VOR Nav; Unusual Attitudes & Night Cross Country!
After about 4 1/2 hrs flying .. getting into Cpr at Midnight .. getting locked out of the FBO .. home at 1 AM .. I'm a beat puppy this morning! My eyes feel like they have sand in them from staring at the Attitude Indicator. Needless to say it was a tough evening but well worthwhile.
Tim & I began a groundschool on all three subjects at 6 PM .. took off around 7 ( I need to get a watch) and worked near the Crp VOR for about 1 hour. After a brief lesson on instrument flying ( we'd done some before ) Tim began play ATC and giving me clearances ( " Turn right and fly outbound on the 090 radial..") After doing this a while he gave me a short lesson in unusual attitudes .. look down maneuver .. now look up and recover. That was a real eye opener .. My body did not know the attiude I was in once I looked up .. then you had to process this info ( not looking outside ) to straight and level flight. After completing this we flew back to Crp for a break.
Checking the weather Victoria was to have scattered at 2500' with Haze. After some discussion I decided to proceed with the night cross country. After takeoff missed the Crp VOR inbound radial but did pick up 029 outbound ok while climbing to 7500' .. instrument flying (dark). Basically got lost near Vct .. said another way I wasnt' sure the city below was Vct .. once I convinced myself it was spent at least 30 minutes trying to find the airport .. it had remote lighting and I was flying around clicking the mic .. and looking.
Finally found it and did a straight in on 14 there .. ok landing .... off again back home to Crp. Better job following the Crp Vor back .. finally landing at Crp .. that one was not pretty ... think I was just exhausted. Oh ya then we were locked out of the FBO .. finally got John on the phone to get gate code.
Lessons Learned .. a lot of them ...
1) Write all the radio & VOR freq's on a card before leaving .. this was a MAJOR issue as it was such a job holding heading / alt on instruments .. everytime I attempted to look at the Sectional ( had to find my reading glasses first) I drifted off heading or altiude .. then had to fight to get it back .. then try to find the freq again ... then .. on and on
2) Trim .. need to practice trimming .. maybe I havn't done enough of this but I was fighting to NOT CLIMB .. not trimmed .. too much power.
3) USE THE BUG .. once I decide where I'm going .. VOR Radial .. ATC clearances, .. whatever .. set bug immediately! and go to the bug!
4) Landings .. needs lots more practice
There were a lot of things about this flight I'm not happy about .. but overall there is no doubt I got some excellent instrument time and many of these techniques are now welded into my brain .. just because there's no better learning situation than to be at 7500' over a dark city ... in haze and clouds .. after 4 hours of flying .. looking for a dark airport .. not even sure your in the right city!!
Tim & I began a groundschool on all three subjects at 6 PM .. took off around 7 ( I need to get a watch) and worked near the Crp VOR for about 1 hour. After a brief lesson on instrument flying ( we'd done some before ) Tim began play ATC and giving me clearances ( " Turn right and fly outbound on the 090 radial..") After doing this a while he gave me a short lesson in unusual attitudes .. look down maneuver .. now look up and recover. That was a real eye opener .. My body did not know the attiude I was in once I looked up .. then you had to process this info ( not looking outside ) to straight and level flight. After completing this we flew back to Crp for a break.
Checking the weather Victoria was to have scattered at 2500' with Haze. After some discussion I decided to proceed with the night cross country. After takeoff missed the Crp VOR inbound radial but did pick up 029 outbound ok while climbing to 7500' .. instrument flying (dark). Basically got lost near Vct .. said another way I wasnt' sure the city below was Vct .. once I convinced myself it was spent at least 30 minutes trying to find the airport .. it had remote lighting and I was flying around clicking the mic .. and looking.
Finally found it and did a straight in on 14 there .. ok landing .... off again back home to Crp. Better job following the Crp Vor back .. finally landing at Crp .. that one was not pretty ... think I was just exhausted. Oh ya then we were locked out of the FBO .. finally got John on the phone to get gate code.
Lessons Learned .. a lot of them ...
1) Write all the radio & VOR freq's on a card before leaving .. this was a MAJOR issue as it was such a job holding heading / alt on instruments .. everytime I attempted to look at the Sectional ( had to find my reading glasses first) I drifted off heading or altiude .. then had to fight to get it back .. then try to find the freq again ... then .. on and on
2) Trim .. need to practice trimming .. maybe I havn't done enough of this but I was fighting to NOT CLIMB .. not trimmed .. too much power.
3) USE THE BUG .. once I decide where I'm going .. VOR Radial .. ATC clearances, .. whatever .. set bug immediately! and go to the bug!
4) Landings .. needs lots more practice
There were a lot of things about this flight I'm not happy about .. but overall there is no doubt I got some excellent instrument time and many of these techniques are now welded into my brain .. just because there's no better learning situation than to be at 7500' over a dark city ... in haze and clouds .. after 4 hours of flying .. looking for a dark airport .. not even sure your in the right city!!
posted by gary mize at 3:55 AM
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