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I just got on the ground from an IFR currency flight. It was the perfect day for it...

Great story, sounds like a lot of fun, but at the same time, a little scary.  Im just finishing my multi-rating and start IFR in about a month.  Cant wait to get into the clouds!

An interesting read Brett. I suppose everyone has flights like that every now and then. At least you got back in one piece safely and legally!

A similar emotional story in an entirely different context.  I recently visited my brother out in California and we went mountain biking.  The trail we took wound its way up a hillside and was very easy except it was only 8 inches wide with a near cliff on one side and a 200-500 foot vertical drop on the other...  After about an hour of frazzled nerves climb we went on a half hour frazzled nerves decent.  By the end I was wondering "why am I doing this?  This is supposed to be fun."  It wasn't fun at all.  Spectacular view but I'd preferred to have walked it...

I get that same panic feeling too.  Once you enter those clouds, you know you have to watch everything at once, and it's a little overwhelming.  But it passes once you realize you actually do remember how to fly with your instruments.  Then it's just fun.  Until you shoot an ILS to minimums and realize you can't see a darn thing.  Then the panic sets in again.

[quote]A similar emotional story in an entirely different context.

[quote]I get that same panic feeling too.

Great story, sounds like a lot of fun, but at the same time, a little scary.  Im just finishing my multi-rating and start IFR in about a month.  Cant wait to get into the clouds!

Excellent..  please share your first time in the soup  :)  It's about as significant as your first solo  ;)

An interesting read Brett. I suppose everyone has flights like that every now and then. At least you got back in one piece safely and legally!  

Thanks, and yes.. alive and well.. with a reinforced feeling that I'm much more likely to wait on the weather, than just take off into it, because I can...  NOW.. with a competent co-pilot... instrument flying is a blast.. even if all he can do is work the radios for you. That's one of my weaknesses in a busy, IFR cockpit  :-[

I wouldn't encourage anybody to go beyond his comfort zone in IMC, but a word of general encouragement:

Sure you got the jitters going missed, and aside from the disorientation, etc. it's got to be emotionally and mentally draining after all that work to acquire the runway, only to be denied the candy.
But it sounds to me like you did fine, and only got a bad taste in your mouth because you don't do approaches like that often enough.

Oddly enough, a tale like this makes me eager to get started on my IR... I've always enjoyed flying under the hood, and I know I'm either going to have that fun totally spoiled and swear off IFR or become some kind of IMC addict when I get a taste of the real thing... what a fascinating challenge, and really very simple if you remember to bring all your "tools", and have confidence that you know how to use them!

BTW... I know what you mean about low-wing planes, but I have certainly made a few proper landings in Cessnas and can feel the difference between those and my usual ones!        :D

[quote]I wouldn't encourage anybody to go beyond his comfort zone in IMC, but a word of general encouragement:

Sure you got the jitters going missed, and aside from the disorientation, etc. it's got to be emotionally and mentally draining after all that work to acquire the runway, only to be denied the candy.
But it sounds to me like you did fine, and only got a bad taste in your mouth because you don't do approaches like that often enough.

Oddly enough, a tale like this makes me eager to get started on my IR... I've always enjoyed flying under the hood, and I know I'm either going to have that fun totally spoiled and swear off IFR or become some kind of IMC addict when I get a taste of the real thing... what a fascinating challenge, and really very simple if you remember to bring all your "tools", and have confidence that you know how to use them!

BTW... I know what you mean about low-wing planes, but I have certainly made a few proper landings in Cessnas and can feel the difference between those and my usual ones!

There's nothing like utterly white windows  8-) ... and thers's othing like cloud turbulence when you're already fighting to trust the instruments.

A-men. I can imagine that. I found focusing and trusting the instruments was challenging enough under the hood!  :o

But like you said, there's nothing like looking up to see that runway... even I know that one from my paltry hood time.
It's your reward for a job well done.

A quick note about Warriors for you Skyhwak pilots... when you DO make a perfect landing... you really feel it

This is very true. I've done most (and by most i mean all but 5 hours) of my training in PA28-161's and you could not be more correct. There's not many feelings better than when you set down a Warrior and the only way you know you're on the ground is from the squeak of the tires.

Unfortunately, it seems that for every 1 of these types of landings there are 5 that feel like you've been dropped from a building