Day 18, Instrument Checkride Set for Feb 16th

Yesterday I did receive my $400+ worth of Jeppesen charts and I don't even have enough bags to carry them and everything else around with me so I'm leaving 2 of the 4 books in the trunk of my car. I finally got to shoot instrument approaches in the simulator yesterday. My instructor likes teaching us through "trial and error" and scenario based lessons. Which I actually prefer... I feel you learn from your mistakes alot quicker this way. For example most of the other students will be asked by their instructors to enter as simple a holding pattern as you can at cruise altitude. I know most of you have no idea what a holding pattern is so I'll try my best to explain. Just imagine a race track in the sky. Traffic Control can order an aircraft to enter a race track pattern (holding pattern) in order to get other airborne traffic on the ground or clear other traffic out of the area before letting you leave the pattern and proceeding on your intended route. There are many reasons why a plane would enter a holding pattern but for ease of explanation I'll use the ones already listed. There are 3 ways you can enter that race track pattern and each way depends on from which direction you are entering the holding pattern. needless to say many pilots hate holds because it means more time enroute to their destination and it means more mental gymnastics you weren't planning on using. Not only do you need to worry about how you enter the pattern but also you need to time your entry (depending on which one your are using) and you have to time your outbound leg of the pattern. All this under IMC (in the clouds) can be a little stressful.

Anyways back to my instructor vs others I've seen. Most of the other instructors will start training holding patterns by asking you to cruise out at a specific altitude and ask you do enter a holding pattern with a specific entry... then they'll move on to have you calculate which entry you're going to use based on where the instructor asks you to hold.

Not my instructor. My first ever hold I needed to conduct was off of a missed approach to an airport on a precision ILS approach to KLZU (our airport here). A missed approach procedure is what you as a pilot will conduct if you are under IMC (in the clouds) and on final approach to a runway. At a specific height above the runway (200 ft normally) if you DO NOT see the runway you MUST "go missed" meaning you put full throttle in, pull up, clean your aircraft configuration (flaps up/gear up), and let the tower know you went missed. It does not stop there of course. Every airport that has an instrument approach procedure also has a missed approach procedure, in the even you do not see the runway by that decision height. Since I did not see my runway I went missed, had to follow the published missed approach procedure by climbing on runway heading to 1800ft then do a climbing left turn to 3000ft to an intercept course of the outer marker where I would enter the holding pattern until advised by ATC where to go next or I request to shoot another approach to the same airport. I know most of this lingo may be over your heads but needless to say it was probably the hardest way to introduce someone to holding patterns because I had so much going through my head during the approach to land that once I went missed I had to not drop the ball and quickly keep running with it. Realize where I was and where I was going... an important lesson I'm learning when it comes to instrument flying.

Another great teaching mechanism my instructor used on Jerry (b/c he tends to get very focused on one or two items - tunnel vision if you will). Bill, my instructor, asked Jerry - while he was busy trying to turn to a specific heading after takeoff - to call up Atlanta Approach on frequency 121.5. 121.5 is solely an emergency frequency to be used in the case of real emergency. Jerry, to busy concentrating on everything else he was doing plugged in the frequency and immediately Bill start making a howling siren noise. Lesson learned hopefully. The last training mechanism he used on Jerry was really cool. He asked Jerry to report when inbound from the outer marker on final approach. This is a mandatory report since it was assigned by tower. He forgot to report, again b/c he was to focused on lining up with the glide slope. Jerry broke out of the clouds (this was his 3rd landing on the FRASCA and I thought for sure Bill was going to lower the overcast ceiling to have Jerry go missed. As Jerry continued down to the runway he noticed a Lear Jet at the near end of the runway lined up to takeoff. "Why was that lear jet there, Jerry?" Bill asked... No answer. "Mark? Why was that lear jet there?" "B/c Jerry didn't report when inbound from the outer marker?" "Yep... you gotta let them know" Lesson learned hopefully.

I should be going on my day/night VFR cross country today with Bill. We're flying out to Alabama where I had my checkride... hopefully Clyde my examiner is there so we can say Hi... Never hurts to make sure he remembers me for my next checkride, which by the way has been scheduled for FEB 16TH!! In 3 more weeks I'll hopefully be Instrument rated and can fly in and through the clouds! Woohooo I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow morning.

If anyone wants me to explain something more in deatil let me know, like I said I would think for most of you, alot of this pilot jargon must be over your head.