IFR Training on Final Approach
June 15th, 2009. Filed under: IFR Training.
The bottom line: I’m “two weeks away from setting an appointment with a Designated Examiner”. Of course, I’ve been “two weeks away” for about a month now. But, I have to admit I could use a bit more polishing.
Things that I’m good at:
Holding Patterns
Jeez.. I don’t see what all the fuss is about with these. I keep hearing that people hate these, that they are hard to grasp. I find them easy, and relaxing. Go figure.
Altitude Hold
This was one of my earlier challenges. I tended to fixate on a gauge for a few seconds and then the altitude would get away from me. I’d be a 150′ off my mark before realizing it. I increased my scan, tried to stop fixating. But two of the biggest changes I made where to drive with my fingertips and watch the tachometer more closely.
Fingertips: Because of my short legs, I pull the seat up all the way. That makes it a bit close for my arms. I got into the habit of driving with the palm/ball of my hand. Turns out, that the muscle and fat in that part of the hand mask the pressure I’m exerting so I could never get an accurate feel of my adjustments. I would often over correct as a result. Fingertips and thumb solved a lot of altitude issues but not all.
Throttle monitoring: I’m finding A LOT of quirks with the plane I’m flying. The Heading Indicator precesses like crazy in turbulence (just when you don’t need the extra work load). The glide slope is starting to show some weirdness. And the throttle… in turbulence in particular… moves often. It’s up 100 rpm, down 150 rpm – no matter how hard I crank on the tensioner knob.. Of course this throws off the whole “trim the plane so it flys by itself, reducing your workload” goal. But just recently, I realized this and now when I instinctively reach for the trim wheel, I pause and look at the tach. 9 out of 10 times, I (re)adjust the throttle instead of the trim. This has helped my altitude control immensity.
ADF Approaches
I find these a bit easier than a precision approach, I think that’s because there’s more latitude in these approaches. On the other hand I’ve been lucky enough not to have to have done these in really strong cross winds. …less math 
Steep Turns
I’ve never been good at these. Even in my PP check ride I fudged one around. But now, I finally have them. Sometimes I have such a good time spinning around at 45* I forget to turn out on my heading. I love the reward of a perfect steep of cutting through my wake. That BUMP is so satisfying.
ILS Approaches
Again, as of late, cross winds have been fairly benign – in the 5-10kt realm. I’ve been able to keep within a ½ dot all the way down.
Area in need of improvement:
Time, Turn, Twist, Throttle, Talk
These actions, as I pass a check point or on a VOR approach seem to still trip me up a bit. In particular, at my base airport there is a VOR approach. 3 miles from the runway I have to preform all five actions – FAST or the approach will be blown. Inevitably, I forget one or more of the “T’s” or get them in the wrong order – and I’m off on a “miss” to try again.
My CFII says once I master this challenging approach, I’ll be ready for my check ride. Unfortunately, we always seem to do this VOR-A approach at the end of my lesson, after I’ve done 2 or 3 ILS or such. I wonder if my performance would be better if we put it at the beginning of the lesson.
The weather here in the Northeast over the last few weeks has been very unsettled. So, I’ve benefited in that I’ve gotten some “actual” which is a mind blowing experience. But it’s also weathered us out because of too low ceilings or thunderstorms in the area.
All in all, it’s very exciting. I’ve accumulated about 45 hours of instruction, including 2 hours of actually flying in the clouds. I’ve become a much more precise and safer pilot.
I just love this stuff.
