With my IMC rating to be renewed by the end of January, I decided to get some refreshers in and sort my revalidation before Christmas. This is my second revalidation since I gained the rating at the end of 2002.
I do fly in solid IMC and shoot real approaches and I do carry out practice IMC and practice approaches under the hood with a safety pilot – not as often or as many as I would like, but enough that I am current and confident when I feel I might have to use the rating for real. I know of course that it is not valid for flying outside of the UK, but if it all went pear-shaped over France, I could deal with it and sort out the formalities later.
On a number of occasions now, it has ‘saved’ trips. It is funny how the problem is usually always at the UK end and once you get out, while it is not always clear skies and smooth cruising, it is at least VFR – don’t get me started on why we can’t have a JAA IR for private pilots like the FAA IR!!!!!
Anyway, I booked the midday slot with Phil Mathews at Cotswold and rocked up early. Phil was available and had already booked a beacon slot for 13:00, so I went out to the plane the settle down and check it out. Garry was just taxying back from refuel having shown a few potential new shareholders around the plane.
I checked her out and she was good to go. Phil sauntered out and we buttoned up. I got the ATIS and made a taxy call and was told to standby. There was racing on at the nearby Cheltenham National Hunt racecourse and the airfield was buzzing with expensive private jets, twins and helicopters. Glos Tower were manic, but I also noticed the fire truck was out and the firemen all togged up. There was an emergency in progress. We did the power checks there while we held for the best part of 20 minutes. It was no drama in the end as the aircraft with an emergency had an alternator failure and was low on battery.
We eventually got to taxy, then had to wait for a gap in traffic to call ready to copy clearance! Eventually I got this and was cleared to take-off immediate on 27. I goosed her up and took off from a roll. Phil had me under the hood at 600’ on one of the most beautiful flying days I have seen for months – it was perfect, unlimited visibility, mainly clear skies and only a light wind – and here I was under a hood!
As discussed, I climbed straight ahead to 1100’ and did a rate 1 climbing turn to port to a heading of 030. At about 5 miles north of the airfield and still climbing to FL50, I intercepted the required 360 NDB ‘radial’ from Gloucester and tracked north. A 10 degree offset to the left was needed to hold the track as we were getting pushed a bit by the westerly.
I settled into FL50 and carefully trimmed to straight and level, testing this with my hands off the yoke. A lesson I learned the hard way is that perfect trim is critical in instrument flying and lightens the workload hugely. I called at 15 miles north as we agreed and he asked me to track towards DTY VOR. I already had the frequency set and listed and got the ident on the VOR, then did the same on the VOR. I tuned the VOR heading to due east and was virtually bang on the CDI, so it was easy enough to hold it there. My height wobbled a bit, but I got it back to FL50 – yes my first mistake. As I was tracking 090 (i.e. not 089) I should have requested a climb to FL55 for the IFR quadrantal rule. He told me later. I did know this and I have not excuse.
We pottered about with some climbs and descends while still tracking the radial, then the dreadful card to blank to AI and DI came out – here we go! Yes, I was having vacuum failure again, drat, must get that fixed . Anyway, he asked for a climbing turn onto due south on partial panel. This I did and timed the turn, but must have over-cooked it as I rolled out on 200. I corrected this and got and held pretty mush a southerly heading. The climb was fun, as some was climb and some was level – guess who forgot to trim for the climb!
Same again, but this tome to 330 descending and the long way around. I calculated the time and started a timed turn. Quite a challenge doing a descent with a timed rate 1 turn on partial panel as I alternated between 500 fpm to 1000 fpm to nearly level! I rolled out and again overcooked it by about 15 degrees, which I corrected.
The he took control. Yep, I know what’s next! He tossed the plane around a bit and I could feel all sorts of conflicting sensations. The ‘you have control’ – Yep, get out of that one on a partial panel. I managed the first one pretty quickly as he dumped me in the start of a spiral dive to the left. Next once he threw me about a bit more, followed by an unusual and very quick reversal top the other side. All I heard was a laconic ‘we’ve got company up here’. That last manoeuvre was to avoid another aircraft ‘hiding behind the central strip on the screen’ he said. How close I’ll never know as I was sat there with the hood on. Probably a good thing really! A bit more throwing about and I had control in a steep climb and steep turn to the left – I got that one but it took a bit longer as I oscillated between too much nose down and nose up before I caught the height.
