Instrument current again...
...though hardly proficient.
Today K acted as my safety pilot for the first of what I envision to be MANY times. Since she passed that pesky private pilot practical test, I can now further exploit her aviatory abilities. Plus she gets to log time to which we expect will ultimately be helpful for insurance reasons.
We got up early and flew down to Franklin to shoot two approaches there. The first was a standard VOR approach with a hold. That went fairly well. The second was a DME approach, which I had to "fake" with our VFR GPS for DME purposes (not legal for real IFR flight). That turned out pretty well too, especially considering that the VOR radials are NOTAM'd out (not working) for most of the DME arc. K had to tell me at one point that, although I was following the needle OK, we were not going toward the airport as we should be. Some cheating (i.e. lifting the foggles) got us back on track for a circle to land. My first touchdown was nice and smooth but the following bounce was less so.
We took off again, flew over a VOR check point to get the VOR log updated, and then went up to the Harcum VOR to shoot the JGG approach. I did a nice super-tight swoop-in circle-to-land to finish it off - complete with a top notch touchdown (thankfully).
I recommended to K to not do that type of non-pattern when she flies into a little airport like that, but I wanted to practice staying low and getting down to the runway as if clouds were nearby.
So I can now file IFR, though I am far from ready to shoot a real, in-the-clouds approach in our little Cessna. With the turn coordinator only working 50% of the time I wouldn't want to anyway. I plan to get more clear air practice soon, but in the ATC system next time with an ILS thrown in the mix.
Today K acted as my safety pilot for the first of what I envision to be MANY times. Since she passed that pesky private pilot practical test, I can now further exploit her aviatory abilities. Plus she gets to log time to which we expect will ultimately be helpful for insurance reasons.
We got up early and flew down to Franklin to shoot two approaches there. The first was a standard VOR approach with a hold. That went fairly well. The second was a DME approach, which I had to "fake" with our VFR GPS for DME purposes (not legal for real IFR flight). That turned out pretty well too, especially considering that the VOR radials are NOTAM'd out (not working) for most of the DME arc. K had to tell me at one point that, although I was following the needle OK, we were not going toward the airport as we should be. Some cheating (i.e. lifting the foggles) got us back on track for a circle to land. My first touchdown was nice and smooth but the following bounce was less so.
We took off again, flew over a VOR check point to get the VOR log updated, and then went up to the Harcum VOR to shoot the JGG approach. I did a nice super-tight swoop-in circle-to-land to finish it off - complete with a top notch touchdown (thankfully).
I recommended to K to not do that type of non-pattern when she flies into a little airport like that, but I wanted to practice staying low and getting down to the runway as if clouds were nearby.
So I can now file IFR, though I am far from ready to shoot a real, in-the-clouds approach in our little Cessna. With the turn coordinator only working 50% of the time I wouldn't want to anyway. I plan to get more clear air practice soon, but in the ATC system next time with an ILS thrown in the mix.
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