lprellwitz
Pre-takeoff checklist
In need of some perspective here... had a rough instrument training day today.
Grant and I have been working on the instrument rating for about the same amount of time, though my work schedule hasn't allowed me to fly as consistently as he has; for the last couple of months, the job has left me feeling like a demented hamster spinning on her little wheel, right down to the water bottle and lettuce (salad) in her cage;er, I mean office....... too fried to fly after 12-13 hours of that every day.
So, August rolls around, and I'm finally both in town and free for a couple of weekends to train - yay! I pack my available time with lessons, wanting to get the rust off and pick up where I left off -hadn't flown with my instructor in about 2 months. Flew friday, saturday and today. Friday and Saturday go fairly well; not perfect, but pretty solid; some things to work on that I know are historical weak spots for me, fair enough.
I go out today, and nothing's working well - needles don't hold, the concept of a descent angle seems completely foreign, and the 182 that I love to fly suddenly seems like too much airplane. Have a break and talk with my instructor, and we're thinking that I should divide my training between instrument work in the 172, and add a bit of 182 time here and there for currency.
I plan to take the instrument checkride in a 172, so that makes some sense, but it still feels like this huge setback. I'm happy that Grant's ready for his checkride, but I'm frustrated at my apparent regression here. Still need to do the 250 (had to cancel the earlier try due to icing potential - gives you a sense of how long ago that was), but I have the XC PIC time, written was done long ago, to the point of polishing up maneuvers now - can someone tell me why this instrument training suddenly seems so hard to someone who's flown up around mountains, landed on beaches and done low passes to buzz sheep off the runway????!?!!? Aaaarrrrgggghhh!!!!
Thanks, Leslie
Grant and I have been working on the instrument rating for about the same amount of time, though my work schedule hasn't allowed me to fly as consistently as he has; for the last couple of months, the job has left me feeling like a demented hamster spinning on her little wheel, right down to the water bottle and lettuce (salad) in her cage;er, I mean office....... too fried to fly after 12-13 hours of that every day.
So, August rolls around, and I'm finally both in town and free for a couple of weekends to train - yay! I pack my available time with lessons, wanting to get the rust off and pick up where I left off -hadn't flown with my instructor in about 2 months. Flew friday, saturday and today. Friday and Saturday go fairly well; not perfect, but pretty solid; some things to work on that I know are historical weak spots for me, fair enough.
I go out today, and nothing's working well - needles don't hold, the concept of a descent angle seems completely foreign, and the 182 that I love to fly suddenly seems like too much airplane. Have a break and talk with my instructor, and we're thinking that I should divide my training between instrument work in the 172, and add a bit of 182 time here and there for currency.
I plan to take the instrument checkride in a 172, so that makes some sense, but it still feels like this huge setback. I'm happy that Grant's ready for his checkride, but I'm frustrated at my apparent regression here. Still need to do the 250 (had to cancel the earlier try due to icing potential - gives you a sense of how long ago that was), but I have the XC PIC time, written was done long ago, to the point of polishing up maneuvers now - can someone tell me why this instrument training suddenly seems so hard to someone who's flown up around mountains, landed on beaches and done low passes to buzz sheep off the runway????!?!!? Aaaarrrrgggghhh!!!!
Thanks, Leslie