The bliss – the vacuum system worked again and I had a luxurious full panel! ‘OK – settle the plane down, decide where you are and ask Gloucester for an SRA for 27’.
I was just figuring out where I was when Gloucester called up and asked me. Rather than be rushed, I gave them a standby. Phil figured it was for good reason so got back to them and told them we were 20 miles to the east and FL50. Unsurprisingly, my own calculations based on the ADF and the DME agreed with this!! I did however explain to Phil how I decided on this by using the ADF as a relative bearing indicator, superimposing the needle onto the AI and reading from the tail of the needle. He knows I know how to do this anyway, I just needed a few seconds to get my ‘sandpapered brain’ to figure it out. Phil asked me to turn towards Gloucester and call for the SRA. I was heading north and was east of the airfield, so like a clot, I turned to the left. I was headed pretty much east when I realised I had turned the wrong way, so I told Phil I had been an idiot and was going the long way around and continued the turn – ‘I did wonder’ was his laconic reply.
We got an SRA for 27 and the controller gave me a turn for identification. He had me identified and gave me the usual schpiel to which I gave the requisite replies. He started vectoring me in. First base, then long final. I was cleared to descend to 2400’ on the QNH and to report passing 3000’. This I did and I was on 270 at 2400’ at about 9 miles. This was going pretty well. At 6 miles I was cleared to descend in the SRA pattern, next stop 2000’ at 5 DME. My calculated minima was 800’ which would be at about 2 miles. I dropped the gear and got three greens. I started a slow ‘one step at a time’ ‘downwind’ check as I continued the descent trying to hold the vectored heading. I pulled on one stage of flap and adjusted the power. The descent was good and I was getting small heading changes from control. At about 3 DME I was a little below the slope so started to arrest the descent and in the process, ‘wobbled’ a bit on the heading, but I did notice it before I was given a correction – damn! It was going really well up to then. Don’t worry, shrug it off and get on with it I told myself. At 2 DME I declared myself at MDA and levelled off. Phil said I could remove the hood as we had gone visual. As I looked about to find the runway I was given clear to land which I acknowledged.
There it was, just off to the right. A little dink to the right and I was nicely lined up if a bit high on the PAPI’s. I pulled on all of the rest of the flaps and did my ‘Red / Green / Blue’ finals check. At 1 DME I had mentally gone visual (it is very disorienting when you lurch from IMC to VMC and takes a couple of seconds to adjust – at least it does for me)!
Over the hedge and speed is good. I am going to land a bit long, but so what. I control the flare and feel her down. I pull back and get a good nose high attitude when the wheels touch. Not a bad landing, and a good way to finish.
We taxy in and shut down. I am pretty sure I passed unless I made a terrible gaff I didn’t realise. Phil ushers me into the office (uh oh!), but only so he could give me a sensible de-brief without loads of other listening. Yes, I was revalidated, but a couple of pointers.
1. I forgot to request a climb for IFR quadrantals when tracking DTY to the East,
2. I was out on my timed turns because by the time I had set them up, the aircraft had drifted to the right. I guess the rudder needed trimming
3. A bit of a wobble at 2 miles on SRA on what was otherwise a good approach
It was quite a workout and my brain felt like it had been sandpapered, like it used to feel after circuits when I was training for the basic PPL and again when learning for my IMC rating. It is hard work, but very rewarding.
The IMC gives you confidence and sharpens you handling skills. There have been a number of occasions in the last four years when I have flown, where I wouldn’t have done so without the IMC rating in my back pocket. I recommend the IMC rating to anyone. I would recommend a JAA version of the very sensible FAA IR if Europe ever manages to come out with one!
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Sunday, December 03, 2006
IMC Refresher - SRA
With revalidation due on my IMC rating at the end of January, I figured I had better get some refresher training in to clear the cobwebs.
