First IFR practice in many months

Today I asked 388 co-owner and newly-minted Private Pilot John to act as my safety pilot. This was my first under-the-hood work since about 9 months ago, and it really showed.

My altitude holding was good, only a couple of excursions, but I couldn't keep a heading for the life of me. I would wonder 20 degrees, usually to the left, quite a bit. This made some of my VOR tracking fairly crummy. The gyro also likes to drift which doesn't help.

I'm definitely not ready for slogging through the clouds in any airplane right now. I plan to shoot a few more practice approaches some time soon. Since my last approach back into JGG was the best of the 3 I did, I am hoping the trend continues during my next flight.

We noticed some issues with the turn coordinator acting a bit sluggish. In one turn to the right it showed straight flight, even when banked over at 30-40 degrees with proper rudder. On the ground it was very slow to show straight travel when performing s-turn tests. Time to get a new plane! ;)

I also learned that analog clocks from the 1960's make VERY poor approach timing devices. A working digital clock is now a mandatory IFR item for me.

I also learned that my scan needs some work. I think the artificial horizon in the airplane I trained in was so easy to read in my peripheral that I made use of that fact when under the hood (maybe it was colorful). In 388 the A.H. blends right into the panel, so I don't get info from it unless I look right at it.

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