklist for the flight and you either don't attempt, need more work, or complete each task. Once you complete a task then you are set except that they review all tasks in the periodic review and check flights. If you don't attempt or need more work on a task then it automatically carries forward in the computer to next lesson. It also won't mark a flight complete until you have completed all original tasks in it. I like how structured this is, nothing is dropped or forgotten, the instructor knows exactly what they're covering in the lesson. Also easier for a couple instructors to swap back and forth working with a student.

I only did the ground school for lesson 1, but I guess all the lesson 1 & 2 tasks were things covered in the private pilot simulated instrument training. We completed straight & level, ascend, climb, turn, and combinations of such. Instructor would give instructions like tower "Skyhawk 630HR turn to heading 270 while climbing to 3,500". My instrument scan is pretty good, maybe that is a put down to my private pilot training that I was looking inside more than I should have. Although covered in the ground school, I couldn't remember the textbook which instrument should be primary and which one's are secondary in different situations. However, I think this was and will become more intuitive because it is obvious on your quick scan which ones are most reactive and giving you the best update on your bank or pitch.

A little bit of math and skill making quick calculations like 180 degree turn climbing 500 ft. will require 500 fpm climb at standard rate. I'll need to work on keeping the plane exactly coordinated and on the standard rate. I was doing it in practice with instructor providing inputs, but I need to "know" proper sequence of steps in various transitions like going from cruise to climb or vice versa. Off top of my head like how you adjust pitch before throttle and then plane should already be trimmed. That one goes back to private and everyday flying, but I don't feel all of this is second nature yet.

Overall I held my marks and even in the combination pitch and bank I did well. Towards the end of lesson I was getting worn out and starting to be less accurate. He signed me off on Lesson 1 & 2 with this first flight, but there will be a few later lessons we may have to repeat. We also spent 5-10 minutes on timed turns which will be Lesson 3. Lesson 3 will also be compass turns.

Maybe not fun as doing steep turns and landings as in the private, but it is fun enough and I'm improving my skills. That is the goal for me with instrument is first of all just to be a better pilot, whether I actually fly in IFR conditions that often I don't know.

 

I could, but I think my approach will be same as private, start and do most on steam as base, then after getting that down start to figure the glass.

 

The King G1000 training is decent, I did that along with 2-3 lessons on the glass to get checked out. I fly glass always now if the choice, mainly to help with locating traffic in the crowded DFW space.

 

Lesson 2
Date: February 1st, 2008
Hours: 1.0
Total Hours To Date: 1.9
Summary: timed turns, compass turns, copy clearance

Spent a good half hour ground, which was needed. Run up instructor talked me through copying an IFR clearance and then for the entire flight, instructor gave me directions. We reviewed everything from before with standard rate turns, climbs, descents, and combinations. New stuff was compass turns with heading covered, timed turns heading & compass, and simulated instrument stalls.

On way back from practice area he had me simulated instrument giving me instructions off Ranger VOR. Gave me headings all the way through pattern to final still under the foggles, only at short final about 400 ft. did I get to remove them. That was definitely a challenge and new experience to be that close and get comfortable visually after staring at instruments almost an hour.

All in all a good lesson, first time with this instructor and he did a great job picking up where the other left off. I go back up with him tomorrow for steep turns, flight without attitude/heading instruments, and unusual attitude recovery.

 

Lesson 3
Date: February 2nd, 2008
Hours: 0.9
Total Hours To Date: 2.8
Summary: steep turns, partial panel, unusual attitude recovery

Great day for flying as everyone already talked about. My first steep turn we lost 300 ft. in a 360! I didn't even try to pretend it was good and without instructor saying anything said that I needed to practice this a bunch. Luckily that was the worse one and each time I got it down more and more. After about 3-4 combos of 360 left and then 360 right I was hitting the prop wash most times. Then on to partial panel which took some practice before getting it down too. Finally unusual attitude recovery and that made me get queasy for only second time I've been flying. Everyone knows the stages or at least for me, first stage is just getting light headed, second stage is upset stomach, and then last stage goes without saying. Well, I was only light headed, but once I get it, doesn't go away for hours or if I can close my eyes. We did 3 of them, but instructor really put the plane out of whack and would do several opposite maneuvers to make sure I was completely lost. One second I would hear the stall horn and next wind of us diving. Last one really challenged me partial panel as I heard the stall horn right before he had me open my eyes and I noticed the speed first was only 50 kts. but then a second later it was gaining on 100 kts! Well, we were in a steep dive not a nose high stall, get that turn coordinator straight which is slow coming around and being accurate, and before long pulling out of the dive level but with speed well into yellow and a few G's. Think we lost 500-1000 on that one.

Have a progress check next week with another CFII, then onto instrument approaches I think.

