Cross Country IFR training flight

Luvrv8

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Sep 11, 2011
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695
Location
Camarillo Ca
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KCMA flyer
I am currently a IFR student and did my cross country flight today, I am a bit tired. Some background, I own a 172/a and training with it. I have twin 155 radios, DME and not much else. I have a freelance CFII that is currently a chief pilot for a corporate that flys a GV mostly international. Since he does not need my time or money I strive hard not to disappoint him. I am his only student if you don't count the 92 year old WWII vet with a distingushed flying cross. As you can guess he is not training him much just keeping him in the air safely.

The day started out at Camarillo, KCMA with a tower enroute to Riverside, KRAL. My read back was correct and off we go. Somewhere over KVNY I was vectored off of V186 to 20 degrees right. After 10 minuets ATC tells me to rejoin V186 but gives me no vectors. I was able to figure it out without my CFII having to help. So now for the approach to KRAL. I was expecting and ask for the VOR B to 27. I am told this is not available and was offered the ILS 09 with circle to 27. Don't ask me how but I figured it out thanks to foreflight and get us on the ground. That flight was 1 hour.

Ready to depart Riverside to Snta Maria,KSMX and ask for tower enroute. Was told that was not available from Riverside. I shut down the plane, get out the chart and start typing away on foreflight and file. 15 minuets later tower tells me I am ready for a ILS release. While airborne my CFII takes my iPad away and tells me everything I need is in front of me. Getting close to Santa Maria I ask for the back coarse to runway 30. Not much problem here but getting close to the missed, .5 on the DME I was thinking he was going to make me do a missed with a hold, at .6 I was told take off the hood runway in sight.

The last leg I was able to jet tower enroute from KSMX to KCMA. I get a departure route with a transition. Was able to pull it off, this is where I was glad to have a slow plane to give me time to stay in front of the plane. I get into Mugu airspace and request the VOR26 approach. The controller turns me in early and I realize I am very high, here we go to flaps 40 and make it to the minimums with only 50 foot high, off comes the hood and we land.

A couple things I learned. First don't get your heart set on a certain approach, things change fast. The night before I printed all expected plates and figured I had foreflight as a back up. In training the slower plane is better in my case, after today I think I would be much more comfortable in a faster plane. Last, my CFII is on a recording in my plane, I keep hearing "I am not here until you are close to busting a reg on my ticket".
 
On my IFR XC we only had 1 of the 3 approaches that we wanted available. Tried an ILS at two different places and one was loc only and one was completely down. My IFR XC was 4.1 on the hobbs in my 182RG, I chose the (much) longer of the two IFR XC's my school normally does. The bad part with the faster aircraft is that things do happen faster, which makes it more difficult to set up the approach. Wait until you're on your checkride and blast through the IAF at 140kts.. yeah been there, done that. A 172 wouldn't let me do that lol. IMO there should be at least 3 IFR XC's mandatory rather than 1. If I hadn't done extras with another CFII I would have been totally lost when I got out on my own. Heck, sometimes I still am lost out on my own..
 
I should add it took me awhile to realize I needed a wind correction angle. I was fighting and chasing V186 for awhile before coming to the conclusion there was wind up there. When I did my CFII said he was wondering when I would get tired of chasing a needle. I could here the guys in center saying " Bob, we got a guy up there without a auto pilot". After 4 hours of hand flying with goggles on you can bet my next plane will have one and it will be coupled to GPS.
 
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