Now there are various schools of thought on the UK CAA IMC rating. For those of you that don’t know, it takes a minimum of 15 hours IMC training and a test to obtain (IIRC). It entitles the holder to fly in IMC / IFR in Class D airspace and below (i.e. not in airways or Category A airspace etc.). This is far few hours training that the FAA IR and I won’t even get into the crazy ‘ATPL oriented’ JAA IR. Since it is a national rating, it is not valid outside of the UK.
One school of thought is that this is a ‘get out of trouble’ rating. Only to be used if you get into cloud or it closes in below you and you have to do an instrument approach. Certainly not intended for long flights in IMC. Another school of thought (on IMC flying in general) is that unless you fly twice a month in IMC and regularly shoot instrument approaches, you are a danger to yourself and others.
I don’t subscribe to either schools – but like anything, there is or can be truth in these views. While I certainly don’t use the full scope of the license as much as I would like, I do keep my hand in and fly practice approaches once every two or three months and have a ‘full workout’ with an instructor every year. Personally I am confident that this keeps me current enough to fly IMC. I seem to fly in ‘proper’ IMC with me as P1 (i.e. without an instructor) about twice a year – typically on my way home from a trip abroad – a really nice ‘welcome home’ present!
Now what I really want is an FAA IR. I already have an FAA basic rating and would definitely go for the FAA IR, but it would only be of any use if I also flew an FAA registered plane – which I don’t – crazy isn’t it!
Anyway, I got my IMC with a different school at Gloucester at the end of 2002 and decided to do some refresher training with Phil Mathews at Cotswold Aero Club, prior to revalidating. I decided to switch to Cotswold from ‘the other’ school because although they were/are very good for initial training and give you a very full ‘fault-finding’ de-brief, last time I revalidated with them, I felt distinctly ‘patronised’ and even ‘personally attacked’ and I decided then and there that I wasn’t paying good money for an ‘airline wannabe’ to patronise me! I far prefer Cotswolds style. They will let you know what you did wrong and explain it and that’s that.
The only slot they had left was 16:00 on Saturday so I booked it. Nice – night and IMC! No pressure then!
I took the plane up for a local first to set all the instruments and properly set the AI as the others in my group tend to set it for themselves (of course). So off we went at 16:15 and straight under the hood. This was my second refresher and I managed to book an SRA. We climbed to FL50 and as instructed, I tracked the ADF on a bearing of 359. This involved a climbing turn and I intercepted the ‘radial’ as I was still climbing, so had to turn into wind to hold the ‘radial’ while still climbing. I got there and held it rather well though I say it myself!
I levelled off at FL50 on what turned out to be a clear moonlit night. Phil was kind and suggested I take a peek at the lights of Birmingham in the distance – what a lovely view of all of the lights. At 15 miles on the DME, Phil asked me to turn to the East as he blanked both the AI and DI. I then had to hold course and height on partial panel. I managed this with a small amount of wander.
Then of course came the turns under partial panel. He asked me to turn onto 180. Damn! Could I remember how many seconds for each 30 degree of rate one turn? Could I buffalo! Now was it one minute for a complete turn or was it two? I remembered it was two. How many seconds for 30 degrees….hmmmmm….that’s 2 minutes for 360 degrees, so that’s one minute for 180 degrees, so that’s….. oh balls! Just gained 100’, better sort that…..now where was I? I got the answer of 10 seconds for each 30 degrees at a rate 1 turn – Phil was wondering why I was so slow and gave me a verbal nudge with a ‘make your turn when you are ready’ – what an idiot I am – this is so basic.
Anyway, I finally started the turn and my stopwatch on the kneeboard, but of course I could hardly see the stopwatch so turned the cabin lights up. I rolled out near enough on time and was rewarded by being on a bearing of 190 degree once it had all settled down. It can throw you working off a compass, as the turns are opposite to the DI. So I used the trick an instructor once showed me of setting one of the VOR bezels onto the current heading, then saw I had to turn to the left. So a left turn for 3 seconds and that sorted it out. As this was training, Phil showed me a neat function on the swanky mode S Garmin transponder we have where I could set a stopwatch function, the readout was far brighter, so of course I used that.