 

Lesson 4
Date: February 11th, 2008
Hours: 0.8
Total Hours To Date: 3.6
Summary: progress check of previous skills

Not a great day for a progress check with the Assistant Chief because of winds and bumps, but as he said most IFR days aren't smooth. Did everything I've learned to this point, actually more of a lesson than check because he was teaching me a different perspective. Like on the steep turns he showed me how once trimmed and setup you can take your hands off controls and just maintaining rudder it will go around almost perfect pitch at 45 degrees. Not that you do this, but the trick was to put in a top to bottom turn of trim and the lighter controls help you stay on.

I don't know because of the winds or 9 days since last instrument lesson or just worn out from the long weekend, but I wasn't all that sharp. He said I did good and checked me off at least, but I need to start nailing these fundamentals.

 

funny guy and they make me light headed too!

 

Lesson 5
Date: February 26th, 2008
Hours: 1.2
Total Hours To Date: 4.8
Summary: clearance, departure, VOR

What a great evening to fly. Clear as could be and enjoyed sunset from the air. No traffic, winds were 25 kt gusts, but mostly down runway.

Did a bunch of ground, then practiced getting clearance and following the instructions. Departure consisted something like runway heading climb to 1600', expect 2500' 5 minutes, intercept 315 VOR at 21 DME, 265 heading intercept 330 VOR at 32 DME. Still would get altitude variations of 100' while keeping up with everything else. We did touch & go at Decatur, practiced another departure, and then headed back to Northwest. On way back instructor was non-stop asking me questions like what is direction to this or that VOR, what is the freq, listen to it, how far is it. Must have run through 4-5 different VOR's, the lesson was to expect anything from control and be efficient getting the information and understanding it. Have to get good at the GPS knobs... push this button, turn this one, page over, or pull out that one.

Right now I need to work on taking and understanding my departure clearance, staying ahead of the plane, and being efficient at getting VOR info from the GPS. Start holds next lesson, which supposedly takes some work and a few lessons.

 

Lesson 6
Date: February 28th, 2008
Hours: 0.9
Total Hours To Date: 5.7
Summary: holds and ILS approach

Another windy, but beautiful flying evening. 30 kt. gusts, but mostly down the runway. Instructor warned me holds would take some work and a few lessons. The DVD lesson was more than an hour for just holds. We did about 30 minutes of ground before going up. Took off Northwest and under the foggles he gave me directions and worked the radio with Denton. From our angle we did a parallel entry to the fix. With 30-40 kt. winds it was interesting. Inbound was upwind and first outbound we went 40 seconds, but inbound was still 1:20, we kept bringing outbound down until it was 20 seconds to get a minute on the inbound. Now that is wind! We did a good 7-8 loops of the hold, each time I did a little better. Was able to look at GPS for double check if I was off or overcorrecting. I didn't really expect instrument training to be fun, but the holds today really were fun. It is very much like a video game keeping up with the plane. Rewarding when you get it right.

Last one we stayed on for the approach. My first REAL approach under the foggles, I had only done some simulated ones before. I haven't studied approaches yet, so don't know all the terminology, but it was ILS straight into Denton. Just had to fly the cross hairs, worked out nicely about 1700 RPM and just had to adjust pitch and bank here and there. Instructor called out 200... 100... 20 feet to minimum or whatever the 200 ft. AGL limit is called. I then pulled off the foggles to finish off the landing.

I really had a good time today. More hold work next lesson, but instead of talking ahead of time about our angle and entry, instructor plans to throw some random calls my way. In regards to the 3 entries the formula doesn't work well in my mind. Quickly best for me to just picture it with 70 degrees up from inbound and reciprocal with everything within that 180 a direct entry, then line straight through and you have the small angle left for teardrops and large angle for parallels.

One final thing I need to get down the 6 T's. Don't have them memorized yet. Let me see without notes... Time - Turn - Talk - Twist... darn, much to learn.

 

Lesson 7
Date: March 5th, 2008
Hours: 1.3
Total Hours To Date: 7.0
Summary: holds and non-precision approach

Another beautiful day to fly. Under the hood from 52F to LUD published hold. Did about 6 laps in the hold. Had to work on crosswind correction or my intercept of inbound wasn't always smooth. First few ones wind had taken me way out of the outbound, so my standard rate turn would put we way inside. A little 20 degree correction and my standard rate turn would get me close to inbound without much intercept angle. Also did a couple laps without the GPS as backup check, that was interesting and you really seem mostly blind until back on inbound and then the fix.

Last lap continued on what I guess is the non-precision approach into LUD, With the North wind we then looped around staying at 1800 for landing on 35. Back to 52F still under the foggles did several steep turns for practice. First one not great with 150 ft. fluctuation, but guess just rusty because I nailed the next combo.

We'll still do another lesson on holds, doing non-published.

 

Lesson 8
Date: March 11th, 2008
Hours: 1.3
Total Hours To Date: 8.3
Summary: holds and partial panel maneuvers

Last lesson for holds, this one was a non-published hold. Instructor just picked a radial and DME for intersection, then direction of hold. Didn't have the GPS to back me up to see how far I was off. Each time a few adjustments to either correct for inbound leg or crosswind.

