Abuse at the hands of a CFI
As of yesterday morning, I need 5.9 hours in a 172RG to complete my initial complex checkout. Having flown a bunch of patterns during my last flight, the CFI (K) and I decided to do some work towards my Instrument at the same time we are cooking off complex hours. Best to kill two birds with one stone. Accordingly, we decided to file and fly IFR from NZY to AVX (Catalina Island) for lunch, then go back over SOCAL and do some airwork. I was in for a day of abuse.
I now understand why single pilot IFR, especially without an autopilot, is a dangerous proposition and VFR into IMC is a dramatic way to commit suicide. I can't say that I was task saturated, I was so far past the point of saturation that, had I not had the CFI as safety pilot, I would have been in serious trouble. Granted, it was my first time flying long-term instrument flight and attitude control, but it was damn hard.
We filed NASNI4.NASNI SANM1 at 6000 for the VOR-A into AVX. Of course, when we called clearance delivery, it was an entirely different beast. Cleared to AVX via NASNI4.NASNI Vectors to MZB V23 OCN V208 PACIF V27 SXC direct AVX, climb and maintain 2000, expect 6000 five minutes after departure, squawk 1234, contact Departure 125.15. Lucky for me, I had been practicing my clearance copy skills. I was able to copy and readback correct without needing a repeat. WHEW! We were cleared for takeoff, wheels up, then the hood came on.
No amended clearance, so we flew our first route. I noticed one thing right away: scan fixation. I had read about it, told myself not to do it, and found myself doing it anyway. Altitudes off, fix altitude. While fixing altitude, ignored heading. Headings off, fix heading. While fixing heading, altitude drifts off, fix altitude. Very painful.
After working our way to AVX without getting in an unusual attitude, I briefed our approach (at least I got one thing right), then flew a hold over the VOR, then direct to the airport. Because it was pretty rough, he didn't make me go missed and let me see the field. We entered the pattern, configured for landing, then went for it. However, there was a steady 15kt crosswind. I'm okay up to about 8kts, but 15kts is well outside my normal boundaries, definitely a good exercise to do with a CFI in the plane. The first approach was so bad that, at about 15' AGL, I went around. There was no way I was going to salvage it. On the second lap, I managed to get the plane on the runway without veering off the side, but it definitely is not going on record as one of my better landings.
After a nice lunch at the airport in the sky (and paying the dude in the tower $20 for the privilege of having landed there), I did a nice crosswind takeoff and we headed back to shore. We flew up to the northeast practice area where we did slow flight, stalls, steep turns, and an emergency gear extension. For not having done the maneuvers in that model plane, they went surprisingly well. After I demonstrated that I could control the airplane, we headed back to NZY to call it a day. When we got back to the field, we set up for a few touch and goes on the crosswind runway to practice my crosswind skills some more, then called it quits.
I logged 3.2 hours of complex time, so I have 2.7 hours left to finish my initial complex cert, which I plan to do this coming week. Having demonstrated that I can fly the plane, we will use that time to work on my instrument scan and basic attitude instrument flying.
My in-laws are in town from Norfolk, VA (Yeah VA!!!), so I am going to spend this nice SOCAL CAVU day taking my father in law on a sightseeing flight.
Cheers,
BC
I now understand why single pilot IFR, especially without an autopilot, is a dangerous proposition and VFR into IMC is a dramatic way to commit suicide. I can't say that I was task saturated, I was so far past the point of saturation that, had I not had the CFI as safety pilot, I would have been in serious trouble. Granted, it was my first time flying long-term instrument flight and attitude control, but it was damn hard.
We filed NASNI4.NASNI SANM1 at 6000 for the VOR-A into AVX. Of course, when we called clearance delivery, it was an entirely different beast. Cleared to AVX via NASNI4.NASNI Vectors to MZB V23 OCN V208 PACIF V27 SXC direct AVX, climb and maintain 2000, expect 6000 five minutes after departure, squawk 1234, contact Departure 125.15. Lucky for me, I had been practicing my clearance copy skills. I was able to copy and readback correct without needing a repeat. WHEW! We were cleared for takeoff, wheels up, then the hood came on.
No amended clearance, so we flew our first route. I noticed one thing right away: scan fixation. I had read about it, told myself not to do it, and found myself doing it anyway. Altitudes off, fix altitude. While fixing altitude, ignored heading. Headings off, fix heading. While fixing heading, altitude drifts off, fix altitude. Very painful.
After working our way to AVX without getting in an unusual attitude, I briefed our approach (at least I got one thing right), then flew a hold over the VOR, then direct to the airport. Because it was pretty rough, he didn't make me go missed and let me see the field. We entered the pattern, configured for landing, then went for it. However, there was a steady 15kt crosswind. I'm okay up to about 8kts, but 15kts is well outside my normal boundaries, definitely a good exercise to do with a CFI in the plane. The first approach was so bad that, at about 15' AGL, I went around. There was no way I was going to salvage it. On the second lap, I managed to get the plane on the runway without veering off the side, but it definitely is not going on record as one of my better landings.
After a nice lunch at the airport in the sky (and paying the dude in the tower $20 for the privilege of having landed there), I did a nice crosswind takeoff and we headed back to shore. We flew up to the northeast practice area where we did slow flight, stalls, steep turns, and an emergency gear extension. For not having done the maneuvers in that model plane, they went surprisingly well. After I demonstrated that I could control the airplane, we headed back to NZY to call it a day. When we got back to the field, we set up for a few touch and goes on the crosswind runway to practice my crosswind skills some more, then called it quits.
I logged 3.2 hours of complex time, so I have 2.7 hours left to finish my initial complex cert, which I plan to do this coming week. Having demonstrated that I can fly the plane, we will use that time to work on my instrument scan and basic attitude instrument flying.
My in-laws are in town from Norfolk, VA (Yeah VA!!!), so I am going to spend this nice SOCAL CAVU day taking my father in law on a sightseeing flight.
Cheers,
BC
posted by Big Country at 8:58 AM
1 Comments:
Nice post. Yea single engine IFR is like playing with fire. Even with an autopilot.. With bad weather.. You can be in big trouble in a busy control center.
Take care.
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