A flying moron

[Bill]

Is what I felt like last night. Due to various reasons, it had been two weeks since last flying, and last night was horrible. I always felt a step or two behind the aircraft, and was chasing altitude, headings, and needles. I'm surprised I didn't jump out of the truck window on the way home and start chasing cars...ugh. Had it been the checkride it would have been a certain bust.

Rust comes to IR flying quickly, and I've learned that whenever you think you have a handle on IR flying someting comes up to humble you.

Signed,

Humbled

Ugh. What a horrible night.

 

[EdFred]

We all have the one lesson we'd like a do-over on. I remember mine...

ugh. It was so bad, I gave the plane to the CFII for 5 minutes so I could reboot myself.

 

[Missa]

We all have the one lesson we'd like a do-over on. I remember mine...

ugh. It was so bad, I gave the plane to the CFII for 5 minutes so I could reboot myself.

Been there done that. We all have

 

[SCCutler]

I had a real nice ride with one of the club instructors Tuesday, combination of annual club insurance checkout and IFR "brush-up" (can't call it an IPC, because we were not quite that comprehensive).

Key mission goal was to practice GPS apps, as I have never had proper instruction in them and, although I have used the Garmin GPS sim to walk through 'em, we all know that is nothing like the real thing. Great thing about the flight (and why I really value periodic instructor time) is the opportunity to screw up, learn from it, and not die.

He put me under the hood at 500 AGL, and I stayed under the hood for 2 hours, other than a couple of very brief peeks at MAPs. In particular, I liked the way he just continued from one task to the next, no pause (like real life gives no pauses), and made a point of doing stuff to distract me as I flew (like distractions that always arise when you fly).

I definitely made mistakes, but none that would cause me to die or get a certified mail piece from the feds, and all of which helped to teach me, to drive home the point on key issues. And I really like the chance to get the solid hood time, at night, because sometimes we just don't get any actual for a while.

==

So, Bill, remember that, for every mistake you made this time, you learned something, experienced something, which will serve you well when you're doing it "for real."

 

[ScottM]

Been there done that. When I was doing my instrument training I would occasionaly have a lesson right after I got home from an Asia trip. Try being sleep deprived form a few day trip to Aisa add to that jet lag, and not having flown in a least a week. I had some pretty sucky flights. But I used it to my advantage to get as good as I could in those stress conditions so that when I was flying 'healthy' I was doing great.

Scott

 

[Dave Siciliano]

Bill:

We're all human. On a recent ride with my CFI, I just asked that we do VFR work. Just didn't feel like being under the hood for an hour or more. Just told him we'd do the instrument work another time; which we did. That being said, I've done the same thing on some trips: very bad weather and I delayed or cancelled because I just didn't feel up to the challenge. Since we don't have to fly for a living, we have the luxury or delaying or not flying when we don't feel up to the task--don't we

When we own the plane, there's another set of criteria; as I wouldn't drive my car deliberately through an area of potential hail; my plane doesn't go there either!!

Dave

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

Been there done that. When I was doing my instrument training I would occasionaly have a lesson right after I got home from an Asia trip. Try being sleep deprived form a few day trip to Aisa add to that jet lag, and not having flown in a least a week. I had some pretty sucky flights. But I used it to my advantage to get as good as I could in those stress conditions so that when I was flying 'healthy' I was doing great.

Scott

Good strategy of yours to voluntarily train occasionally under those circumstances instead of whussing out. I do the same thing occasionally as it puts a whole 'nother spin on ones performance and teaches things that just don't appear so much when the pilot's overall condition is more optimal.

 

[grattonja]

I sent your post to my wife, who doesn't get on the boards. She is at the same place you are, more or less, in IR training and had a session like this last week. Don't be discouraged, it gets better as you work at it.

Jim G

 

[Henning]

Been there done that. We all have

Not me, my II wouldn't let me, although there were times I wished he would have taken it. he'd just say " Just relax and do what needs to be done, it doesn't have to be perfect, just don't kill us."

 

[Don Jones]

I still remember mine, lesson before II said "Man it's checkride time for you, lets do one more lesson and schedule it" Guess what the next lesson was like.
You must be getting close, hang in there
Don