Too much time off

I’d been unable to train for almost two weeks, so we decided to just go out and work on maneuvers and perhaps shoot a VOR approach or two. We did Kent’s “brutal” exercise once – he says if you can master that, instrument flying is a no-brainer. You basically fly a big square, with climbs and descents both while flying straight and in the turns. The whole thing is timed, so you have to be very aware of rates of climbs, descents and turns at the same time. In addition, you have to read the “chart” that tells you what to do next. Very tough. I did OK, considering how long it had been since I was under the hood.

We shot the VOR approach at Whiteman, which was pretty easy except for the fact that the lighting in the 172 is abysmal (it was dark by then) and Kent had to hold a flashlight on things for me. Most surprising was where we ended up relative to the runway. Every approach I’d done to this point kept me basically aligned with the landing runway. This one had you flying directly at it midfield. Strange