Private Pilot: Back on my Instrument Rating journey!

Posted on by AstroPilotDad

This past weekend I finally got to resume my Instrument Rating. The planned training flight got bumped a couple of times because of scheduling conflicts, incident at the airport and weather, but eventually, I got together with the instructor last weekend and restarted my training. Since this was the first flight with me wearing the hood, he asked me what I’d like to focus on. I told him that I wanted to do basic maneuvers, steep turns, unusual attitudes and a couple of approaches. So that’s what we did.

I haven’t had hood time for over more than a year now. For that level of “rustyness”, my instructor said I did pretty good. I had a little bit of issue holding the altitude but apart from that he thought I did good. He said I was closer to getting my instrument rating than I thought, which was pretty encouraging.

Lot’s of hood time and a couple of Instrument approaches

The above map from flightware shows the path I took for this refresher flight. The small loops on the left (west) are the steep turns and then the two approaches (a VOR and an ILS). There was a procedure turn with a parallel entry if you can spot it 🙂 . The first one was an ILS to a missed approach followed by the VOR. We were supposed to land right away but were a bit high and there was an embraer jet ready to take off so we did a go around, canceled the IFR that my instructor had filed and did a visual approach landing. Overall, I felt good going out there flying under the hood. The instructor also suggested that I get my written exam done so that there is only the check ride to get my instrument done. Although, there are those cross country requirements that I am still short on!!

So, next steps – get a bunch of cross country flights in (hopefully to some destinations rather than just getting the log book time), get registered for a ground school, get endorsement for a test and get that out of the way. Like I said before, I’m excited to finally get back out flying and get my instrument rating training going. Will keep the blog updated with my progress. Now time to find to a good groundschool and hit the books ugggh!

Private Pilot: Easing back into flying

Posted on by AstroPilotDad

Short post alert! With my required annual review done, I am eager to complete my instrument rating training. However, I still have a bunch of cross countries to finish as a PIC and before getting right into those, I wanted to get comfortable being in the cockpit alone so this past memorial day weekend, I rented a plane to go flying!

I think, touch and go’s are a nice way ease back into flying so that’s what I decided to do. Took the plane to the short runway and did several landings. Going back up in the air by myself, soaking in the beautiful pacific northwest scenery on a nice clear day and getting the rust off of my flying skills. It was liberating!

The first landing and subsequent takeoff was bit rough on the edges but after getting the feel for the plane, the subsequent landings were mostly smooth. Although, I did not practise forward slip like I had thought the last time around. I think it is better to practise them at altitude before trying to do them for landing. If I ever felt I was a bit high and not comfortable/ready for a slip, go around would be an easy option. However, I did not have to do any of that this time.

For those who care, here is a video I took of my touch and go’s. The altitude and the speed G-Metrix are messed up but its just a mundane video showing me take off and land several times 🙂 . Enjoy!

Next, finish my cross country PIC (pilot in command) time and continue IFR training with instructor but before that a lesson with instructor to dust off my IFR skills (practising holds, approaches, naviation etc).

Keep an eye out for updates as I restart Instrument rating training in my private pilot journey!

Private Pilot: Up in the Air!

Posted on by AstroPilotDad

This will be a short but exciting post! Now that we have decided to increase our risk tolerance and send our son to day care, and the fact that I am fully vaccinated, I felt a bit more comfortable flying with an instructor to get current on my annual review so that I can get going on my IFR training. So that’s what I did the weekend of 05/15. My instructor had gotten his first shot so wasn’t fully vaccinated yet but given that I was fully vaccinated and wearing an N95 mask, I felt comfortable.

The weather was nice and the review was pretty straightforward. Took off from Paine field, went over lake Steven’s did a few maneuvers including but not limited to steep turns and stalls. After the CFI assessed my proficiency at that, we came back to KPAE to do a few touch and gos. Most of the landings were decent but not great showing that I had gotten a bit rusty due to the lack of practice. For one particular landing, I was a bit high and the CFI asked me to do a forward slip. I did not do a good job at it keeping my airplane nose higher than it should be leading to lower than desired speed for the slip. I corrected for it and made a good landing but the CFI had to remind me to watch my airspeed while doing the slip. Something for me to practice on my next flight

After just under an hour of flight time, the CFI signed my log book and my review was done. I can now freely rent an airplane and finish up on my cross country requirement for IFR. I also spoke to the chief instructor about restarting my Instrument rating and he was going to check on availability and get back to me. I am looking forward to getting back to the training and getting my instrument rating as soon as practical! First up though, some touch and goes and local flying the next time I rent the airplane on a weekend with nice weather! Boy, I am excited to be able to go flying again!!

Private Pilot: Next best thing to actual flying

Posted on by AstroPilotDad

As I have ranted before, because of this damn pandemic, I haven’t been able to finish my IFR training, and since beginning of this year, I haven’t been able to fly. Due to this, I know for a fact that I will be rusty when I finally get a chance to go out and fly. I don’t even know how much I have to refresh myself from an IFR training standpoint. One thing I could (**should**) have done is spend more time on the simulator to keep myself up to date on my IFR training.

I have a pretty neat simulator set up that, while no way close to the real experience, would have let me practice approaches and flying by instruments. Here is what my setup looks like:

Flight Simulator Setup with XPlane 11

Unfortunately though, there were a couple of issues which delayed my plans for actively using this setup for practice. First, I did not have a good place to mount the yoke which would allow me to be able to use this desk for both work and flying. Second, I had not been able to figure out Xplane 11 response curves for Cessna 172 that are realistic. I have had trouble working the pitch and roll of the plane going from steep climb to steep decent and 60 degree bank from one side to another. I know it has to be a problem with my setup/configuration more than the software because my flight school has Xplane as well and the software there works.

I recently solved both the issues. First, I got a under desk shelf to place the yoke (see the picture above). I was able to place the yoke in such a way that I am still able to use the keyboard without any issue but I can also easily take it out completely if needed. For the response curves, a lot of trial and error led to better handling but I think there is still a bit of improvement needed to get them right. I think the simulator is almost ready for me to start practicing. The only thing that is pending is figuring out updates to the GTN650 trainer. Right now it doesn’t show all available approaches and for some reason it doesn’t show glideslope when using the GPS approaches. Hoping all that it needs is an updated software.

Looking forward to getting back to flying in the next couple of days. Well, to the next best thing to actual flying ofcourse 🙂

Private Pilot: COVID-19 stalls IFR plans

Posted on by AstroPilotDad

This is going to be a short post where I vent at the darn COVID virus. As I had talked about in my previous post, I had completed most of my IFR training requirement and the only thing pending was 50 hour cross country time as PIC and long IFR cross country. Since the pandemic hit, my training has virtually come to a standstill. I was only spending time on my PIC cross country time because I was being extra careful and flying alone. With the new born and unknowns related to COVID, I did not/do not want to take any risks. I haven’t flown with my instructor for almost a year now and my IFR training is getting rusty. In addition, my aviation school has a policy requiring private pilots fly with a CFI once a year for an annual before they can rent planes. In Jan of this year that annual expired for me 😦 meaning I can no longer rent a plane without flying with a CFI first. Right now, I am very hesitant in doing so given the mutating, and ever more contagious, strains of the virus. I’m hoping that we get vaccines soon and things get better for me to start flying again. If not, I’m hoping for my son to be a bit older (at least a year) before I can brave wearing an N95 mask to share a cockpit with my CFI.