IMC rating diary
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Midlands
Age: 50
Posts: 395
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Lesson Eight
Apologies for the delay in updating the diary, but work and my 1 year old daughter have taken most of my time in the last week or so.
I'm currently preparing for the IMC rating exam and so I there is a slight delay in the airbourne stuff, but boy Saturday's lesson was great.
I was sat in one of the briefing rooms with my instructor and wouldn't you believe it, the rain started. This was really exciting and sad as it meant I was looking forwards to some clouds. This was to be a fantastic and rewarding day, as I had fully planned my own IFR nav route from Coventry to Daventry, Cranfield and return via Sywell and Leicester, then a self positioned ILS. The first flaw was that according to the charts, Sywell has an NDB beacon...........not so.
A good check of the plane and then off we went, under the hood at 600' and outbound in the climb intially to 1400'. I set up to track the 130QDM towards Daventry, and settled down for the flight. I had made a mental note to do as much of the radio's as I could. The theory was that I was steeling myself for the eventual day that I would be able to do this all solo. The Daventry beacon is about halfway between Covenrty and Cranfield and I passed over the top at 4000' and called to change to Cranfield. Now I was aware that Cranfield can be very busy and so I listened in for a few moments and put my most professional R/T voice on. I then called them up and promptly gave then all of the right information, but in the wrong order. Even though the instrument flying was becoming more comfortable, my big hangup was still cockpit management and it showed that my brain was still being pre-occupied with a multitude of useless thoughts. Nevertheless, they asked me to report overhead and advise them of any level changes. I tracked inbound to their VOR, but my cunning plan was only now coming to fruition. Immediately beyond their airfield is the controlled airspace for Stanstead, and it is in fairly close vicinity, so I set up Cranfield's NDB on my ADF. Their NDB is out on their main approach path and so would be out on my port side at an angle of 75 degrees to my track when I was directly overhead Cranfield. I now knew that I could prevent myself trundling off into controlled airspace quite easily.
And it worked
Just as the ADF needle crept round to 75 degrees off my track, the VOR gave up and showed no navigational information. I turned in utter confidence to route back to the North. I regained the Cranfield beacon on my outbound radial, and it took me off towards Sywell. Now I had been planning to track into Sywell's NDB, but now ended up with a juggling match. My aircraft only has 1xVOR, 1xADF and ILS. None of your fancy DME or twin VOR rubbish here, oh no. So to figure out my positin, I was constantly swapping between Daventry and Cranfield. According to my instructor, I just about called the overhead of Sywell and Market Harborough correctly (certainly good enough for Government work as an old instructor of mine used to say).
Leicester was a different story as I tracked the NDB in from about 8 miles, and it was far easier to call overhead when the needle went haywire. Then it was off towards the CT and Coventry for an ILS.
We descended to 3000' and self positioned by tracking in to the CT on a QDM of 230. Sure enough we got a localiser indication fairly early and so I now had something to track. The difficulty was that the wind was a South Westerly at 30 kts. This made my groundspeed only 60 kts and it meant that it was going to take forever to get home. However, this lull in the activity meant that I had the spare capacity to work out the required rate of descent for a 3 degree glideslope (usually your groundspeed multiplied by five ie. 60 kts x 5 = 300 fpm rate of descent).
Impressed with this I nearly missed the glideslope coming in. Now as I descended, we started to get lumps and bumps from the turbulence. It wa sthe worst I had found in some time and one of the lumps bounced me off the roof of the cabin. It was all I could do to keep the needles somewhere near the middle, but as we got to 500' agl, I lifted the hood and what a glorious sight. Runway 23 just off to my right with 3 reds out of 4 on the PAPI's. I then took the power off, lifted the nose to slow down, depolyed flap and even though I do say so myself made quite a nice landing.
Saturday had a sense of satisfaction, I had felt as if I had planned and flown my own route including a variety of navaids, all of my own R/T and navigational decisions and finally my own self positioned ILS. I now felt as if I could get myself from A to B safely in poor weather.
Hope you enjoyed the latest update,
Regards
Obs cop
Apologies for the delay in updating the diary, but work and my 1 year old daughter have taken most of my time in the last week or so.
I'm currently preparing for the IMC rating exam and so I there is a slight delay in the airbourne stuff, but boy Saturday's lesson was great.
I was sat in one of the briefing rooms with my instructor and wouldn't you believe it, the rain started. This was really exciting and sad as it meant I was looking forwards to some clouds. This was to be a fantastic and rewarding day, as I had fully planned my own IFR nav route from Coventry to Daventry, Cranfield and return via Sywell and Leicester, then a self positioned ILS. The first flaw was that according to the charts, Sywell has an NDB beacon...........not so.