He then asked me to climb to FL60 which I asked for permission from the controller and did. Then Phil decided that I had to do recovery from unusual attitudes on partial panel – oh great!? He was having loads of fun. I could feel him pulling the aircraft around and up and down then after quite a while of this he heaved it the other way and we started pulling mild G then he said ‘OK – recover’. God, what the hell was happening? I could see the turn and slip was heeled over to the right and airspeed was starting to climb, so left aileron and pull back a bit. Hold and see what happens. Rate of descent indicator tailed off to normal, but I was still banked, so a bit more and we looked level. I held it there and waited to see what the instruments would settle on. Maybe it was luck but I got it back to straight and level.
OK, well go again he announced. This time he was really playing it dirty. I could feel yaw going in and he was horsing around with rudder and turning, climbing and descending. After a while of this, another lurch and by now I had a serious does of ‘the leans’ – forget about what my body was telling me, go by the instruments. He asked me to recover and again, I could see quite a turn on, but nothing much on the airspeed which seemed normal, so I turned us to what looked like level as I saw the airspeed starting to climb – crafty sod! So I pulled back a bit but when that didn’t seem to arrest it quick enough, I pulled back more. Damn! The airspeed was starting to decay – overcooked it! Check forward and after an oscillation, I got it back to straight and level, bit longer this time, but I got there.
Phil seemed happy and asked me to call for the SRA. Of course now I had to figure out where I was! By a combination of comparing the ADF to the DI and the reading on the DME, I figured we were 15 mile NE of the airfield. So I called Gloucester for my booked SRA and gave them my position. They asked me to turn onto 200 degrees for identification. They quickly identified me and gave me the usual formal spiel and a series of headings and altitude advisories. I complied with these and was doing OK, usually keeping it either on bearing or within 5 degrees. He asked me to lower gear at what must have been 8 miles, which I don’t remember doing the last time I did an SRA, so I complied, which slowed us down a fair bit. At 5 miles I pulled on the flaps and carefully started the descent according to the approach plate profile – aiming for 600 fpm. I was a bit high, but got it back.
There was a fair crosswind and I was given headings of 250 – 255 degrees for runway 27. At just under two miles, I reached my MDA of 800’ and declared I was at MDA. Phil said ‘look up’. I always find it a hugely disorienting experience transitioning from flying on instruments to going VMC, not helped by the fact it was also night! I spotted the runway and turned to capture the centreline and head into wind to hold the track.
It was a bit of a nasty medium but gusty wind onto 27 and in the flare, I much have picked up some chop from the hangars. I kicked her straight, but the into wind wing started to lift, both Phil and I put into wind aileron in to correct it – I confess I was a bit slow as I was still disoriented from the IMC. The landing was good in the end, if a bit fun in the flare.
We taxy in and I shutdown. We go back to the clubhouse and Phil gives me a debrief. We talk about altimeter setting and what to set on what when as I was rusty. He thought the rest went pretty well. He commented that the second recovery from UA was a bit of a challenge for me and that I had overcooked it and had 20 degrees of climb on for a moment until I sorted it out. He said that I shouldn’t have lowered the gear when I did and that this was just the ‘standard patter’ and that it was up to me when I dropped the legs. But all in all he said it was OK. I asked how I would book an examiner for re-validation and he said he could do that – I didn’t realise. So I booked him for next weekend when I will probably revalidate on an SRA if I can get one booked, failing that and NDB/DME.
My brain feels like it has been sandpapered as I drive home. That was a fair old workout and I remember now how hard IMC instruction is. Flying in real IMC is a challenge for many different reasons, but you have time to get good situational awareness, which of course Phil was trying to deny me – and it worked.
A very enjoyable lesson and although I know I am rusty, I feel the cobwebs have been well and truly blown away and have a new found confidence in my IMC.
Fingers crossed for next week – it will certainly be my fault if I do screw it up. At least I am flying with someone I know, not a ‘never met the bloke before’ po faced examiner.
