Pilot Brad's Flying Blog

I had another good flight yesterday, although it started interestingly.

After the run-up, I got cleared into position and hold on the numbers while traffic ahead departed.  While I was sitting there waiting for permission to take-off, my instructor handed me the hood and said, “Here, put this on.”  I think I said something like, “You want me to do what?  On take-off?”  He then explained the dynamics of it all and said that I might have to demonstrate this during a checkride.  It was really strange rolling down the runway at full power and not being able to see a darn thing, and according to my instructor I did a good job of holding centerline, but maybe he was just blowing sunshine up my skirt.

We had a brief discussion about this during our climb, and while I understand the purpose and need to demonstrate this, I explained that if I couldn’t see the runway from the cockpit, I probably would just choose to stay on the ground.  My instructor agreed with my statement saying that it if visibility were really that bad, it would probably be a wise choice.

While climbing, we worked on more partial panel work with the Heading Indicator (HI) covered.  What’s strange is that I found the transition to the compass a bit more difficult this flight.  In the prior flight we went right into the compass work, while on this flight I flew with the HI exposed for a while, then transitioned to the compass (with the HI covered).  I found that I had a harder time switching to the compass during this flight than last because my mind had become accustomed to the HI after just a few minutes of flight.  I worked it all out in short order but it felt strange for a few minutes.

I was then introduced to timed courses.  For example, flying a heading for 1 minute, then turn a 1 minute (180°) standard rate turn, fly another 1 minute at a heading opposite of the first, followed by another timed 180° turn.   While this was an introduction to timed turns, this specific course simulated a holding pattern.

After about an hour it was time to start heading home, but not before we did some VOR work intercepting radials.  After my instructor gave me a few headings to fly, I found myself intercepting the localizer at our home base.  Instead of flying an approach I took off the hood and flew this one visually as I wanted to work stabilizing my descents (in the C172), and since we were cleared for a long straight in, this was the perfect time to do it.  In the end a flared a little bit high and we dropped a little bit onto the runway.  It wasn’t horrible, but could have been better.  All I need is practice, practice, practice.