A good check of the plane and then off we went, under the hood at 600' and outbound in the climb intially to 1400'. I set up to track the 130QDM towards Daventry, and settled down for the flight. I had made a mental note to do as much of the radio's as I could. The theory was that I was steeling myself for the eventual day that I would be able to do this all solo. The Daventry beacon is about halfway between Covenrty and Cranfield and I passed over the top at 4000' and called to change to Cranfield. Now I was aware that Cranfield can be very busy and so I listened in for a few moments and put my most professional R/T voice on. I then called them up and promptly gave then all of the right information, but in the wrong order. Even though the instrument flying was becoming more comfortable, my big hangup was still cockpit management and it showed that my brain was still being pre-occupied with a multitude of useless thoughts. Nevertheless, they asked me to report overhead and advise them of any level changes. I tracked inbound to their VOR, but my cunning plan was only now coming to fruition. Immediately beyond their airfield is the controlled airspace for Stanstead, and it is in fairly close vicinity, so I set up Cranfield's NDB on my ADF. Their NDB is out on their main approach path and so would be out on my port side at an angle of 75 degrees to my track when I was directly overhead Cranfield. I now knew that I could prevent myself trundling off into controlled airspace quite easily.
And it worked
Just as the ADF needle crept round to 75 degrees off my track, the VOR gave up and showed no navigational information. I turned in utter confidence to route back to the North. I regained the Cranfield beacon on my outbound radial, and it took me off towards Sywell. Now I had been planning to track into Sywell's NDB, but now ended up with a juggling match. My aircraft only has 1xVOR, 1xADF and ILS. None of your fancy DME or twin VOR rubbish here, oh no. So to figure out my positin, I was constantly swapping between Daventry and Cranfield. According to my instructor, I just about called the overhead of Sywell and Market Harborough correctly (certainly good enough for Government work as an old instructor of mine used to say).
Leicester was a different story as I tracked the NDB in from about 8 miles, and it was far easier to call overhead when the needle went haywire. Then it was off towards the CT and Coventry for an ILS.
We descended to 3000' and self positioned by tracking in to the CT on a QDM of 230. Sure enough we got a localiser indication fairly early and so I now had something to track. The difficulty was that the wind was a South Westerly at 30 kts. This made my groundspeed only 60 kts and it meant that it was going to take forever to get home. However, this lull in the activity meant that I had the spare capacity to work out the required rate of descent for a 3 degree glideslope (usually your groundspeed multiplied by five ie. 60 kts x 5 = 300 fpm rate of descent).
Impressed with this I nearly missed the glideslope coming in. Now as I descended, we started to get lumps and bumps from the turbulence. It wa sthe worst I had found in some time and one of the lumps bounced me off the roof of the cabin. It was all I could do to keep the needles somewhere near the middle, but as we got to 500' agl, I lifted the hood and what a glorious sight. Runway 23 just off to my right with 3 reds out of 4 on the PAPI's. I then took the power off, lifted the nose to slow down, depolyed flap and even though I do say so myself made quite a nice landing.
Saturday had a sense of satisfaction, I had felt as if I had planned and flown my own route including a variety of navaids, all of my own R/T and navigational decisions and finally my own self positioned ILS. I now felt as if I could get myself from A to B safely in poor weather.
Hope you enjoyed the latest update,
Regards
Obs cop
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: _
Posts: 206
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Another great write up ObsCop, very interesting read. Sounds like you're progressing nicely. I imagine life is made that much more difficult with no DME or a second VOR indicator. I can relate to the problem you have with finding spare capacity to deal with checks etc, I found it very difficult as well to begin with but its improving with practise. If you've read Trevor Thom Vol 5 you'll have no bother with the exam, I recall you making reference to it in your previous posts often enough so you should be fine. From what I can gather the question about the period of validity of the IMC rating is a dead cert to come up, I was leafing through a different book in a shop the other day & it was in every one of their sample IMC tests, probably because the CAA would like to be reassured you know how long its valid for! Keep up the good work with the flying & the diary when time allows, I find it interesting as I'm sure many others do. As of yesterday I'm no longer an IMC student 
Just got the CAA end of things to take care of now 
All the best with the written test
Just got the CAA end of things to take care of now All the best with the written test
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Midlands
Age: 50
Posts: 395
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks all,
I am becoming far more comfortable in my new windowless environment and I have to say it has made a huge difference to the accuracy of my flying. What I envisage will be hard is returning to VFR, where I think I will have to force myself to look out of the window.
We did do an interesting exercise in VFR for 2 or 3 minutes during one of the recent flights. The entire panel was covered and I was asked to fly a 360 turn using the picture. I only lost 100' but it shows that VFR or IFR fly the picture (I probably varied wildly, but just averaged the 100' loss). VFR has the outside world, IFR just has miniature versions of it that the brain needs to adapt to.
There is a hint of trepidation and a hint of excitement about using the skills I'm learning in real weather and solo.
Mazzy,
I know what you are going through, I did it for my PPL and now for my IMC rating, the reward far outweighs the pain and I reckon it can't be that far away now. Enjoy it when it happens, you only first solo once and you can't beat the elation.
Obs cop
I am becoming far more comfortable in my new windowless environment and I have to say it has made a huge difference to the accuracy of my flying. What I envisage will be hard is returning to VFR, where I think I will have to force myself to look out of the window.
We did do an interesting exercise in VFR for 2 or 3 minutes during one of the recent flights. The entire panel was covered and I was asked to fly a 360 turn using the picture. I only lost 100' but it shows that VFR or IFR fly the picture (I probably varied wildly, but just averaged the 100' loss). VFR has the outside world, IFR just has miniature versions of it that the brain needs to adapt to.
