First IFR lesson (report)
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2001
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From: Seattle, WA USA
First IFR lesson (report)
Went for my first IFR lesson on Sunday and as luck would have it, we had scattered clouds at about 4000ft.
Same CFI who got me through my private, so we get on with each other well.
As soon as we got up and out of the local area, he had me climb to 3500ft and hold a course using the attitude indicator. He got some Post-Its and took away everything except for the attitude indicator and the airspeed indicator and I attempted to hold my altitude and heading for 5 minutes. Peeling back the Post-Its showed that I'd climbed a couple of hundred feet and drifted off by 10 degrees or so. I corrected and tried again. This time I lost about 50 feet. We kept doing that for a while and I felt myself make some progress.
Then we called up Stockton approach to see if we could get through the clouds. They came back with a clearance and I climbed up to 5500ft. As we got near the clouds, he gave me back the rest of my instruments and we penetrated the first bank of clouds. Strange sensation. I felt fine if I just looked at the instruments. Then he told me to take a look at the ground; since the clouds were scattered and we were just above their base I could see the ground out of the corner of my eye intermittently. As soon as I actually looked there, I started to feel disoriented.
Continued the climb and broke out on top, which is the first time I've seen that from a GA aircraft. Went back down again and broke out again and canceled IFR and then I went under the hood for the remainder of the lesson.
He gave me headings to fly to get to Hollister (a nice long runway) and I attempted to get a nice 500fpm descent going at about 90 knots and failed... Either I wouldn't descend, or I'd drop like a stone. Airspeed was safe but way too fast... Took the hood off at 200ft AGL and felt like I was supersonic... I was reasonably lined up but it took me ages to "come off instruments".
Did a go around and went back under the hood to San Carlos (my home airport) and did the same thing there - hood off at 200ft AGL. Wasn't so well lined up and was fast as well. The landing was most certainly an arrival, but it was tremendous fun.
Really enjoyed the IMC experience and I'm glad I got to do that early on in the training.
Same CFI who got me through my private, so we get on with each other well.
As soon as we got up and out of the local area, he had me climb to 3500ft and hold a course using the attitude indicator. He got some Post-Its and took away everything except for the attitude indicator and the airspeed indicator and I attempted to hold my altitude and heading for 5 minutes. Peeling back the Post-Its showed that I'd climbed a couple of hundred feet and drifted off by 10 degrees or so. I corrected and tried again. This time I lost about 50 feet. We kept doing that for a while and I felt myself make some progress.
Then we called up Stockton approach to see if we could get through the clouds. They came back with a clearance and I climbed up to 5500ft. As we got near the clouds, he gave me back the rest of my instruments and we penetrated the first bank of clouds. Strange sensation. I felt fine if I just looked at the instruments. Then he told me to take a look at the ground; since the clouds were scattered and we were just above their base I could see the ground out of the corner of my eye intermittently. As soon as I actually looked there, I started to feel disoriented.
Continued the climb and broke out on top, which is the first time I've seen that from a GA aircraft. Went back down again and broke out again and canceled IFR and then I went under the hood for the remainder of the lesson.
He gave me headings to fly to get to Hollister (a nice long runway) and I attempted to get a nice 500fpm descent going at about 90 knots and failed... Either I wouldn't descend, or I'd drop like a stone. Airspeed was safe but way too fast... Took the hood off at 200ft AGL and felt like I was supersonic... I was reasonably lined up but it took me ages to "come off instruments".
Did a go around and went back under the hood to San Carlos (my home airport) and did the same thing there - hood off at 200ft AGL. Wasn't so well lined up and was fast as well. The landing was most certainly an arrival, but it was tremendous fun.
Really enjoyed the IMC experience and I'm glad I got to do that early on in the training.
Joined: May 2001
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From: 75N 16E
Good fun isn't it ! Wait until you do partial panel unusual attitudes, that is fun. Instructor covers AI and HI, makes you put your head down and shut your eyes then F**ks with the plane and gets you to recover....
Another thing my instructor did was to get me to fly the plane with my eyes shut, and try and make a 180° turn....its wierd how quick the aircraft can get into an unusual attitude!
Good luck...
Another thing my instructor did was to get me to fly the plane with my eyes shut, and try and make a 180° turn....its wierd how quick the aircraft can get into an unusual attitude!
Good luck...
Joined: Feb 2000
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
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From: England
It was one of my fav lessons introducing Bloggs to IF. Unusual Attitude partial panel work was also the highlight of many a day - a battle of wits as the student gets ever better at detecting what you are up to whilst he shuts his eyes whilst you use ever more advanced Jedi inner ear bending tricks to challenge him/her.
Great laugh.
Very serious lessons though - save your life one day.
WWW
Great laugh.
Very serious lessons though - save your life one day.
WWW
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 290
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From: Seattle, WA USA
Don't think I'm quite ready for loops and rolls and such frolics just yet <img src="smile.gif" border="0">
I forgot to mention that after about 30 minutes under the hood, I could definitely detect my tendency to "lean to one side", which I'm told is pretty normal. I expect that this was happening right from the outset, but it took me 30 minutes to pick up on it.
I forgot to mention that after about 30 minutes under the hood, I could definitely detect my tendency to "lean to one side", which I'm told is pretty normal. I expect that this was happening right from the outset, but it took me 30 minutes to pick up on it.
ENTREPPRUNEUR
Joined: Jun 2001
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From: The 60s
I always thought flying on instruments was a doddle until some time ago I was doing a night Cross Country (Visual Navigation) in a C152 and went into and out of clouds over a few minutes trying to establish the cloud base. It was a real struggle. I was all over the place.
Of course at night you can't necessarily see the clouds before you are in them. I guess I must have gone in while turning and climbing/descending, not looking at the instruments.
A warning that going accidentally IMC may not be as easy as what you practice on the PPL.
Of course at night you can't necessarily see the clouds before you are in them. I guess I must have gone in while turning and climbing/descending, not looking at the instruments.
A warning that going accidentally IMC may not be as easy as what you practice on the PPL.
