Pilot Brad’s Flying Blog

Today was the a ground lesson, and with it we officially entered into Stage II of my IFR training.  OK, since I have yet to have my Stage I check, maybe it’s truly official, but the topic today was a Stage II topic; Instrument Landing System (ILS) basics and approach lighting systems.  I found today’s discussion interesting as we covered a bunch of stuff that was all new to me.  Sure, all this IFR stuff is new to me, but many of the Stage I ground topics are just more in depth versions of topics covered for the Private.  Yes, I know I am simplifying a bit here.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but when I am mention “Stages”, I am referring to the stages as outlined in the Jeppesen Instrument Syllabus.  It’s a bit odd that I am using the Jeppesen syllabus and text book from ASA, but since I am doing all my training uner Part-61of the FARs, it doesn’t really matter what syllabus/text combination I use.  While the syllabus is generally intended for Part-141 use, it can be used for Part-61 training by using it as a guide, rather than following it exactly.

OK, back to the ground lesson.  Nick brought me up to speed on the basics of the Localizer, Glide Slope, Marker Beacons, and Approach Lighting Systems.  Prior to our lesson, I was supposed to have read the chapter in the book that covered these topics, but things didn’t shape up the way I would have liked and I was unable to read ahead beforehand.   I’ve really got get better at getting my studying done in advance.  Anywhoo… We looked at a few approach plates and with what I learned today I am starting to be able to make a bit of sense of all the strange lines, symbols and numbers they contain. 

There isn’t much more I can say about today’s ground lesson, and I am not going to go into the detail of the ILS here, but I do have another lesson scheduled in a few days.  Nick tells me that we really should have another ground lesson to talk about Departure Procedures, but we might go flying if the weather cooperates and I am able to get some actual IMC experience.  Guess which I would rather do?

In the meantime, I found this cool video on YouTube that shows what an Stage III ILS approach in extremely low visibility looks like from the cockpit of a B737.  While I am no expert, I would estimate the visibility to be below 1000′, and while I sure won’t be flying in these conditions it sure is cool to watch someone else do it.