There is a hint of trepidation and a hint of excitement about using the skills I'm learning in real weather and solo.
Mazzy,
I know what you are going through, I did it for my PPL and now for my IMC rating, the reward far outweighs the pain and I reckon it can't be that far away now. Enjoy it when it happens, you only first solo once and you can't beat the elation.
Obs cop
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Midlands
Age: 50
Posts: 395
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I don't believe it, the weather's too bad now!
I was supposed to be doing lesson nine yesterday after a 2 week break (unplanned), but The TAF was giving the wind as 220, 27kts gusting 40.
Now I am a keen aviator, but that is a little much for my liking. Anyhow, I was determined to salvage something from the day and so trudged off to the field ever optimistic.
I was rewarded by the prospect of the 2 hour IMC rating exam. I have been using Trevor Thom vol. 5 for study along with an online airexam set up which cost a mere £3 to join and allows me constant use of their mock IMC exams (I believe for 1 year). Between these 2 factors, I had quite a good idea of the knowledge content and format I would face and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.
The exam is broadly made up of 3 elements, the first being to plan an IMC Nav route accurately and answer some questions on your findings. Secondly there is a general knowledge check and finally questions to examine you ability to interpret approach plates.
I completed all of the questions bar 3 awkward ones which came into the world of best guesses.
After 48 minutes, I handed my sheets back to the examiner and went off to get a coffee to await my results which were......
92 percent
How happy am I? Whilst obviously it would be wrong to discuss the content, I can advise on the following. I found it was pitched at a slightly harder level than the PPL exams I sat last year and moreover, the accuracy needed in the planning phase was more demanding than I remember the Nav PPL paper to require.
An area I didn't figure for was Met and synoptic charts, and it is well worth refreshing your knowledge of this subject prior to both the IMC flying training and the exam. Lastly, I would recommend doing the exam with some airbourne training under the belt as the information is easier to understand and you can visualise what you would expect to see in the air on the dials and then transfer this to paper. Had I not gained 9 hours of instrument training, I have no doubt the exam would have been harder.
Now I can look forwards to being airbourne again. We are aiming to travel further afield so that I can remove myself from comfortable local surroundings and beacons, so hopefully we will be off to East Midlands next week to practice radar vectors to ILS approaches at an all singing all dancing international airport with all mod cons.
Reagrds
Obs cop
I was supposed to be doing lesson nine yesterday after a 2 week break (unplanned), but The TAF was giving the wind as 220, 27kts gusting 40.
Now I am a keen aviator, but that is a little much for my liking. Anyhow, I was determined to salvage something from the day and so trudged off to the field ever optimistic.
I was rewarded by the prospect of the 2 hour IMC rating exam. I have been using Trevor Thom vol. 5 for study along with an online airexam set up which cost a mere £3 to join and allows me constant use of their mock IMC exams (I believe for 1 year). Between these 2 factors, I had quite a good idea of the knowledge content and format I would face and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.
The exam is broadly made up of 3 elements, the first being to plan an IMC Nav route accurately and answer some questions on your findings. Secondly there is a general knowledge check and finally questions to examine you ability to interpret approach plates.
I completed all of the questions bar 3 awkward ones which came into the world of best guesses.
After 48 minutes, I handed my sheets back to the examiner and went off to get a coffee to await my results which were......
92 percent
How happy am I? Whilst obviously it would be wrong to discuss the content, I can advise on the following. I found it was pitched at a slightly harder level than the PPL exams I sat last year and moreover, the accuracy needed in the planning phase was more demanding than I remember the Nav PPL paper to require.
An area I didn't figure for was Met and synoptic charts, and it is well worth refreshing your knowledge of this subject prior to both the IMC flying training and the exam. Lastly, I would recommend doing the exam with some airbourne training under the belt as the information is easier to understand and you can visualise what you would expect to see in the air on the dials and then transfer this to paper. Had I not gained 9 hours of instrument training, I have no doubt the exam would have been harder.
Now I can look forwards to being airbourne again. We are aiming to travel further afield so that I can remove myself from comfortable local surroundings and beacons, so hopefully we will be off to East Midlands next week to practice radar vectors to ILS approaches at an all singing all dancing international airport with all mod cons.
Reagrds
Obs cop
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: 2nm due S EGLK
Posts: 164
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
ObsCop,
I'm starting my IMC at 9am on Monday. I have to say, it's not looking good! I too took a quick peek at an AirQuiz IMC exam and was pleasantly surprised at how well I did (and slightly confused about the number of questions which didn't seem to have any bearing on the IMC rating!)
Have you guys seen this: http://www.visi.com/~mim/nav/ I thought it was very good!
Rgds,
TPK
I'm starting my IMC at 9am on Monday. I have to say, it's not looking good! I too took a quick peek at an AirQuiz IMC exam and was pleasantly surprised at how well I did (and slightly confused about the number of questions which didn't seem to have any bearing on the IMC rating!)
Have you guys seen this: http://www.visi.com/~mim/nav/ I thought it was very good!
Rgds,
TPK
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Midlands
Age: 50
Posts: 395
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
TPK,
The Airquiz IMC tests are quite good at replicating the IMC exam in both format and content. Likewise I was surprised by the content of their tests, but I did hear that these exams are not alone in their oddities.
