At the time that I sat down to write this, the referenced lesson was alread a week old, so I hope I can remember everything that happened. I’ve been meaning to update the blog more regularly, but I have just been so darn busy. Yes, I am whining, and if you visit here often you’ll get accustomed to it.
There was some debate as to whether or not we would fly today or do more ground instruction, but it was a little foggy this morning and Nick thought it would be a good opportunity for me to get some actual time (in IMC), so we went flying. I had showed up a few minutes late for the lesson, which is very unlike me, but it worked out fine as Nick used the time to file and IFR flight plan for our flight (KLVK to KSCK) and was ready to go by the time I arrived.
After I pre-flighted, we strapped in and he briefed me on the Livermore One Departure while walking me through the set-up of all the radios. The Livermore One departure is simply a climb at runway heading to 1200′, followed by a right turn to 020° to intercept the 060° Radial from the Oakland (OAK) VOR to the ALTAM intersection. It sounded simple enough, so with Nick’s guidance I called Ground and asked for our IFR Clearance. I listened intently, pen in hand, as the the ground controller came back and started rattling off words and number so fast I couldn’t keep up. I heard, “Cessna 624QF cleared to Stockton via Livermore One Departure blah blah blah…” and that was about it. By the word “departure” I had realized there was no way I was going to be able to write all of it down and gave up trying. Fortunately, Nick was busy copying it and was able to read it back to the controller. This was OK, and Nick was expecting me to get it as we haven’t yet talked about departure clearances or the shorthand needed to write them down quickly. For today’s flight, all that mattered was that he got it right, and he did.
I taxied to the runway and after run-up I told the tower we were ready to go. Another aircraft had just departed, also on the Livermore One departure, so they told us to hold short. After a minute or two we were cleared for take-off and I quickly found myself climbing into a low cloud layer (lifting fog). It was a rush as the world around me went white and I could feel my pulse rise as I quickly tried to transition from looking out the window to looking at the instruments. At 1200′ I started my turn to the right (to 020°), and we quickly started breaking out into clearer conditions. After climbing for another 100-200′ I could clearly see Mt. Diablo and Morgan Territory eight miles or so to the North as as if they were an islands in a sea of fog. It was such a cool site, that I had to take a picture.
I reached into my pocket to retrieve my camera and quickly snapped a picture, only to find that the flash went off because I still had had the camera in manual mode from when I used it last. I quickly turned the flash off but as soon as I did the lens retracted and the camera said “Replace Batteries”. Argh!!! I remembered the camera, but I forgot to change the battery pack and they were so dead that I couldn’t get a second picture. So here you go, here’s my lousy picture of Mt. Diblo (left) and Morgan Territory (right) where, because of the flash, you can see the reflection of the Zaon MRX which was sitting on the glare-shield. Oh well, maybe next time.
Shortly after the picture was taken, we were at the ALTAM intersection and in VFR conditions above the clouds so Nick called approach and cancelled our IFR flight plan. For the remainder of the flight Nick once again had me practicing all the basic instrument flying skills in preparation for the Stage 1 check flight, which I am told I will be as soon as we can schedule me with a check pilot. I did BAIF, Partial Panel, Steep Turns, Unsual Attitudes, and VOR/NDB Intercepts. I must have done OK, because a week later I am having a hard time remembering the flight.
By the time we headed towards home the fog had burned off and the patern was starting to get a little busy. Since we weren’t on an IFR flight plan I ended up flying the approach VFR (without the hood) from about 4 miles out. On about 2 mile final I said something like, “This looks pretty good to me”, to which Nick responded, “Let’s see” as he tuned in the ILS and found both needles exactly centered. OK, so it was VFR, but it was still a nice approach. I flew the entire approach as if it were were on the ILS (90 KIAS and 500 fpm descent) choosing only to slow down and apply flaps at the missed approach point. The landing turned out OK, and overall it was a good flight with the best part being I logged my first 0.1 actual instrument time. I’ve got a few more early flights schedule in the coming weeks, so maybe I’ll be able to get more actual time and hopefully I won’t forget the replace the camera batteries next time. 
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