Instrument Checkride Practical – Part II

After some scheduling difficulties due to weather, as well as my catching a nasty cold, we finally got back together to finish the practical. Same drill – I picked him up at his office. We talked about last weeks bust, what a good learning experience it was, etc. Then off to finish what we couldn’t get to before.

He told me to depart VFR, and gave me a clearance to fly (since I hadn’t passed that part of the test last time), which consisted of some radar vectors, and the interception of a radial. The vector he’d given me was taking me through the radial, so I kept flying it. He then turned me back to the radial (this was a test to be sure I wasn’t going to do what I did last time – I passed), and then issued intersection holding instructions. I was flying straight in on the opposite side of the holding course, so a parallel entry was called for. I told him that’s what I’d be doing, and mentioned that I could technically do a teardrop from there as well. He said “your choice”. I did the parallel, and as I almost got established on the inbound course, he said “OK – fly heading 150, and let’s see a steep turn to the right”. No flying the hold? OK by me. Steep turns went fine.

Next he asked me to put the plane into a climbing right turn. I did, and he said “OK – now put your head down, close your eyes, and maintain the turn”. I tried, and after about 30 seconds, he said “Look up and recover”. I was in almost a 90 degree descending right turn. I recovered fine, and he said “Good job – now take us home via the Van Nuys LDA-C approach”.

Called up SoCal approach, got a clearance, and aside from not descending soon enough after passing the FAF (I’d have got down there eventually) he had me go visual and land. All done!

So now I’m instrument rated. Truly another license to learn. I recommend it highly. It was challenging, exciting and really fun. It has also made me a MUCH better pilot. More accurate, more in tune with the airplane and my surroundings, and more aware in general. I had planned to get my commercial now, but I’ve decided to wait a while – maybe a year or so, to just enjoy this, work on the house, and spend more time with my gorgeous wife and fabulous daughter.

So there you go.