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.