WHEN     : Tuesday 6th April 1999
WHERE    : SPX - T41 - SPX in N1219F, a Cessna 172N
WHAT     : Introduction to NDB approaches
WHO      : Dual instruction with Lee Simmons
HOW LONG : 0.8 flight; 0.7 hood; 0.7 ground.

  The session I've been dreading. The NDB approach. I mentioned before that the ADF gauge could give me brain-lock from time to time when trying to figure out what it's saying whilst checking the compass, DG and rotatable ADF card all match. Well today we'd actually do a couple of NDB approaches into La Porte, just a few miles north of SPX.

  We discussed the NDB approach before leaving, and I got my approach plate book set up ready for La Porte. Before takeoff, I dialled up the VORs and radials that define where to go to on the missed approach. Lee vectored me after takeoff (which, incidentally was made under the hood with Lee giving me instructions on how much correction I needed). Lee also called Houston approach to let them know we were doing multiple approaches.

  To cut a long story short, I held altitude. Everything else...well! The outbounds to the procedure turn went well at least, but I blew it coming back on the procedure turn. The first approach, we went outbound for 1 minute on the outbound side of the procedure turn, then made a standard rate turn through 180 degrees to wait for the needle to come back and have us coming in on the approach. The trouble was that by the time we had got turned around, we'd actually flown through the approach NDB course! It took me too long figuring out what the ADF needle was telling me and I had to put in a humungous correction to even just go direct to the NDB. The second one worked out slightly better, but like the Sky King I am, I failed to extend the outbound leg of the procedure turn, and you guessed it...flew straight through the freakin' inbound course! To add to the confusion, Lee had me communicating with Houston Approach. My mind was like at 100%. I'd key the mike and say "Ummmm" (unkey...who am I supposed to be calling?) "Ummmm... Approach, Cessna one niner fox on the outbou...no I mean...ummmm... inbound I think..." as my brain did an impression of Windows NT running on a 386 with 12 meg of RAM! All the while the ADF needle was taunting me by pointing to anything but the course I wanted. Well, I managed to hold altitude at least! The controller was very patient too.

  After all that, Lee noticed the fog rolling in off the bay. I gladly called it a day. After all that, I actually made a decent landing!

Conclusion

  Well I can hold heading and altitude without my brain crashing, but it's a stretch when I have to scan things outside of the normal instruments. Especially if I have to talk as well! However, I did learn that you can always extend the time you fly outbound on the procedure turn if the wind is working against you (which it was). When we got done, Lee had me draw out on the board what course I thought I took and what I should have done to fix it. Very educational!

  The session started not on the best footing. I noticed the 172 which I was supposed to be flying was still out, so I checked the schedule to see who had it and when it came back. Then I noticed that I had made a monumental scheduling boob. I'd scheduled the wrong airplane! I had scheduled the very un-IFR (well, theoretically it's IFR legal, but the gyros kind of precess like spinning tops) Cessna 170. I've been having so much fun flying the 170 around, I had accidentally scheduled it out of habit! Fortunately, the Arrow was at home, so I could quickly reschedule. I checked my Saturday morning session and found I'd made the same error so moved myself quietly back to the 172.

  Today was a real workout. Fortunately, I was spared having to try and fumble my way with Houston Approach (normally I'm well practised at communicating with them as I use them when flying the I-10 corridor, but VFR is a completely different kettle of fish). I'd also forgotten how sensitive in pitch the Arrow was. I spent the first half hour doing a very good impression of a porpoise. Eventually I found something on the AI that worked, and managed to hold altitude and get it trimmed. I also remembered that you don't grab whole handfuls of trim like you do in a Cessna! I'm surprised Lee didn't call up Approach and say "Porpoise Arrow 9301N" ... because that's what it felt like...

  The session went a lot better course-wise than the previous day's attempt. The first attempt was rather ropy as I once again hurtled through the approach course (I didn't scan enough and even though I was on the inbound part of the procedure turn before reaching the inbound course, I just missed the needle) which required a fairly gross course correction. The second and third approach actually went to plan. I actually rolled out on course and held it pretty well. On the last one I even held altitude (we weren't actually descending since La Porte is pretty busy and the traffic was climbing out of 12, and we were on the NDB 30 approach). After three of these a surprisingly large amount of time had passed, so we headed back home. Lee vectored me through the pattern and told me to un-hood at 600 feet. However, in my eagerness to see Mother Earth I pulled it off at about 700 feet! I made a terrible attempt at landing (well it wasn't too bad, but it should have been much better) since my brain had crashed and rebooted at least three times in this session...now I know how a computer running Windows feels! ;-)

Conclusion

  Well I've made some progress. I'll have to practise the procedures for NDB approaches on Flight Simulator so I can cope with scanning the main instruments and the ADF, and twiddle with the knobs without coming unglued (but I'm going to use the Cessna 182, not the Vulcan to do this). I think a few more sessions and it'll start getting more natural as my scan comes along. I'll have to re-read Machado's bit again about the instrument scan. He's got a nice cartoon on there - the benighted student is looking at a panel with all the primary instruments called "this", "that" etc. and the radio stack lit up with 121.5 and 7700 on the transponder! I know how that poor student feels...

