The title pretty much says it all....
Being in the position of having to build some hours before I start my CPL/IR course I thought I'd do an IMC course - as a kind of way of easing myself into the IR course and here are the adventures so far!
DAY 1
Seeing as I haven't flown for nearly 3 years (Darn those ATPL exams!) I was obviously pretty nervous jumping back into a little C150 but thankfully my instructor Stuart Smith put me at ease, taking the time to show me of all the checks to be done, weather to be obtained and all the do's and dont's of flying!
My radio calls were obviously terrible, but Stuart was very good with this also, firstly practising the calls with me before actually getting me to do them. I know a lot of instructors would have just simply made the call in order for us to get into the air quicker - something which would have made me even less confident on the radio in the long run!
Once in the air it was a pleasant surprise to see all my skills returning one by one slowly - the instrument scan, smooth flight controls, lookout, general handling... even though my landings and curcuits needed a little work
I had explained to Stuart that my intention was to proceed onto the CPL/IR afterwards and anything he could show or teach me in the IMC that would help me in the IR would be greatly appreciated!
After the first lesson we proceeded onto VOR tracking / Intercepts, DME arcs, Standard Instrument Departures (SID's), Holds and Missed Approaches.
Wow what an eye opener all that was!
It was great to see the ATPL theory in practice for a change rather than just studying it.... and I was more than glad that I had already done my ATPL's - all the flight theory was pretty intensive!!!
DAY 2
We started the day a little late as the drive between Essex and Cranfield took a little longer than planned - thank you M25 & M1!!
We started with some IMC general handling (wearing a wonderful hood!) - medium and steep turns, stalling, unusual attitude recoveries, compass timed turns and partial panel which was very interesting!
I thought it was difficult enough flying the plane on instruments alone, only to find out it got harder when you didnt have one or more of these instruments!
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General handling under a hood felt a little odd at first as I was used to doing manoveres being able to see out of the window, but once I'd got used to just watching the instruments if anything they made my handling better ie not turning 15 degrees during a stall !
In the afternoon we did a consolidation flight, an extremely reassuring flight as everything I'd learned up to that point was coming together slowly which obviously made it a little easier - practice makes perfect as they say!
It also felt my workload was easing up as a certain manoveure or procedure wasnt brand new anymore..... And thankfully Stuart made sure my workload wasn't too high - a sure way to scare anybody off!
DAY 3
SID's, Holds, NDB/ILS
Finally learning that flying by the numbers can be done!
Set your power, get the plane trimmed up to fly itself, hold your heading, manage a stable descent rate and you can hold an ILS to the deck (if you're really really good that is!)
I just about managed it to 400' before I lost the ILS - but not bad for a first attempt eh?!
Learning the RT for taking down clearances was interesting, you've got a lot to do to say the least!
Fly the plane, keep it stable, keep in your head whereabouts in the approach you are, where you've got to turn next, what needle is meant to be moving where, what to do when it moves, copy down the approach clearances and weather - and this is on top of all the usual pre landing checks etc!
Well I was more than ready for a weekend off
Next installment next week!