Now there are various schools of thought on the UK CAA IMC rating. For those of you that don’t know, it takes a minimum of 15 hours IMC training and a test to obtain (IIRC). It entitles the holder to fly in IMC / IFR in Class D airspace and below (i.e. not in airways or Category A airspace etc.). This is far few hours training that the FAA IR and I won’t even get into the crazy ‘ATPL oriented’ JAA IR. Since it is a national rating, it is not valid outside of the UK.
One school of thought is that this is a ‘get out of trouble’ rating. Only to be used if you get into cloud or it closes in below you and you have to do an instrument approach. Certainly not intended for long flights in IMC. Another school of thought (on IMC flying in general) is that unless you fly twice a month in IMC and regularly shoot instrument approaches, you are a danger to yourself and others.
I don’t subscribe to either schools – but like anything, there is or can be truth in these views. While I certainly don’t use the full scope of the license as much as I would like, I do keep my hand in and fly practice approaches once every two or three months and have a ‘full workout’ with an instructor every year. Personally I am confident that this keeps me current enough to fly IMC. I seem to fly in ‘proper’ IMC with me as P1 (i.e. without an instructor) about twice a year – typically on my way home from a trip abroad – a really nice ‘welcome home’ present!
Now what I really want is an FAA IR. I already have an FAA basic rating and would definitely go for the FAA IR, but it would only be of any use if I also flew an FAA registered plane – which I don’t – crazy isn’t it!
Anyway, I got my IMC with a different school at Gloucester at the end of 2002 and decided to do some refresher training with Phil Mathews at Cotswold Aero Club, prior to revalidating. I decided to switch to Cotswold from ‘the other’ school because although they were/are very good for initial training and give you a very full ‘fault-finding’ de-brief, last time I revalidated with them, I felt distinctly ‘patronised’ and even ‘personally attacked’ and I decided then and there that I wasn’t paying good money for an ‘airline wannabe’ to patronise me! I far prefer Cotswolds style. They will let you know what you did wrong and explain it and that’s that.
The only slot they had left was 16:00 on Saturday so I booked it. Nice – night and IMC! No pressure then!
I took the plane up for a local first to set all the instruments and properly set the AI as the others in my group tend to set it for themselves (of course). So off we went at 16:15 and straight under the hood. This was my second refresher and I managed to book an SRA. We climbed to FL50 and as instructed, I tracked the ADF on a bearing of 359. This involved a climbing turn and I intercepted the ‘radial’ as I was still climbing, so had to turn into wind to hold the ‘radial’ while still climbing. I got there and held it rather well though I say it myself!
I levelled off at FL50 on what turned out to be a clear moonlit night. Phil was kind and suggested I take a peek at the lights of Birmingham in the distance – what a lovely view of all of the lights. At 15 miles on the DME, Phil asked me to turn to the East as he blanked both the AI and DI. I then had to hold course and height on partial panel. I managed this with a small amount of wander.
Then of course came the turns under partial panel. He asked me to turn onto 180. Damn! Could I remember how many seconds for each 30 degree of rate one turn? Could I buffalo! Now was it one minute for a complete turn or was it two? I remembered it was two. How many seconds for 30 degrees….hmmmmm….that’s 2 minutes for 360 degrees, so that’s one minute for 180 degrees, so that’s….. oh balls! Just gained 100’, better sort that…..now where was I? I got the answer of 10 seconds for each 30 degrees at a rate 1 turn – Phil was wondering why I was so slow and gave me a verbal nudge with a ‘make your turn when you are ready’ – what an idiot I am – this is so basic.
Anyway, I finally started the turn and my stopwatch on the kneeboard, but of course I could hardly see the stopwatch so turned the cabin lights up. I rolled out near enough on time and was rewarded by being on a bearing of 190 degree once it had all settled down. It can throw you working off a compass, as the turns are opposite to the DI. So I used the trick an instructor once showed me of setting one of the VOR bezels onto the current heading, then saw I had to turn to the left. So a left turn for 3 seconds and that sorted it out. As this was training, Phil showed me a neat function on the swanky mode S Garmin transponder we have where I could set a stopwatch function, the readout was far brighter, so of course I used that.