  This was by far the most tiring session in an aircraft I have ever done. The winds were gusting hard at SPX when I arrived, almost completely crosswind. Flight Service had given the winds aloft at 3,000 as 40 knots from the south!

  Not surprisingly then, after takeoff, it was very turbulent. It was all I could do to hold the aircraft's attitude in a somewhat climb profile. Then Lee had me do all the communications! Evidently my scan has got better after the last session since I could actually make a professional-sounding callup to Houston Approach and hold heading and keep the climb going at the same time.

Me : Houston Approach, Cessna 1219F
App: Cessna 19F, go ahead
Me : Approach, Cessna 19F is a Cessna one-seventy-two, just departed Houston Gulf, climbing through one thousand seven hundred en route Beaumont request flight following.

  That's how I make my callups VFR. Each attempt I've made at it under the hood until now has been a total loss! (Incidentally using that format gives the controller all the information required. That way they don't have to ask you for each bit of information separately and you sound much more professional)

  At around 2,200 feet the turbulence went away and we had a smooth trip to Beaumont. I tracked the BPT VOR inbound - now working off an IFR en-route chart rather than the familiar VFR chart. Beaumont Approach started to vector us for the ILS, our first approach.

  The ILS went reasonably well despite the turbulence and the strong south wind blowing us off course. The ILS was into runway 12 at Beaumont Jefferson County (or now South-East Texas Regional). When we got low, Lee told me to raise the hood and take a look. We had quite a crab angle! At minimums, we went for the miss and got vectored for the...oh no...BACK COURSE localizer!

  Back courses are quite confusing because the localizer needle goes the opposite way to which you're used to on an ILS or a VOR. Lee told me to imagine that I'm the needle (normally you fly towards the needle, however on a back-course you should fly the needle towards the center of the instrument). I didn't do too badly - I managed to come out at minimums with a landing I could easily make.

  We then went and did the NDB approach for 12. Beaumont tower (and probably approach too, and all the navaids no doubt) lost electrical power! However, they have a backup generator which kept the airport running. Tower advised someone on the ground that they lose primary radar in these situations - they can only see planes equipped with Mode C.

  After completely fouling the NDB approach up (I was nowhere near the runway!) we called it a day and went home, fighting the 40+ knots at 4,500 feet. It took a long time to get back. It wasn't helped by my navigational cock-up either. Lee told me to follow Victor 194 to Smith intersection which is near the Trinity VOR on Smith point. (Hey I have an intersection named after me! Well maybe not. But if Gordon Baxter can have BAXTR at Beaumont, I'm gonna claim SMITH!). The trouble was I had the wrong VOR tuned. I had Trinity tuned in on NAV2, but I had Beaumont tuned in on NAV1. I should have had Sabine Pass. When I saw we were nearing the radial off Trinity that defines SMITH only 10 DME from the VOR tuned in on NAV1 instead of 30, I realised that something was wrong. I looked at the en-route chart and quickly figured out my error. Lee said he'd been waiting to see how long it would take before I found my mistake! I'd quite deliberately tuned both VOR's and idented them, and when BPT idented instead of SBI, I checked BPT's identifier on the chart and thought "that's right". I'd made the mistake twice: first tuning the wrong navaid, then identing it wrong as well!

  This meant we took a more southerly course home and had to fight the wind even harder. Groundspeed hovered around 70 knots. We eventually got home, had a knife-fight of a landing and then tied down. I was completely exhausted!

Conclusion

  I learned a lot from the session. Like really make sure you're using the right navaid, small corrections on ILS/LOC appoaches, but larger corrections on NDB approaches! My scan has got better. Last week my brain would have locked up with the workload we had, but my scan has improved enough now that I can do other things (communicate, start timers, check approach plates) without getting desperately off the desired heading and altitude. Maybe in another few hours I'll be kind of "soloed" and will go out with a safety pilot to get some hood time in.