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After at least five years without flying on instruments, I was shocked today to find that my instrument skills were actually pretty good. For a non-instrument-rated pilot, anyhow.
I stayed within IFR checkride tolerances, and mostly effortlessly, too. I was really surprised. I don't remember it being that easy last time I tried it! Even my unusual attitude recoveries under the hood were good! (I admit I told him if he spun it I'd be annoyed.) I remembered how to use VORs, I thought ahead to tune the one I figured we'd need before takeoff, I checked it again after the unusual attitude work (my instructor was so *hurt* that I didn't trust him to leave the frequency alone), I remembered to identify it...
What happened to the pilot who's all over the sky and can't find the runway centerline? I should just get my instrument ticket and fly in clouds all the time! Too bad acro in the clouds is such a pessimal idea.
I guess some things you never forget. Too bad I'm not the lucky one in a million for whom landings never need any work. :-)
When we got back to Palo Alto the pattern was so insanely busy that the controller was losing it. "Who's on downwind?" he'd ask. "4352G, extend your upwind. Correction. 4352G, hold your position, you're number six for takeoff." We bailed out of that after two landings in nearly an hour. I guess when it's not only a beautiful day, but the first beautiful weekend day we've had in many moons, it gets a little crazy.
Benjamin says I need to total up my hours (total time, hours in the past year, hours in the past 90 days, total hours in type, etc) and we'll submit the paperwork next time. We also need another 0.4 hours of hood time if I'm going to do the Wings program.
I stayed within IFR checkride tolerances, and mostly effortlessly, too. I was really surprised. I don't remember it being that easy last time I tried it! Even my unusual attitude recoveries under the hood were good! (I admit I told him if he spun it I'd be annoyed.) I remembered how to use VORs, I thought ahead to tune the one I figured we'd need before takeoff, I checked it again after the unusual attitude work (my instructor was so *hurt* that I didn't trust him to leave the frequency alone), I remembered to identify it...
What happened to the pilot who's all over the sky and can't find the runway centerline? I should just get my instrument ticket and fly in clouds all the time! Too bad acro in the clouds is such a pessimal idea.
I guess some things you never forget. Too bad I'm not the lucky one in a million for whom landings never need any work. :-)
When we got back to Palo Alto the pattern was so insanely busy that the controller was losing it. "Who's on downwind?" he'd ask. "4352G, extend your upwind. Correction. 4352G, hold your position, you're number six for takeoff." We bailed out of that after two landings in nearly an hour. I guess when it's not only a beautiful day, but the first beautiful weekend day we've had in many moons, it gets a little crazy.
Benjamin says I need to total up my hours (total time, hours in the past year, hours in the past 90 days, total hours in type, etc) and we'll submit the paperwork next time. We also need another 0.4 hours of hood time if I'm going to do the Wings program.
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Tailwheels next, then some brush-up on the acro, and I can start to take people up for a spin! :-)