Apparently one of the recent CPL airlaw exams had a question on how long the head of the International Civil Aviation Organisation could stay in post. Quite how that helps one fly, navigate and communicate safely I don't know but hey I only apply common sense.
In any case just out of interest, I note from your profile you have had experience of complex types. Are you going to be doing the course in a complex type? If so please feel free to add to this thread for those who plan to do likewise. It would add a new and interesting slant, and one which I would be interested in as eventually I plan on upgarding to a complex type and taking my IMC rating cautiously with me.
Moreover, I also wouldn't feel quite so alone with my diary updates
As you will have no doubt noticed, I found the first few hours quite intense, even though I was quite current. Let me know how you get on.
Cheers
Obs cop
The Airquiz IMC tests are quite good at replicating the IMC exam in both format and content. Likewise I was surprised by the content of their tests, but I did hear that these exams are not alone in their oddities.
Apparently one of the recent CPL airlaw exams had a question on how long the head of the International Civil Aviation Organisation could stay in post. Quite how that helps one fly, navigate and communicate safely I don't know but hey I only apply common sense.
In any case just out of interest, I note from your profile you have had experience of complex types. Are you going to be doing the course in a complex type? If so please feel free to add to this thread for those who plan to do likewise. It would add a new and interesting slant, and one which I would be interested in as eventually I plan on upgarding to a complex type and taking my IMC rating cautiously with me.
Moreover, I also wouldn't feel quite so alone with my diary updates
As you will have no doubt noticed, I found the first few hours quite intense, even though I was quite current. Let me know how you get on.
Cheers
Obs cop
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: 2nm due S EGLK
Posts: 164
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi,
I'll be training in an Archer which is fairly well equiped as these things go: slaved compass, HSI, and RMI, KNS80 VOR/ILS/GS/DME (with RNAV, yay!), second VOR, etc. Shame about the muppet at the controls!
The fit should make it slightly easier than you described, plus you've mentioned the PA28 being a stable platform which will help. However, I can get lost at 120tks
Generally, would people value an additional IMC diary? Should it mixed in with this thread or in its own thread?
Rgds,
TPK
I'll be training in an Archer which is fairly well equiped as these things go: slaved compass, HSI, and RMI, KNS80 VOR/ILS/GS/DME (with RNAV, yay!), second VOR, etc. Shame about the muppet at the controls!
The fit should make it slightly easier than you described, plus you've mentioned the PA28 being a stable platform which will help. However, I can get lost at 120tks
Generally, would people value an additional IMC diary? Should it mixed in with this thread or in its own thread?
Rgds,
TPK
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Midlands
Age: 50
Posts: 395
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
TPK,
The equipment on the aircraft you are planning to do your IMC on will make some of the navigation elements far more straightforward in the long run, although there will be more instruments to integrate into your scan in the short term.
The slaved compass and HSI will be a huge bonus, and one I fear you will not appreciate until you try IMC in a more basic aircraft. Maybe we should do a swap once through the skills test.
I think these variations alone would make it more sensible to add to this thread rather than have a parallel. In practice, many of the situations/ problems I have already described will be common to both of us, but the differences will make fascinating reading. I for one would like to know how you get on and I am sure I am not alone, but it might be rather awkward for a prospective IMC rating pilot to have to plough through 2 seperate threads.
Any how thats my very humble opinion.
What do you think guys, the more the merrier on this thread?
Cheers
Obs cop
The equipment on the aircraft you are planning to do your IMC on will make some of the navigation elements far more straightforward in the long run, although there will be more instruments to integrate into your scan in the short term.
The slaved compass and HSI will be a huge bonus, and one I fear you will not appreciate until you try IMC in a more basic aircraft. Maybe we should do a swap once through the skills test.
I think these variations alone would make it more sensible to add to this thread rather than have a parallel. In practice, many of the situations/ problems I have already described will be common to both of us, but the differences will make fascinating reading. I for one would like to know how you get on and I am sure I am not alone, but it might be rather awkward for a prospective IMC rating pilot to have to plough through 2 seperate threads.
Any how thats my very humble opinion.
What do you think guys, the more the merrier on this thread?
Cheers
Obs cop
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: UK
Posts: 62
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
As an avid reader of this thread as I build up some PA28 Archer experience prior to starting my IMC in the not too distant future, I agree with Obs cop that it would be great to have a single thread as a point of reference.
I realise that there may well be someoverlap in your training but I'm sure the experiences you both have to relate will be as unique as they are beneficial to those of us who will follow!
And Congrats on the exam pass Obs cop - 92% - not too shabby!
I realise that there may well be someoverlap in your training but I'm sure the experiences you both have to relate will be as unique as they are beneficial to those of us who will follow!
And Congrats on the exam pass Obs cop - 92% - not too shabby!
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Midlands
Age: 50
Posts: 395
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks a lot Murphy.
The pass mark was 72% so some would say 92% was actually 20% of wasted effort, but hey all I care about is that another hurdle is passed and behind me now.
