I am still playing a bit of catch-up, but I am getting there. While today is May 30th, the lesson I am writing about here occurred on May 17th, so just keep that in mind as you read even though it may seem at thought the lesson occurred today.
The day’s flight was mostly just practice of all the Stage 1 basic instrument flying skills. This was no surprise, as early in my training Nick told me would spend a few hours towards the end of stage one polishing my skills, trying to get them as “solid” as possible before moving onto stage 2.
We started with a simulated Livermore One departure, followed by an exercise in tracking the localizer back course. You may be asking, how do you fly a published departure that takes you away from the airport and then track the back course? In our case, after reaching the final intersection of the departure, we turned towards the outbound localizer heading and intercepted the back course, but only after we were well away from the airport and at a safe altitude. At that distance the needle barely moved, but it was a reverse sensing situation, and that’s what Nick wanted me to experience.
As I said, the majority of the flight was simply practice of my basic instrument flying skills; BAIF, NDB/VOR intercepts, partial panel, steep turns, stalls and unusual attitudes. When we were done and on our way home, Nick set me up for a partial panel localizer only approach, which was interesting, but turned out pretty good for my first attempt. Overall everything went very well, and Nick informed me that he is satisfied with my performance and that we will now start in on stage 2 topics, beginning with DME Arcs.
So it is onto stage 2, but not before I take a stage 1 check flight with a different , and more senior instructor. Nick went ahead and scheduled it for the 21st, so I’ve got a little bit of studying to do to make sure that my knowledge is up to par for the oral portion of the check. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but I’m going to make sure to study up anyway.
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