...And so it begins

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
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Location
Castle Rock, CO
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Everything Offends Me
This morning, I met up with my new CFII at KABQ to begin the process of letting me fly in clouds, legally. We were to meet up at 9am and take a Cherokee 140 out and about to start the whole process (again).

The plane wouldn't start, unfortunately, as the battery was dead. We tried to jump it and it still wouldn't start so we moved over to the Arrow II. I really like Arrows, I did my complex in one, and they're just fun planes, so I was pretty excited about it. Even more so when they let me have the Arrow at the same price as the Cherokee would have been :D

It was a fairly slow day at KABQ, which is weird, it seems every other time I've been there between 9 and 11am, its airliner after airliner waiting to takeoff, but today we were #2 behind a Cirrus. For the first time, I saw a Southwest airliner cleared for an intersection takeoff. I didn't think airlines allowed that.

So we takeoff and turn on course, and I'm told to put on the foggles. We headed out northwest towards the practice area, and I'm holding altitude pretty well, considering how little I've flown in the last year. We do some turns to headings and then some slow flight, and I'm honestly kicking booty. So we turn towards KAEG and get vectors for the ILS runway 22. As we cross the outer marker, we're handed off to "Double Eagle Tower" which seems so bizarre to me. I was actually pretty dead on down the ILS. I guess X-Plane has really helped me there. At DH, the foggles flip up, and there's the runway, slightly off to the right (there was a crosswind). We went missed and got vectored to the ILS Runway 8 at KABQ.

This time, we intended to actually land, and I still did a pretty good job. I let the needle slide to the right a bit more than I wanted to, but I corrected and when we hit the DH, I flipped up the foggles, and the runway was dead in front of us (there was a stiff crosswind, so apparently I did something wrong). I dirtied up the rest of the flaps, and landed, very smoothly, which was surprising after so few hours flown.

I am very happy with today. It was easy IFR stuff, but I still have it, so this is going to be a fun series of months, methinks!!!

Summary:
1.3 Hours Complex Time
1.0 Hours Simulated Instrument Time
1.3 Hours Dual
1.3 Hours PIC

Great way to start the day :D:D:D
 
Congratulations, Nick!

IR is tough, but one rating well worth it!
 
Good job Nick. I didn't have much trouble with flying during my IR either. X-Plane flying really does help. If you can hand fly a F-22 through all the approaches on X-Plane you can easily do it in a slow ass Cherokee.

My biggest problem with the IR was the frustration of the written (so much of it is just wrong) and the fact that I way-over-studied for the check-ride.
 
wOOt!
 
Congrats Nick.
Sounds like a great flight, I hope you have a lot of fun at it.

Mark B
 
1 hour down 39 more to go!!

Have fun doing it. That rating improved my piloting ability way more than I could ever have imagined. But be ready when you are done to go back re-learn flying with your eyes again. That was the hardest part!
 
smigaldi said:
Have fun doing it. That rating improved my piloting ability way more than I could ever have imagined. But be ready when you are done to go back re-learn flying with your eyes again. That was the hardest part!
Click to expand...

+1. The instrument rating definitely makes you a more precise pilot (although I think in my case a lot of that just had to do with going from 60 hours to 130 hours in the process of building up my time). You also then have to relearn to look out the window. The winter has done a good job of that for me, since I've not been doing much IFR flight over the past few months.

Awesome, Nick! I'm glad to hear that you're doing it! Keep us updated on the progress!
 
Ted DuPuis said:
+1. The instrument rating definitely makes you a more precise pilot (although I think in my case a lot of that just had to do with going from 60 hours to 130 hours in the process of building up my time). You also then have to relearn to look out the window. The winter has done a good job of that for me, since I've not been doing much IFR flight over the past few months.

Awesome, Nick! I'm glad to hear that you're doing it! Keep us updated on the progress!
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I started working on my commercial soon after finishing the instrument. The hardest part was learning to do the maneuvers without using the instruments.

But during the inst. course I think the thing that helped me the most was learning how to really trim the plane for hands off flight and learning to relax my left hand on the controls. Small, gentle, touch is what is needed to fly in instrument conditions well and within limits.
 
smigaldi said:
But during the inst. course I think the thing that helped me the most was learning how to really trim the plane for hands off flight and learning to relax my left hand on the controls. Small, gentle, touch is what is needed to fly in instrument conditions well and within limits.
Click to expand...

+100.

Best advice I got was during a stage check- check instructor said (insert dutch accent) "Spike, the airplane has an armrest, use it." He told me that, in most every circumstance, if I am using more than finger strength, I am overcontrolling and, likely, out of trim.

Smart guy.
 
SkyHog said:
they let me have the Arrow at the same price as the Cherokee would have been :D
Click to expand...

Glad to hear an FBO that really cares about customer service! Who was it?

wsuffa said:
Congratulations, Nick!

IR is tough, but one rating well worth it!
Click to expand...