He then asked me to climb to FL60 which I asked for permission from the controller and did. Then Phil decided that I had to do recovery from unusual attitudes on partial panel – oh great!? He was having loads of fun. I could feel him pulling the aircraft around and up and down then after quite a while of this he heaved it the other way and we started pulling mild G then he said ‘OK – recover’. God, what the hell was happening? I could see the turn and slip was heeled over to the right and airspeed was starting to climb, so left aileron and pull back a bit. Hold and see what happens. Rate of descent indicator tailed off to normal, but I was still banked, so a bit more and we looked level. I held it there and waited to see what the instruments would settle on. Maybe it was luck but I got it back to straight and level.
OK, well go again he announced. This time he was really playing it dirty. I could feel yaw going in and he was horsing around with rudder and turning, climbing and descending. After a while of this, another lurch and by now I had a serious does of ‘the leans’ – forget about what my body was telling me, go by the instruments. He asked me to recover and again, I could see quite a turn on, but nothing much on the airspeed which seemed normal, so I turned us to what looked like level as I saw the airspeed starting to climb – crafty sod! So I pulled back a bit but when that didn’t seem to arrest it quick enough, I pulled back more. Damn! The airspeed was starting to decay – overcooked it! Check forward and after an oscillation, I got it back to straight and level, bit longer this time, but I got there.
Phil seemed happy and asked me to call for the SRA. Of course now I had to figure out where I was! By a combination of comparing the ADF to the DI and the reading on the DME, I figured we were 15 mile NE of the airfield. So I called Gloucester for my booked SRA and gave them my position. They asked me to turn onto 200 degrees for identification. They quickly identified me and gave me the usual formal spiel and a series of headings and altitude advisories. I complied with these and was doing OK, usually keeping it either on bearing or within 5 degrees. He asked me to lower gear at what must have been 8 miles, which I don’t remember doing the last time I did an SRA, so I complied, which slowed us down a fair bit. At 5 miles I pulled on the flaps and carefully started the descent according to the approach plate profile – aiming for 600 fpm. I was a bit high, but got it back.
There was a fair crosswind and I was given headings of 250 – 255 degrees for runway 27. At just under two miles, I reached my MDA of 800’ and declared I was at MDA. Phil said ‘look up’. I always find it a hugely disorienting experience transitioning from flying on instruments to going VMC, not helped by the fact it was also night! I spotted the runway and turned to capture the centreline and head into wind to hold the track.
It was a bit of a nasty medium but gusty wind onto 27 and in the flare, I much have picked up some chop from the hangars. I kicked her straight, but the into wind wing started to lift, both Phil and I put into wind aileron in to correct it – I confess I was a bit slow as I was still disoriented from the IMC. The landing was good in the end, if a bit fun in the flare.
We taxy in and I shutdown. We go back to the clubhouse and Phil gives me a debrief. We talk about altimeter setting and what to set on what when as I was rusty. He thought the rest went pretty well. He commented that the second recovery from UA was a bit of a challenge for me and that I had overcooked it and had 20 degrees of climb on for a moment until I sorted it out. He said that I shouldn’t have lowered the gear when I did and that this was just the ‘standard patter’ and that it was up to me when I dropped the legs. But all in all he said it was OK. I asked how I would book an examiner for re-validation and he said he could do that – I didn’t realise. So I booked him for next weekend when I will probably revalidate on an SRA if I can get one booked, failing that and NDB/DME.
My brain feels like it has been sandpapered as I drive home. That was a fair old workout and I remember now how hard IMC instruction is. Flying in real IMC is a challenge for many different reasons, but you have time to get good situational awareness, which of course Phil was trying to deny me – and it worked.
A very enjoyable lesson and although I know I am rusty, I feel the cobwebs have been well and truly blown away and have a new found confidence in my IMC.
Fingers crossed for next week – it will certainly be my fault if I do screw it up. At least I am flying with someone I know, not a ‘never met the bloke before’ po faced examiner.
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