Today was filled with some flight time and simulator time. For some extra in aircraft ILS practice I scheduled a flight with Brett today. The goal was for him to run me through my paces and see if he could find some holes in my training, studying and give me an honest evaluation of my instrument skills and let me know if he thought I was ready for my instrument check ride.
The ride of the day was the Diamond DA-40, originally we planned on taking a Cessna 172 to allow me to get a check out ride and some practice all in one flight but Brett's plane was still in maintenance, leaving no extras from the club to fly in. Most were headed to AirVenture in Oshkosh for the big airshow, oh I wish I could head out to Wisconsin too.
Well after some quick oral questioning, Brett and I headed out. He left all the work to me, which was good as I need the practice. Once airborne, we headed north to Oceanside and the challenging VOR approach. The flight was hectic, I was having a hard time hearing the radios so it was detracting me too much from my job of flying the plane. But I managed to get through it. The holding pattern went well, and the approach was reasonable. Once complete we headed back to Montgomery for an ILS approach. With less then two hours in the plane I was still learning how to slow the sucker down, the plane loves to scoot. I finally figured it out, and the approach went well, and the "slide" down the 3 degree glide slope was consistent. One of my best actual approaches yet.
Around five hundred feet Brett let me take off my "hood" and land. The landing was ok, not my best but it was effective. So the evaluation from Brett, was that I still had some minor items to clean up but I was getting close. I'm happy with the advice, I know I did not fly my best flight, I was little distracted with the plane and the radios, but the areas I felt weak on Brett agreed and gave me some advice to fix it.
With that advice I headed to school for some lunch and a break. After lunch I studied while I waited my turn in the "box". Once in the simulator the session went well. I repeated the VOR in Oceanside again, completed a single ILS approach to Carlsbad, and then completed a GPS approach (something new!) to Montgomery. I had a few little items preventing a perfect "A" grade but Dane and I were both happy. Finally I think I'm getting the hang of this thing!
Well enough for now, back to studying.
The ride of the day was the Diamond DA-40, originally we planned on taking a Cessna 172 to allow me to get a check out ride and some practice all in one flight but Brett's plane was still in maintenance, leaving no extras from the club to fly in. Most were headed to AirVenture in Oshkosh for the big airshow, oh I wish I could head out to Wisconsin too.
Well after some quick oral questioning, Brett and I headed out. He left all the work to me, which was good as I need the practice. Once airborne, we headed north to Oceanside and the challenging VOR approach. The flight was hectic, I was having a hard time hearing the radios so it was detracting me too much from my job of flying the plane. But I managed to get through it. The holding pattern went well, and the approach was reasonable. Once complete we headed back to Montgomery for an ILS approach. With less then two hours in the plane I was still learning how to slow the sucker down, the plane loves to scoot. I finally figured it out, and the approach went well, and the "slide" down the 3 degree glide slope was consistent. One of my best actual approaches yet.
Around five hundred feet Brett let me take off my "hood" and land. The landing was ok, not my best but it was effective. So the evaluation from Brett, was that I still had some minor items to clean up but I was getting close. I'm happy with the advice, I know I did not fly my best flight, I was little distracted with the plane and the radios, but the areas I felt weak on Brett agreed and gave me some advice to fix it.
With that advice I headed to school for some lunch and a break. After lunch I studied while I waited my turn in the "box". Once in the simulator the session went well. I repeated the VOR in Oceanside again, completed a single ILS approach to Carlsbad, and then completed a GPS approach (something new!) to Montgomery. I had a few little items preventing a perfect "A" grade but Dane and I were both happy. Finally I think I'm getting the hang of this thing!
Well enough for now, back to studying.
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