#Aviation

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!

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!