We finished off reviewing all the previous instrument maneuvers, most partial panel. Got a little light headed after 3 unusual attitude recoveries. This instructor really likes to get the plane out of whack after about 30 seconds of changing direction. Not even a clue of where the plane was and going, just my stomach and brain bouncing around. Did fairly well, partial panel a little challenging. Saw 2,000 ft. per minute climb when opening my eyes and then I must of overcorrected, because next thing I saw was 1,000 ft. per minute descent.

All going well, still enjoying the instrument lessons.

 

Lesson 9
Date: March 13th, 2008
Hours: 1.4
Total Hours To Date: 9.7
Summary: STAR approach, DME arcs

Instructor warned DME arcs were difficult for some and might take a couple lessons, but going through CBT's it seemed straight forward. We spent another 30 minutes ground so I really had it down by the time we flew. No problems except for getting off 0.5 to 1.0 nm first 10-20 degrees and then having to adjust accordingly. We used the 15 DME off Bowie and went both ways on it spending a good 20-30 minutes practicing. On way back we did a published hold at Denton for several laps as practice.

Nothing much exciting to talk about. I have a progress check with assistant chief and then we start approaches, which will be fun.

 

Lesson 10
Date: March 20th, 2008
Hours: 1.1
Total Hours To Date: 10.8
Summary: progress check

Progress check with a different CFII. I did well, I'll get quicker on decisions and corrections, but feel I'm catching up with the plane and even ahead in areas. Won't bore with a narrative, the following is the checklist we covered.
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Lesson 11
Date: March 25th, 2008
Hours: 1.4
Total Hours To Date: 12.2
Summary: procedure turns, non-precision and precision approach

I was a little tired tonight and not in the best of moods, but getting in the plane made me feel better. Even the 30 kt. gusts. A fun lesson, went into Denton and did a procedure turn, approach, missed approach procedure, and then repeated this over several times. After 3 lessons of holds and intercepting the inbound, then procedure turns were a piece of cake. We had also done a few approaches before, so that was nothing new, but he was letting me do more ATC communication and first time doing missed approaches. All of this good practice, there is a ton to keep track of and remember and I have a ways to go.

 

Lesson 12
Date: April 1st, 2008
Hours: 1.3
Total Hours To Date: 13.5
Summary: ILS approach

A little time spent reviewing partial panel maneuvers under the foggles. We then went into Denton taking the outbound from the 17 ILS approach, procedure turn, and then ILS approach into Denton for the circle around to 35. We just took the missed approach back to PINK and did another cycle before a 3rd time where we actually did the circle around to 35. Now that was interesting and fun! 500 AGL downwind and about half the distance to runway as usual. I've never had that sharp of a base in the Skyhawk, but very similar to some of the Super Decathlon patterns we do. Good lesson, I'm not confident I can do everything yet without instructor there to remind me, but still have at least 21.5 hours needed for Part 141, so plenty of time.

 

Lesson 13
Date: April 8th, 2008
Hours: 1.5
Total Hours To Date: 15.0
Summary: VOR, GPS, and ILS approach

This lesson wraps up approaches. We did the VOR approach into Decatur circling to 35, GPS 35 to Denton, and then the ILS 17 to Denton missed. No real issues or exciting stories. Followed the VOR needle close as I could into Decatur, but that far out from Bowie VOR you realize where the term non-precision comes from. I came out from the foggles over the airport, we were to the side and threw me off when GPS for the decision point started going up in nm. GPS into Denton was fine, just some quick math on the distance and reviewing the approach plates. We went missed, used PINK hold for procedure turn and then back in for ILS planning on circle, but went missed on purpose.

We'll do another lesson reviewing all approaches and some partial panel, then a progress check with another CFII. Cross countries start next. I'm getting behind in my ground school, so need to catch up, but will help I still need 20 hours for Part 141. We'll kill some of that in the XC's, but we'll end up doing many checkride preps to meet my hours. Through all of that I should get caught up on ground, take the written, and be more than prepared for the checkride.

 

Lesson 14
Date: April 10th, 2008
Hours: 1.4
Total Hours To Date: 16.4
Summary: VOR, GPS, and ILS approach practice

Same thing as Tuesday, practice with VOR 17 into Decatur, GPS 35 into Denton, and 17 ILS into Denton. Beautiful clear skies, but very turbulent and nasty 50-70 degree crosswinds 17G27. Crosswind component was right at the limits for the Skyhawk. In other words, perfect challenging practice day. I was less thrilled under the foggles working the approach than I was doing some of my best crosswind landings into Decatur, Denton, and Northwest. All were wing down one wheelers with instructor yelling encouragement "ride it cowboy, don't give up on it!". I will give myself B- for not being exactly centerline though.

So have progress check with another CFII next week and then we're supposed to start XC's. However, instructor won't let me start those until I catch up on my ground. Hopefully I can get caught up in the next week, but if not I will still practice everything so far with him once a week to stay sharp until XC's.