Report From The IFR Front

[Michael]

Well I finished the PIC IFR training and on the 10th day (yesterday) was handed my ticket by the examiner. Sounds easy right? Wrong.

You'll have to ask me again how I feel about the experience in a few weeks. Today I'm not sure I could recommend this means of IFR training for everyone. It is incredibly demanding. Although the instructor is with you for about 8 hours each day, there is lots of homework and preparation that keeps the student up late at night and requires getting up very early. By the 6th or 7th day it would be really nice to have a day or two off! I also don't think the program is long enough to really develop deeply entrenched habits. These I hope to develop now on my own.

I was lucky in that I had one day of actual solid IMC conditions that allowed me to take off the foggles and fly in the clouds (2500' thick that day). I can't believe they hand out ratings without actual IMC experience!

If some of you have considered buying the approach plates for your MX20 I would strongly encourage you to do so. In fact those plates probably saved me from failing the checkride. On a GPS approach into Chino the examiner failed my AI and HSI. I've never used the "needle" page of my 430 so didn't know how to switch that on. Basically I was looking at my glass compass, doing timed turns to vectors and nearly dying of a heart attack. Suddenly I realized the MX20 was showing exactly where I was with respect to the approach course and I got my act together and on track just short of the airport. I was so rattled from that experience that the rest of the ride is a blur! It makes me mad that examiners feel they have to cover my HSI when they simulate vacuum failure, the damn thing is electric!

I'm going to proceed IFR very slowly and conservatively. Start by filing in VFR and mild IFR (thin marine layers). I'm sure I'll become confident and proficient, but a 10 day course does not really leave you in that state.

Michael
97AV

[Pete of N978PB]

Congratulations, Michael, on your IFR ticket.

You're right, there's still much more to learn.

One thing that helps me is to file every flight IFR, even on the CAVU days. That helps build the necessary disciplines and habits in a more relaxed atmosphere, and also helps provide confidence on things like power settings, rates of descent, speed control, capturing approach courses, etc.

Have fun.

[azb5gh]

That sounds very similar to my experiences on my check ride. I was about a mile away from the FAF on the Blyth VOR/GPS A approach when my examiner failed my HI and HSI. He said “Now what do you do?” I said “Well this is a GPS approach so I will use my GPS for course guidance and Mag Compass for confirmation. I could also use the SL-30 nav com for course tracking. (He didn't just put a cover over them, he turnd the CDI selector on the HSI a few turns and the same on the HI, so they displayed incorrect information.) I could have also used Nav2 for the course tracking."

My examiner replied “Very good, use everything available to you”, I was thinking in my mind that if my HI and HSI failed, I would be looking at a vacuum and electric failure which may render my GPS useless and make me wish I had stayed home. It made me a little angry that an examiner would fail 2 instruments on separate systems.

I also got in one good day of actual IMC and picked up about an 8th inch of rime, seeing how quickly ice can form and being aware of freezing levels became very clear. My instructor told me about all of his adventures with ice, most of which made my experience look like a walk in a tulip field.

I was a complete wreck when my training was over, I did have a couple of days off but I ended up getting the flu on those days. Once I got my ticket, I flew VFR direct from HII to DVT, put the plane in the hangar, said goodbye to my instructor and went home to lay around and do anything but fly for a few days.

I think the best way to keep current with IFR procedures and practices is to do as Pete says, file IFR even when it is hard VFR for miles around. This is stressed in the PIC manual as well.

Glad to know someone else went through the same rigorous training in such a short amount of time and succeeded.

[kwmoore]

If your electric HSIs are from Century, failure independent of the electrical system is indeed a realistic scenario. Those units have an unenviable reliability record.

An electrical failure would of course incapacitate your panel-mount GPS & MFD. Relatively cheap insurance is to have a handheld interfaced to your GPS. For example, a Garmin 195, 295, or 196 will interface nicely with a GNS430/530. I have a 295 and 430; all flight plan and approach info entered into the 430 is automatically cross-filled to the 295. In simulated AI/DG failures I have been able to fly and navigate using the 295's HSI page or digital track references on either the 430 or 295 (and of course the TC in the panel); it's much easier & less stressful than the traditional compass and timer method.

Yet another possibility: when Todd was finishing up 812KT, he mentioned "imminent" certification (GAMI? Not sure...) of a lightweight back-up alternator that would fit in our crowded engine compartments. Todd, have you heard any more about this?

[Michael]

After the ride I realized that although it was a GPS approach, it was an overlay on a VOR approach. What I really should have done is dialed in the VOR frequency and flown that needle. What really made things worse is that I did not get a normal vector. Right after the examiner covered the guages ATC told me to make a left turn that was about 190 degrees to intercept the final approach course. That also messed up my 430 because it was expecting me to go over a waypoint that we then cut inside...it took me quite some time to figure out why the GPS was telling me to turn away from the airport! The examiner did say he didn't expect this to happen and was happy that I found the airport, despite the fact it was ugly.

I like Kevin's idea of having a handheld GPS backup; what better way to guard against the dreaded electrical meltdown?! I have a backup GPS but it is in the panel and would also fail. I do have a handheld navcom with CDI display, but I have no idea how close I would need to be to a VOR for it to be any good.

Michael

[kwmoore]

The fpl page shows the waypoints of the approach you loaded. If you get vectored to intercept the approach course inside the currently active waypoint, just highlight the next waypoint that you'll cross, then press the "direct-to" key twice. That will call up a prompt that says "activate leg?"...press enter and the desired approach course segment should be highlighted, your 430 will be happy once again, and your blood pressure will return to normal. :p

[Michael]

I actually knew how to cycle the 430 to the next waypoint, but with the cockpit chaos it took me a while to actually figure out what was happening and push the right buttons. In fact, I said out loud "What's wrong with this picture?!"

I expected a failure on an approach (and had backed up the ILS with the countdown anticipating a switch to localizer) but I did not expect it on a GPS approach because I thought he was looking to see if I knew how to use it!

What can you all tell me about the biannual IFR check...is it as stressful? I expect by then I will be much more comfortable with the procedures.

Michael

[kwmoore]

The BFR covers mostly private pilot, VFR-related stuff, including unusual attitude recovery under the hood. Your CFI(I) and you may choose to do IFR procedures during the BFR but it's not mandatory so far as I know. Of course if you take your BFR in a King Air or Meridian, I imagine a lot of IFR things will be covered as that's where turbine pilots spend most or all of their time.

IFR currency is dealt with separately (6-month currency requirements, IPCs, etc.). The rigor of an IPC is to a significant degree at the CFII's discretion. In almost 10 years since obtaining my IFR ticket, I have had only a couple of IPCs that I thought were as rigorous as the checkride, and several more that required more than one flight. These were definitely the most valuable--as you gain experience flying IFR and begin to appreciate how quickly your skills can atrophy through disuse, you will come to be grateful for a rigorous, even humbling IPC!