| INSTRUMENT TRAINING |
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On Monday, 22nd March 1999, almost two years since starting my private training and after many false starts, I began my IFR training. This journal is a weekly account. It's qualitative, just like my private journal to try and capture the feeling of learning to fly on the gauges. I started my IFR training with 217.6 hours total time. I'd already accumulated 7.1 hood time from my private training and various aircraft checkouts.
I eventually took my checkride with over 500 hours total time. The checkride did get a bit delayed! This section is organized in two parts - IFR flights I've taken (which includes the checkride, which was partially on an IFR flight plan), and then my training journal.
| The checkride | 3rd September, 2000. I flew to Coulter Field, near College Station for the Instrument Rating checkride. But were the results white or pink? |
| First Actual as PIC | 8th September, 2000. A ridiculously short flight plan - all of ten minutes, but it's best to start off simple I think! |
| Austin, we have a problem | 27th January, 2001. Bad glideslopes, miscommunications and unstabilized approaches lead to a NASA form being filed... |
| -- IFR Training Journal -- |
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So I'm back in One Niner Foxtrot, the Cessna 172 in which I did a large proportion of my private training. Having just completed my tailwheel, it's actually been a couple of months since I flew the airplane. So now I don my Hoodlamb, and get ready to taxi...
| Week 1 | March 22nd, March 25th. ILS approaches, airwork, a little NDB work. |
| Week 2 | March 31st (March 29th weathered off). Introduction to NDB work, more ILS approaches. |
| Week 3 | April 6th, April 7th and April 10th. My brain has to be rebooted several times in flight, and I do some very good impressions of a porpoise. |
| Week 4 | April 12th, April 14th. Hassled by ATC, hassled by NDB approaches, hassled by holds. But I did get a really good ILS approach in! |
| Week 5 | April 25th. Holding holding holding... |
| Week 6 | April 28th, April 29th, May 2nd 1999. Partial panel, off go the radios and the long cross country. |
| Week 7 | May 5th and May 7th. Safety piloted! |
| Week 8 | Cancelled due to a week of hell at work... |
| Week 9 | May 18th. Uh-oh, it's time for an NDB hold... |
| Week 10 | No IFR this week, P'ville flyin had just happened... |
| Week 11 | ILS, VOR tracking, airwork |
| Week 12 | ILS and Holds |
| Week 13, 14, 15 | A week of thunderstorms followed by two weeks of hell at work, so I only few VFR. |
| Week 16 | Trip to Beaumont for a back-course. |
| Week 17 | July 14th and July 16th. Night IFR, airwork, NDB approaches, holds and an IFR approach to a grass strip. |
| Week 18 | July 21st and July 23rd. Some interesting safety pilot tricks! |
| Week 19, 20, 21 | Airplane troubles (three club planes had bad cylinders!), so no IR work. The 170 isn't exactly an instrument airplane ;-) |
| Week 22 | August 19th. A new approach - the ASR. |
| First Brush With Actual | On May 1st, 2000, I had my first meeting with actual IMC. I flew with a CFII to get this experience. In fact, we had to abandon the return journey. The experience was very enlightening! |