Vectors To Final

Today we did 3 VOR approaches; 2 to West Point and 1 when coming back to JGG. I was way behind the airplane at the start of the lesson and it took me a while to get back on track. This time and last time I have had problems maintaining heading properly, I believe that I am starting to focus too much on the att. indicator, which may be giving me slightly off bank indications. I think I need to focus on the heading indicator a little more. Anyway, on the second West Point approach we did not go missed; we circled to the right to land on 27 behind another Cessna. I managed to set up the approach fairly well, but when we were just a few feet over the threshold we had to go around. The other Cessna was still on the runway, taking his time getting on the taxiway. He told us he was unfamiliar with the airport and that that caused his delay. I could see that b/c I did the same thing he did when I landed there with Krista a while back (taxied to the end of the runway before exiting). Of ...

We shot three ILS approaches at KPHF today, with Charles manning the radios. We had a decent crosswind from the left for runway 07 and it was a pretty warm day. I had some trouble nailing down my headings every once and a while but when my scan was keeping up I was occasionally able to hold the needles in their proper place. We went "missed" on the first two approaches and did a touch and go on the last one. When transitioning from instruments to the landing pattern at JGG I have always had to shake off the IFR flight style to put on my VFR hat. That was especially hard on the ILS b/c you only have about a minute (~200ft) from eyes-up time to touchdown. After our first approach we circled back to the left via heading 320 at 2000 feet. A flight of F-15s were supposedly performing a fly-by very close to us, at 1000 feet but we never even saw them (or heard them). My landings were sub-par today, due in no small part to the fact that I haven't flown in 2.5 weeks. I thin...

Quite a read about airfoils: http://www.av8n.com/how/htm/airfoils.html

Today we spent 1.4 hrs working on DME arcs and holds at an intersection (with two radios). We also did some slow flight and 720 degrees worth of steep turns. My slow flight took a while to get settled, had to knock the rust off. The steep turns were pretty good, shot through my target headings but kept my bank and altitude in the OK range. The DME arc went pretty well. We did a 21nm arc off of the Hopewell VOR starting from the 180 radial and turning left until we got out to the 120 radial. Since it was so far out I had a few minutes b/t each turn, which no doubt helped me settle in better. The holds at an intersection went pretty well. My situational awareness could use some help, but I didn't have a chart in front of me (and I was learning a new technique) so I can't beat myself up too badly. Some of my holds were actually pretty dead on. I think practicing on Flight Sim the night before helped me out. :)