I'm also dead chuffed that the rating for this thread has nudged itself up from an average 3 to an above average 4. Little things like that make the endless hours typing seem worthwhile and I nearly feel appreciated.... sniff sniff Thanks guys, the cheque is in the post.
I must kick this self pity into touch one day but hey, lesson nine is re-booked for Thursday afternoon. Can't wait.
Obs cop
The pass mark was 72% so some would say 92% was actually 20% of wasted effort, but hey all I care about is that another hurdle is passed and behind me now.
I'm also dead chuffed that the rating for this thread has nudged itself up from an average 3 to an above average 4. Little things like that make the endless hours typing seem worthwhile and I nearly feel appreciated.... sniff sniff
Thanks guys, the cheque is in the post. I must kick this self pity into touch one day but hey, lesson nine is re-booked for Thursday afternoon. Can't wait.
Obs cop
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 255
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Quote:
An area I didn't figure for was Met and synoptic charts, and it is well worth refreshing your knowledge of this subject prior to both the IMC flying training and the exam.
If you want to fly IFR you cannot know enough about Met, chart interpretation, trends etc.
An area I didn't figure for was Met and synoptic charts, and it is well worth refreshing your knowledge of this subject prior to both the IMC flying training and the exam.
If you want to fly IFR you cannot know enough about Met, chart interpretation, trends etc.
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Midlands
Age: 50
Posts: 395
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Apologies all, I have been away from my computer since the last lesson, but the update is nigh...ah and here it is now.
Lesson Nine
The objective now that I can get up, figure out where I am and know how to pass a written exam, is to iron out how to get down. So much so that we thought we would zip off to East Midlands to practice a couple of ILS' after some radar vectors. A quick phone call and they agreed to aid us in our mission to get me IMC rated..... bless 'em.
We took off and departed from downwind and what a wind it was too. 25 kts right up the chuff giving us a groundspeed of a stunning 115 kts. At this rate we would be there before I got rid of a small bout of the leans. Not one to panic, I steered us towards Bitterswell an old disused airfield and we called up East Mids. Trundling along at 3000', they were terribly helpful, but I suspect that calling up in a professional manner with a callsign may have helped our case. Never the less they gave us a squawk and shortly after that granted us permission to enter their airspace. We were given radar control and turned towards the approach from the south. Then I heard a noise like Darth Vader after a good jog. It was "Typhoon One", a fast jet with a giveaway callsign. Every now and again, I marvel at the simplicity of the cessna 152, and the fact that the design does exactly what I need of it. However, there was a huge gulf between the performances of our dissimilar types and we were clearly so much better at - SLOW FLIGHT. With this significant edge we could turn tighter if not harder or faster and following the heading changes from ATC meant this was one bandit that was going to get away. Unable to stay with us in our 90 kt world the Typhoon merely passed overhead and became number two in the approach set up relegating us to number three.
Shortly after this ATC positioned us for our first approach and we neatly intercepted the localiser. I then neatly flew right through it and spent most of the time trying to get a stubborn needle to move from indicating that I was 1 degree off the perfect approach. The wind was 25 kts from the south giving a full 25 kt crosswind and yes you've guessed, I was North of my prefered track. Deftly yo-yoing either side of the glideslope added to my consternation and cursing the hills to the South of the airfield and their turbulence, I dragged the aircraft kicking and screaming back onto some semblance of a stable approach. At 800' altitude I looked up and there was a perfectly landable runway.
We started our missed approach and climbed away at 500 fpm. Two minutes later and with a hint of "why haven't they called level yet?" we were asked for our altitude by ATC. My reply of 2700 feet, combined with our long (in terms of time) ILS told them everything they needed to know about our performance (or lack of it). Once level at 3000', we tracked back and were vectored in for another ILS, but this time joining the localiser at 5 miles rather than 10. The ILS is twice as sensitive at this range than at 10 miles, and the difference got me working quite hard to capture the localiser. Again we bounced our way down the ILS, fighting the wind and turbulence, and somehow I got a reasonable approach out of it.
I was never really sure at the start if 15 hours was enough for an IMC, and my initial experiences supported this concern, but I now find flying IMC almost as routine as flying VFR. Over the coming weeks, I'm expecting the biggest difference will be to my operational capacity in the aircraft as there is definately room for improvement.
RogerF
I quite agree, but I hadn't figured that the exam would contain stuff not to be found in Trevor Thom vol. 5. Naive perhaps, but all it meant was that I reverted to my existing knowledge. My point was simply that I hadn't prepared for it and it took me somewhat by surprise.
TPK,
How did the first lesson go?
Regards
Obs cop
Lesson Nine
The objective now that I can get up, figure out where I am and know how to pass a written exam, is to iron out how to get down. So much so that we thought we would zip off to East Midlands to practice a couple of ILS' after some radar vectors. A quick phone call and they agreed to aid us in our mission to get me IMC rated..... bless 'em.
