Instrument work and PFLs

The score so far: 

   Solo: 4.6   (0.0)

   Dual: 60.9 (1.8)

Another day, another lesson. Or actually two :-) 

First slot of the day - we went out and did some additional instrument flying. The requirement is to do 1.0h and I've done only 0.5 so far. 

The instructor thrown at me all sorts of things, plus we got a chance to fly into a real cloud - to feel a difference. Could be better but with 0.5h experience flying under the hood - its hard to do better :-) Also different aircraft then last time. Same experiences tho - Trust the instruments - not what you 'feel'. 

Following the instrument flying - which I actually find very interesting and fun - it was time to do some PFLs. 

I pretty much did all of them wrong - not accounting for the wind (or rather  for wind from correct direction). It seems that the best way to get idea of the wind - is to idle out and look out of the window. C172 gets blown by the wind like a steel feather.

Once I messed up two PFLs, we got back to the airfield - where I reported my position incorrectly (reported I was over Maghee island, instead of Mount Steward). Doh ! 

With a bit of a rain getting close - and wind, I had a go at OHJ, and PFL. Ended up waaaay to high. So go around and second attempt was much better. I felt I was way too low, but instructor told me to keep going. We ended up landing dead on actually, but I feel in a real emergency - there would be much more drag, and I'd have to aim for fields or bay - instead of the field. Basically we ended up bit far away from airfield following my go around, and I did a very shallow turn to base/finals.

Second slot - the only aircraft available was a C172 with G1000 (glass cockpit). I flew it only once before, ages ago. As always, the issue is - how do you go through the checklist without knowing where things are. But no bother, that's what instructors are for !. Ask instructor millions of simple questions, such as - "Where's the ball", and things are clearer :-) 

This time we did few more PFLs, they went much much better. Turns out, somehow in my mind I was picturing the circuit over field in the wrong direction (doh !). Once sorted, things were much better. 

Back at the airfield we did one landing in a cross wind. Not perfect, but we ended up in one piece. After that, instructor asked me to take off, join base for runway 26. A runway that is seldom used for landings, and g/a are not possible (high ground behind the field, scrabo hill). Having to nail the approach (speed!) and landing, I was concentrating much harder. G1000 displays speed differently from analogue gauge (cpt. obvious), so getting used to that was bit tricky - not sure I prefere 'steam' over glass at this point, but it's just different. Needless to say, landing and approach were as good as I could make them. 

Once back at the club, I was asked to book next slot for dual long cross country - so we're back to the same point I was in before CM's accident. Only few hundred quid later…

I might need to cancel few lessons in the future tho - as I might be moving places, perhaps even doing next contract in England. This is going to get interesting :-|

The score so far: 

   Solo: 4.6

   Dual: 60.9