First Flightaware.com Flight

[Mobius]

This morning I had an instrument lesson, and we took a flight from Middleton/Morey Airport (C29) to Lone Rock (LNR) to Boscobel (OVS) here in Southwestern Wisconsin, and we got a good amount of actual time, so we had to file a flight plan through FSS, so the flight showed up on flightaware.com, so I figured I'd show-off my first flightaware flight, and the first flight with my first time talking to a center controller. ;)

LNR->OVS
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N757 ... Z/C29/KOVS

OVS->C29
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N757 ... Z/KOVS/C29

[FLYING_TRUCKER]

Well done Mobius  :)

Do you have your Commercial Pilots Licence and a Multi-Engine Rating now?

The old Cessna 172 is a good aircraft to learn on and will your instructor be taking you up at night and in some actual IFR weather?

The training is well worth having so keep at it and have fun.  ;)

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

[Mobius]

Thanks Doug, no multi or commercial yet, but I'm hoping for some actual at night sometime.

[Brett_Henderson]

Heady stuff, hu ? Navigating a plane by instrument in actual conditions is a wonderful experience, accomplishment and skill...

I did notice 1200 foot altitude deviation over a mere minute or so  :P

[FLYING_TRUCKER]

That is good to hear Mobius.  :)

Hope you don't mind some advice.
-if you start to sweat your concentrating too hard
-scan your instruments...don't stare at them
-scan your cockpit...engine controls...trim...radios...etc...but always come back to your primary flying
instruments after checking each one
-stay busy but relaxed...be comfortable...talk out loud don't mumble
-gentle inputs on the controls...it is only you not the aircraft that knows your IFR not VFR...the aircraft
flies the same in IFR as it does in VFR
-don't rush the aircraft...give it time to make it's adjustments
-listen to your instructor...ask questions if your not sure of something
-insist on a briefing prior to the flight and a debriefing after the flight...this way you will know what to
expect and what mistakes you made
-above all else relax and enjoy what you are learning  

Well Mobius that is my 2 cents worth...good luck and have fun.  :)

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

[Mobius]

Thanks again Doug, I've heard a couple of those, but not all of them, but things like that are usually the most helpful little tips when you're in the thick of it.

I did notice 1200 foot altitude deviation over a mere minute or so  :P  Did ATC  "remind" you ?   8-)

No, ATC didn't have to remind me of anything, if you're talking about around 10:30 AM, then that's when we did a touch and go at Boscobel, but that doesn't mean ATC has never had to remind me of anything.  I did have a scary little moment a little while after that though.  My instructor was showing me how to get a RAIM prediction from the GPS, and while I was watching him do that, I neglected to continue my scan, thinking I would be fine for a couple of seconds (::)).  Well, I wasn't, I looked back and I was in a diving 30 degree bank to the left and I had no idea, so I learned a little lesson there.

[Brett_Henderson]

Been there !

[Aerophile]

Its real easy to get into an unusual attitude if you neglect your scan.  I would recommend reviewing some of them with your instructor.  My normal routine is to take a student up and show them how easy it is to really mess up your situational awareness just by feeling the airplane.  I'll have them put on the hood, close their eyes and make some gradual turns, accelerations, decelerations, climbs, and descents and ask him what he thinks is going on while his eyes are closed.  For example, a rapid acceleration simply by increasing the throttle while straight-and-level can give you the illusion that you are in a climb if you are not paying attention to instruments.  A very slow gradual turn can give you the illusion that you're still straight-and-level.  Leveling the wings abruptly can give you the feeling that you're turning the opposite way. After they answer I'll tell them to open their eyes and see what the instruments are doing.  Basically what this lesson teaches is that you need to place a lot of trust in what the instruments are telling you and not solely rely on the feel of the airplane.  Good luck with instrument training.  In my opinion, Instrument training was a lot more fun than any of the other ratings I worked on.  

[Brett_Henderson]

I always found instrument training as fun, as in it fun honing a new skill... but not fun, as in fun flying. It can be fatiguing and stressful (to me). Well into having my instrument rating, I'm doing exactly what I thought I would with it. Using it to get myself out of bad weather, not into it. If I'm going to be flying alone, and certain that a flight will be mostly IMC, I won't even bother taking off.

Fortunately, nine out of ten filed flights are filed for safety's sake... Or filed to get out of an airport, knowing that decent conditions await me "on top", or enroute.... Or filed because there's a good chance the destination airport will be IFR.

One of my early training flights was IMC from take-off to landing; including a planned miss and extended hold... and then a non-planned hold (45 minutes, waiting for someone to take off from a small airport after getting his clearance by phone). I didn't see ANYTHING other than white, for over two hours, until we popped out of the clouds, back at our home airport. I realized then, that if you don't do this type of flying often, you have no business doing it at all.. and certainly not alone.

An instrument rating is a must-have thing. It's a requirement for renting most any hi-performance or complex airplane. Insurance companies love it... and it makes you a better pilot. Unfortunately (for me anyway) maintaining instrument proficiency (the kind of proficiency you'd need to spend two hours in IMC, holding for an hour or so and then executing an approach at minimums, alone in the cockpit) is inconvenient, expensive and not much fun at all.

[Aerophile]

I was just glad to get a break from steep turns and ground reference maneuvers