We took off and departed from downwind and what a wind it was too. 25 kts right up the chuff giving us a groundspeed of a stunning 115 kts. At this rate we would be there before I got rid of a small bout of the leans. Not one to panic, I steered us towards Bitterswell an old disused airfield and we called up East Mids. Trundling along at 3000', they were terribly helpful, but I suspect that calling up in a professional manner with a callsign may have helped our case. Never the less they gave us a squawk and shortly after that granted us permission to enter their airspace. We were given radar control and turned towards the approach from the south. Then I heard a noise like Darth Vader after a good jog. It was "Typhoon One", a fast jet with a giveaway callsign. Every now and again, I marvel at the simplicity of the cessna 152, and the fact that the design does exactly what I need of it. However, there was a huge gulf between the performances of our dissimilar types and we were clearly so much better at - SLOW FLIGHT. With this significant edge we could turn tighter if not harder or faster and following the heading changes from ATC meant this was one bandit that was going to get away. Unable to stay with us in our 90 kt world the Typhoon merely passed overhead and became number two in the approach set up relegating us to number three.
Shortly after this ATC positioned us for our first approach and we neatly intercepted the localiser. I then neatly flew right through it and spent most of the time trying to get a stubborn needle to move from indicating that I was 1 degree off the perfect approach. The wind was 25 kts from the south giving a full 25 kt crosswind and yes you've guessed, I was North of my prefered track. Deftly yo-yoing either side of the glideslope added to my consternation and cursing the hills to the South of the airfield and their turbulence, I dragged the aircraft kicking and screaming back onto some semblance of a stable approach. At 800' altitude I looked up and there was a perfectly landable runway.
We started our missed approach and climbed away at 500 fpm. Two minutes later and with a hint of "why haven't they called level yet?" we were asked for our altitude by ATC. My reply of 2700 feet, combined with our long (in terms of time) ILS told them everything they needed to know about our performance (or lack of it). Once level at 3000', we tracked back and were vectored in for another ILS, but this time joining the localiser at 5 miles rather than 10. The ILS is twice as sensitive at this range than at 10 miles, and the difference got me working quite hard to capture the localiser. Again we bounced our way down the ILS, fighting the wind and turbulence, and somehow I got a reasonable approach out of it.
I was never really sure at the start if 15 hours was enough for an IMC, and my initial experiences supported this concern, but I now find flying IMC almost as routine as flying VFR. Over the coming weeks, I'm expecting the biggest difference will be to my operational capacity in the aircraft as there is definately room for improvement.
RogerF
If you want to fly IFR you cannot know enough about Met, chart interpretation, trends etc.
TPK,
How did the first lesson go?
Regards
Obs cop
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: 2nm due S EGLK
Posts: 164
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Obs Cop,
Good write up!
My first lesson was over a week ago and I'm still lying in a darkened room with a cold cloth on my head!
Not a great deal to report. The Archer has screens which I guess is better than foggles or a hood. I was also flying with a 40kt wind which meant tracking away from the airfield at 70-80kts and tracking back to it at 150-160kts!
We basically tracked back and forth to and from the airfield at various heights which allowed me to practice turns, climbs and descents. All in all, not too shabby - just hard work!
I was also treated to being flown around for 2 minutes with my eyes shut and then told to keep my eyes shut as I was given the plane back. I actually avoided a spiral dive, but only just!
So, all in all a valuable lesson about flying the attitude and starting to think about my scan. More to follow time/money/leave permitting.
Rgds,
TPK
Good write up!
My first lesson was over a week ago and I'm still lying in a darkened room with a cold cloth on my head!
Not a great deal to report. The Archer has screens which I guess is better than foggles or a hood. I was also flying with a 40kt wind which meant tracking away from the airfield at 70-80kts and tracking back to it at 150-160kts!
We basically tracked back and forth to and from the airfield at various heights which allowed me to practice turns, climbs and descents. All in all, not too shabby - just hard work!
I was also treated to being flown around for 2 minutes with my eyes shut and then told to keep my eyes shut as I was given the plane back. I actually avoided a spiral dive, but only just!
So, all in all a valuable lesson about flying the attitude and starting to think about my scan. More to follow time/money/leave permitting.
Rgds,
TPK
Spicy Meatball
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Liverpool UK
Age: 42
Posts: 1,115
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
and my initial experiences supported this concern, but I now find flying IMC almost as routine as flying VFR
Keep up the flying honours!
Lee
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Midlands
Age: 50
Posts: 395
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My apologies all for the lack of updates, but life has caught up with me a little.
In any case, I'm being really nice to you and I'm giving 2 updates in one....HuRRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Tea, stickies and medals all round.
LESSON TEN
It was always going to happen and this was the day. IMC flying is one thing, but doing it after a short interuipted nights sleep is quite another. The plan was to do some NDB holds and approaches using Leicester's NDB.
Lulled into a false sense of security, we gently scooted away from Coventry over to Leics without as much as a hiccup. I then went into the hold, but I have to say it was now clear to me that everything was harder than normal, and I was feeling rough. (Before anyone starts hypothesising, I have previously suffered with airsickness and the effects become dramatically increased with both alcohol in the previous 24 hours and being tired. Now I had been stone cold sober for days, but I was very very tired). My brain seemed to be well behind the aircraft and it was very evident when I commenced a descent from 2000' to 1500' on the timed outbound leg. I concentrated on my height and missed my time/turn and then on realising that bonged my height. Mega p1ssed off, I flew a poor rate 1 turn and rolled out too late. The ADF needle looked odd until I realised how off heading I was. I missed the start of the descent and roared down to my MDH of 600'. Looking out, the field was there and I could have circled to land by by my standards it was poor. It appeared that everything I did was 5 seconds or so after I should have been doing it. We climbed out for attempt 2.
