IMC rating diary
Having been spurred on by Mazzy's great PPL Diary and FFF's CPL diary, I wondered if any tortured souls would be interested in following the ups and downs of my IMC rating. The first hour was completed today and was terribly rewarding.
My background
I am a PPL with 75 hours currently looking to build hours and experience for a CPL. My ATPL ground studies are continuing alongside this and my full time job. I gained the bulk of my initial training courtesy of the Royal Navy Grading Flight on the Grob 115D2 before I finally left a few years back. Last year after a considerable lay off I finished off my PPL and after some solo experience I have started my IMC rating flying from Coventry airport.
I have no desire to go into why I am doing the IMC rating as the pro's and cons have been discussed many times over on Pprune, it just suits the current phase of my flying development. Long term, my objective is to gain my IMC, night, CPL and then FI(R).
The first hour
Some will know and some will not, but the IMC rating consists of 15 hours training split into 3 main phases. The first phase is how to actually fly on instruments, the second is how to find your way around whilst on instruments and the last is how to get on the ground. I have already done the bare minimum of 5 hours instrument instruction with my PPL, but I have to say I was fairly apprehensive about today. Being used to VFR and the outside world for attitude, I didn't really have a clue as to what the straight and level, climbing and descending attitudes would look on the AI!
As ever, we started with a briefing, during which my instructor laid out the plan for the first hour. We discussed setting up a scan of the instruments and how to vary it for the manoeuver being completed. Throughout today we were going to use the full panel which on the cessna 152 I fly would be the 6 main flight instruments with the addition of the RPM guage for engine power settings. This led us on nicely to revision of PAT and APT with the power settings of 1900 rpm for a 90kt 450fpm descent, 2200-2300 rpm for 90kts straight and level and full power for our neck snapping 450 fpm rate of climb.
The walkround was stright forward but I did notice that for my first lesson under the hood, I had picked one of the nicest days of the year so far with clear blue skys and great visibility of 20k or so. Darn, no doubt the thermal activity of the lumps and bumps would give me a challenge to distract me from this schoolboy error.
Once airbourne we departed toward Draycott Water and once settled at 1400 ft outbound I went under the hood. Instantly, I got a horrible case of the leans (For those who have not had this happen to themselves, it is where your balance senses are adamant you are leaning to once side or the other. It is terribly disorientating when the instruments say you are right side up). I could see the sunlight dancing around on the panel and the hood became quite disturbing. Between the leans, and the sunlight moving quite differently to the actual movement of the aircraft, I couldn't have told you which way was up, but it sure felt strange. The turbulence was quite severe with first one then the other wing yanked skywards by thermals. I became fixated on the AI as my new best friend and missed my out of balance flight veering off from a heading of 120 to 090. On noticing this I realised I hadn't set up a scan, I was just fixed on the one dial that made me feel safe. It's a long time since I felt this out of control of an aircraft.
Gradually I got us back on our desired heading and clearing the base of the controlled airspace, we then started a series of climbs on various headings eventually levelling at 6000 feet. By now the air had become far smoother and I was having to spend less time fighting the aircraft. My confidence level grew as we headed off on a heading of 030, but I missed stopping the turn, only noticing that I had managed to get to 010. I dilligently altered the attitude to turn back to the right and scanned my balance ball and altitude only to see that once again we sailed past 030 and by now were closer to 050. Steeling myself, I got back to 030 and cursed, but soon ironed it out with a few 360 and 180 degree turns. Even now, with about 15 minutes under the hood, I felt more stable and I could sense that my scan had improved, headings and altitudes were held +/- 10 degrees or 50 feet. I had by no means conquered this new challenge as it dawned on me it had just taken all of my efforts to fly without navigating or talking to anyone on the radio. My instructor had filled in these gaps, and I had no idea where we were or what other aircraft were about. After 20 minutes under the hood, I had a breather, took it off and found we were overhead Leicester. I felt like I had been beaten up by Mike Tyson, with my brain aching from concentration.
The respite was over and I went back onto the instruments, but noticeably without any leans. Our route back was a series of descents and turns, obviously designed to practice the complementary side of how we got up there in the first place. Then came those words.......
"Ill vector us in on a simulated SRA approach to about 2 miles, lets see how we go".......
Brain tries to compute what I have just heard. He wants me to do a non-precision approach in this bucking bronco.....now! The voice on the radio seemed distanced, even though it's owner was sat next to me as we got back into the turbulent air. I was given a series of headings to steer and descents to make, holding the AI on the required attitude becoming harder with each lump in the sky. We got to 5 miles at 2000 feet and I commenced my 90kt descent at 450fpm. Very shortly afterwards, a huge lurch to the left rolled the aircraft 15 degrees to the left and I fought the roll with my colleague the AI. Gathering it back in we were now 10 degrees off heading and more worryingly 300 feet high when informed I should have been at 1200 feet. I stuffed the nose down, whilst taking off a touch of the power and we charged down towards our 2 mile point where I would be released from this nightmare challenge. The voice next to me said 2 miles, but made no mention of removing the hood. Now I though, what the? A few moments later, I was asked to lift the hood and I can tell you the sight of that runway ahead was amazing. The flight was rounded off with a nice landing and we taxied in to shutdown and de-brief.
With hindsight, I cannot say that I enjoyed the flight, which sounds very odd. The concentration level was so high, I couldn't enjoy it at the time, but the approach and landing made it feel very rewarding. Now I can appreciate why instrument flying is a skill that needs practicing frequently, so I've booked hour 2 for a weeks time to continue the challenge.
If there is enough interest then I shall endeavour to continue this diary. It is my first attempt, and it is important for me to gauge the response as my main aim is to help others. The knowledge of what the IMC rating contains will no doubt help others decide if it is for them, and at what stage they feel they should be doing it. Likewise, I am sure for those going through an IMC it could be a source of information and possibly support for the times they feel it is beyond them.
Let me know should it stay or should it go?
Obs cop