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I just thought I'd share some pics of last years adventures with learning the fine art of instrument flying here at school.  The following pictures were taken by myself in the back seat, riding along with other students to observe how they did things throughout the different flights.  It is a very valuable learning experience to see how someone else goes through everything.  

(BTW all of these were taken in Jan-Feb last year and were in 2003 Piper PA-28-161 Warrior III's.)

Home sweet home... er... school I mean.  Town of Ellensburg.  Population, 15,000... school attendance, 8,000. lol  Campus of Central Washington University--someplace in that mess.  \/



Aah, I love ILS approaches.  This is coming into Moses Lake.  This guy nailed it all the way down to DH. LOC and GS perfect, about 500 fpm, 90 kts... beautiful.   And no, I did not just cut-and-paste a runway picture in there... since I had the camera focus inside the cockpit, you could almost not see anything outside the windows... so I just drkend it up to see the runway better.  \/



Another ILS, this time into Yakima.  (ILS RW27 appch)  But this time you can see he is slightly to the left of LOC.  I love this picture because it shows how important it is to be precise with this approach... small needle deflection means BIG difference when looking outside!  \/


Aah yes, a flight instructor with a sense of humor. (referring to "sorry" and " " on paper)  This student's a bit behind the plane, not having NAV 2 tuned up to anything.  Shame on you  :o  lol \/


I love clouds... and in winter time here, man, it is so beautiful with all the mountains covered in snow!  This is enroute from Yakima, back to Ellensburg on V468. \/


Evening flights are alwas neat too.  Earlier on in training, student practicing steep turns under the hood. \/


Ya know, there are just some things Flight Sim cannot duplicate:

Looking out over the Kittitas Valley.  \/   /\


Hope you enjoyed these.

Excellent Boss...very very nice

Do you find the PA28-161 a good 4 person aircraft with luggage?

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

Wow those shots are awsome! I cant wait to start my flight tranning!

I'm assuming that you are flight tranning Boss. Do you want to be an airline pilot?

Thanks, glad you enjoy them.

Yeah, those warriors are AWESOME!  For my long IFR XC last year we flew from KELN, up to Friday Harbor, then stopped at Renton, and came back here to Ellensburg with full tanks myself, and two other pretty hefty guys with no problems and plenty of fuel. (It was 4.2)  Certainly better than Cessnas, in my opinion, and they seem a little roomier.  

Sweet, when do you start your training?  Yeah, I'm starting on my commercial rating pretty soon... as for airlines... uh, I dunno.  lol  I'd really love to go Navy after school.  I don't like this flying right-side-up stuff too much... I like having different perspectives. lol :p  

I really enjoyed the first one best, thanks for sharing.. :-)

Thanks Boss...have been trying to compare fuel burns lately and creature comfort along with distance.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

Those are wonderful photos. Don't you just love an instructors sense of humour?

Sweet, when do you start your training?

Uhhhhh, my training... I'm only 14 now, so I would like to get my PPL when I'm 17 so I'll have that when I go to college and flight school.

So whats the name of your flight school boss, and could I have a link to thier website? I'm always looking at different flight schools and what they have to offer.

Thats cool that you would like to go on to the Navy. As for me, I would prefur flying A340's or something.

Of the planes I've flown, the Warriors are by far my favorite in every respect.  Extremely comfortable, very stable, nice speed, and nice power.  And very pleasing to the eyes.

As for training, I'm doing it at Central Washington University.  Recently I've sort of been screwed by the system, so to speak, so will not be able to continue the flying portion of my major (PM me for more detail... it's a long (albeit frustrating) story)  I still think the program is among the best in the country, having some of the finest pilots in the military having gone through the program.  

And btw, it's never too early to start flying... my first flight was just a few weeks after my 13th birthday.