Sweat poured off as I turbo charged my brain and struggled to get back with it and the second attempt was barely passable. Following this 20 minutes of hell, I was cursing myself, pointing out how stupid I was and verbally beating myself up. As far as the hours so far have been, this was the low point. Poor altimetry kills, and mine had been verging on the shoddy. I could hardly believe how much diference there is between being well rested and sh@gged, and I was feeling every bit the fool. We did a touch and go on this second approach, and the student pilot waiting to line up was probably very amused at the worst landing I have ever made.
We trundled back to Coventry where I then did one final approach using their NDB on the localiser. I had now restored my efforts and made a decent approach with a twist. The mental picture is horrible because you track into the NDB, but are still some 3 miles or so from touchdown, so you have to track a specific radial away from the beacon. At such a crucial time in the flight it is quite demanding, I can tell you. Anyways, a reasonable approach came out of it and I retired feeling jaded from airsickness and downbeat from my display of flying skills.
LESSON ELEVEN
If you fall of the horse then you should........... take up flying. And so the following day, I took my battered ego back to Coventry. We had an hour or so now to look at what could be considered the general handling of IF.
As soon as I left the ground, I felt better. My accuracy had come back, and the plane was mine again. We roared up to 4000' where I then did some unusual attitude recoveries and some steep level turns on full panel. A bit of tracking into Daventry and I called ontop the beacon, to which my instructor looked to his right and went "yep". Our mount was a new (ie. different to our usual) 152 and this one has DME. Coooooooool.
The toys were no use however as I went onto partial panel. I flew around for about 5 minutes to get into the swing of it and then we did some more unusual attitudes, all with no drama. I was then directed off into the distance using timed turns, and my new £1 stopwatch worked admirably. Finally I was asked where we were, and I figured out we were virtually over Draycott Water. Perfect for a rejoin, but today it would have to be to the visual circuit. Overall, it was much better than the previous day and my confidence is back with me. Maybe the hiccup prevented over-confidence, maybe it was because of over-confidence, I may never know. What I do know is if you don't feel that you can keep up with or get ahead of the aircraft, you shouldn't really be blundering around in cloud. Single pilot IMC is very hard work during approaches and the like and a clear head is your best friend.
I now only have 2 3/4 hours before test and my instructor feels I am ready.
Come on!!!!!!!!! 
Obs cop
In any case, I'm being really nice to you and I'm giving 2 updates in one....HuRRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Tea, stickies and medals all round.
LESSON TEN
It was always going to happen and this was the day. IMC flying is one thing, but doing it after a short interuipted nights sleep is quite another. The plan was to do some NDB holds and approaches using Leicester's NDB.
Lulled into a false sense of security, we gently scooted away from Coventry over to Leics without as much as a hiccup. I then went into the hold, but I have to say it was now clear to me that everything was harder than normal, and I was feeling rough. (Before anyone starts hypothesising, I have previously suffered with airsickness and the effects become dramatically increased with both alcohol in the previous 24 hours and being tired. Now I had been stone cold sober for days, but I was very very tired). My brain seemed to be well behind the aircraft and it was very evident when I commenced a descent from 2000' to 1500' on the timed outbound leg. I concentrated on my height and missed my time/turn and then on realising that bonged my height. Mega p1ssed off, I flew a poor rate 1 turn and rolled out too late. The ADF needle looked odd until I realised how off heading I was. I missed the start of the descent and roared down to my MDH of 600'. Looking out, the field was there and I could have circled to land by by my standards it was poor. It appeared that everything I did was 5 seconds or so after I should have been doing it. We climbed out for attempt 2.
Sweat poured off as I turbo charged my brain and struggled to get back with it and the second attempt was barely passable. Following this 20 minutes of hell, I was cursing myself, pointing out how stupid I was and verbally beating myself up. As far as the hours so far have been, this was the low point. Poor altimetry kills, and mine had been verging on the shoddy. I could hardly believe how much diference there is between being well rested and sh@gged, and I was feeling every bit the fool. We did a touch and go on this second approach, and the student pilot waiting to line up was probably very amused at the worst landing I have ever made.
We trundled back to Coventry where I then did one final approach using their NDB on the localiser. I had now restored my efforts and made a decent approach with a twist. The mental picture is horrible because you track into the NDB, but are still some 3 miles or so from touchdown, so you have to track a specific radial away from the beacon. At such a crucial time in the flight it is quite demanding, I can tell you. Anyways, a reasonable approach came out of it and I retired feeling jaded from airsickness and downbeat from my display of flying skills.
LESSON ELEVEN
If you fall of the horse then you should........... take up flying. And so the following day, I took my battered ego back to Coventry. We had an hour or so now to look at what could be considered the general handling of IF.
As soon as I left the ground, I felt better. My accuracy had come back, and the plane was mine again. We roared up to 4000' where I then did some unusual attitude recoveries and some steep level turns on full panel. A bit of tracking into Daventry and I called ontop the beacon, to which my instructor looked to his right and went "yep". Our mount was a new (ie. different to our usual) 152 and this one has DME. Coooooooool.