A-freakin' men to that. I had a flight today that was a perfect example of why the IR is so awesome...

We were on the way back from Sheboygan (dropped off an Archer for its annual, and got the cowl flaps on the 182 fixed up). Forecast was for 10 and clear for our arrival back at MSN, but the snowstorm was running faster than the weather forecasters were.

When I pulled up MSN's ATIS about 35 miles out, they were still calling 10 and clear. I checked in: "Madison approach, Skylane 271G over Juneau four thousand five hundred landing with Papa." Got my squawk, radar contact, yadda yadda.

A few minutes later, we heard half a conversation between Approach and another airplane that included "Visibility is now four miles." A minute or two after that...

Approach: "Attention all aircraft, the field is going IFR, visibility two and a half miles. Cessna 46Q, state intentions."
46Q: "Cessna 46Q, we're gonna head to Watertown."
Approach: "Roger 46Q. Cessna 21E, state your intentions."
21E: "21E, we'll head to Watertown as well."
Approach: "Roger 21E. Skylane 71G, state your intentions."
Me: "71G, request popup IFR clearance to Madison."
Approach: "Skylane 271G, you are cleared to Madison airport via radar vectors, descend and maintain four thousand."

With a couple more radio transmissions, we were put on vectors to the RNAV(GPS) 32 approach. The last update to the weather was BKN023, but we didn't break out until 100 feet above minimums. Slowed the plane down and slid her onto the runway with a big grin on my face. :D
 
All good points, Kent, but when was the last time they had a snow storm in Albuquerque? ;)

The biggest practical use of the IFR to me has been being able to make trips that I otherwise would not have been able to. 6Y9 was a great example - it simply would not have happened if I was VFR only. Gaston's didn't happen for me because I was VFR only. The fact that you then have an extra skill set with which to handle situations that may pop up (like snow that comes in faster than you'd expected) makes it that much more usefuul.
 
Your IFR can open up a lot of doors. Nice write-up, Nick. Keep at it!

I too think computer simulators (I happened to use On Top not XPlane, but that's a detail) can help a lot even for the very beginning IFR student. Others will disagree, citing inadvertently learning bad habits and the law of primacy.
 
My problem with simulators is I have this habit of always doing the things that would kill you in real life, since I know there's a reset switch. Things like single engine aerobatics in IMC in a King Air (Jesse can tell you about this).

What surprised me with X-Plane was how, when you actually thought about it and didn't just do stupid things, there was certainly some crossover. Not 100%, but definitely something. For IFR, I could definitely see some benefit to the training.

That said, I wouldn't expect Nick to have problems anyway.

So now you need to do the hard part, Nick, finish it! :yes:
 
SCCutler said:
+100.

Best advice I got was during a stage check- check instructor said (insert dutch accent) "Spike, the airplane has an armrest, use it." He told me that, in most every circumstance, if I am using more than finger strength, I am overcontrolling and, likely, out of trim.
Click to expand...

A related technique is to keep your hand open on the yoke -- in other words, no gripping. If you can't help but close your hand, try flying with an index finger only on either side.
 
Cool beans, Nick. You will never experience such a swing from total frustration to exhilarating achievement within 15 minutes as you do when working on the IR. :)
 
CJones said:
Cool beans, Nick. You will never experience such a swing from total frustration to exhilarating achievement within 15 minutes as you do when working on the IR. :)
Click to expand...

And you will never have such a great desire to drink a beer (or 17) as when you complete your IR check ride. ;)

Actually, I better not say that too loudly considering I'm looking ahead at my CFI and CFII check rides...
 
dmccormack said:
A related technique is to keep your hand open on the yoke -- in other words, no gripping. If you can't help but close your hand, try flying with an index finger only on either side.
Click to expand...

I frequently end up using the index/pinky finger method for little adjustments. If the plane's trimmed out right it will fly straight and level on its own. This is important in instrument flight, especially if the plane doesn't have an autopilot or wing leveler.
 
SkyHog said:
This morning, I met up with my new CFII at KABQ to begin the process of letting me fly in clouds, legally. We were to meet up at 9am and take a Cherokee 140 out and about to start the whole process (again).

The plane wouldn't start, unfortunately, as the battery was dead. We tried to jump it and it still wouldn't start so we moved over to the Arrow II. I really like Arrows, I did my complex in one, and they're just fun planes, so I was pretty excited about it. Even more so when they let me have the Arrow at the same price as the Cherokee would have been :D


I am very happy with today. It was easy IFR stuff, but I still have it, so this is going to be a fun series of months, methinks!!!

Summary:
1.3 Hours Complex Time
1.0 Hours Simulated Instrument Time
1.3 Hours Dual
1.3 Hours PIC

Great way to start the day :D:D:D
Click to expand...

Can't beat that deal, you'll have to sabotage the 140 more often. You'll miss having the gear to put down.

I found instrument flying to be very bicycle like after a long hiatus from it and very quickly I was back up to speed.
 
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