The toys were no use however as I went onto partial panel. I flew around for about 5 minutes to get into the swing of it and then we did some more unusual attitudes, all with no drama. I was then directed off into the distance using timed turns, and my new £1 stopwatch worked admirably. Finally I was asked where we were, and I figured out we were virtually over Draycott Water. Perfect for a rejoin, but today it would have to be to the visual circuit. Overall, it was much better than the previous day and my confidence is back with me. Maybe the hiccup prevented over-confidence, maybe it was because of over-confidence, I may never know. What I do know is if you don't feel that you can keep up with or get ahead of the aircraft, you shouldn't really be blundering around in cloud. Single pilot IMC is very hard work during approaches and the like and a clear head is your best friend.
I now only have 2 3/4 hours before test and my instructor feels I am ready.
Come on!!!!!!!!!
Obs cop
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Midlands
Age: 50
Posts: 395
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Apologies for all (the few? ) who are following my intrepid progress, but work and home have meant that I haven't been able to make any progress over the last week or so, but I can assure you it will all be over soon.
Regards
Obs cop
) who are following my intrepid progress, but work and home have meant that I haven't been able to make any progress over the last week or so, but I can assure you it will all be over soon.Regards
Obs cop
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Leicestershire
Age: 44
Posts: 114
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi Obs,
I've been following this thread from the beginning and have enjoyed your detailed lesson write-ups. Well done!
I am doing my IMC rating at the moment just up the road at East Midlands airport. And I too am in the situation where I have 2.5hrs to go (only 15mins instrument time to go) to meet the minimums for a valid flight test and application. I've also been told I'm test ready.
A lot of what we have done has been similar (as you would hope / expect), but it has been interesting to hear the differencies between doing an IMC rating at an aerodrome with Class D and one without.
I know a few people early on knocked those instructors who did a bit too much 'holding'. My instuctor had not touched the subject at all, and when I asked he simply said "they're not in the test". Anyhow, I asked if we could (since we were ahead of schedule) and the resulting lesson was quite fantatstic. After a phone call to ATC to approve it we spend 1.5 hours in real IMC in the EMA zone doing holds on the EME and 'alternate procedure' ILS approaches. The cloud base was around 2000 and we we're holding at about 3000. At one point we were asked to climb to 4000 and that brought us out into the fresh blue winter sky - fantastic! It was quite a priviledge to be able to do that under a radar control service from EMA approach, not so easy if you were at Coventry doing them over the CT, or are Cov Approach accomodating to that sort of thing?
When you make approaches into COV did you have to pay for any of the sevices, like if you did an SRA or ILS approach? Or do you only pay if you make a go-around from the approach? I think we're quite lucky at EMA in that, being a based aircraft, the flying school doesn't get charged for practise approaches. Hence no knock on price to me, just the standard training rate in the 172 with an instructor. Is that how it worked for you also at COV?
I ganied a lot from that lesson. Firstly from flying true IMC without the hood (for a long time), secondly it was a great excercise in NDB tracking as the winds aloft were crosswind to the ob / ib legs of the hold.
Good luck obs and all the rest of you working towards the IMC rating! Hopefully see you 'on-top' some day soon!
I've been following this thread from the beginning and have enjoyed your detailed lesson write-ups. Well done!
I am doing my IMC rating at the moment just up the road at East Midlands airport. And I too am in the situation where I have 2.5hrs to go (only 15mins instrument time to go) to meet the minimums for a valid flight test and application. I've also been told I'm test ready.
A lot of what we have done has been similar (as you would hope / expect), but it has been interesting to hear the differencies between doing an IMC rating at an aerodrome with Class D and one without.
I know a few people early on knocked those instructors who did a bit too much 'holding'. My instuctor had not touched the subject at all, and when I asked he simply said "they're not in the test". Anyhow, I asked if we could (since we were ahead of schedule) and the resulting lesson was quite fantatstic. After a phone call to ATC to approve it we spend 1.5 hours in real IMC in the EMA zone doing holds on the EME and 'alternate procedure' ILS approaches. The cloud base was around 2000 and we we're holding at about 3000. At one point we were asked to climb to 4000 and that brought us out into the fresh blue winter sky - fantastic! It was quite a priviledge to be able to do that under a radar control service from EMA approach, not so easy if you were at Coventry doing them over the CT, or are Cov Approach accomodating to that sort of thing?
When you make approaches into COV did you have to pay for any of the sevices, like if you did an SRA or ILS approach? Or do you only pay if you make a go-around from the approach? I think we're quite lucky at EMA in that, being a based aircraft, the flying school doesn't get charged for practise approaches. Hence no knock on price to me, just the standard training rate in the 172 with an instructor. Is that how it worked for you also at COV?
I ganied a lot from that lesson. Firstly from flying true IMC without the hood (for a long time), secondly it was a great excercise in NDB tracking as the winds aloft were crosswind to the ob / ib legs of the hold.
Good luck obs and all the rest of you working towards the IMC rating! Hopefully see you 'on-top' some day soon!