IFR ,FLWOP, Compass Turns
Today was another brilliantly fine day on the coast. However, it was also a planned instruments training day so the foggles would kill my views.
We departed NZPP from runway 16 and started our climbing turn to 3500ft. At 1500ft out came the foggles and I was now in Simulated IMC conditions once more. All you can see is your instrument panel. After being told to not fixate on your instruments during a VFR flight, your FI is now insisting that you do!
My FI took care of safety and the Radio so I could concentrate on the exercise. Today’s session was my third of Instrument flying & continuation of compass turns as I really struggle with mental maths. All turns are done at a “Rate 1 turn” which is a gentle balanced turn of around 10-15deg which takes 2min to do a full 360. The winds aloft were around 3kts so it was smooth all the way except when I started flying over the hills when there were slight up draughts.
Today I managed to get dialled in a lot better, so I was happy. My FI had me flying all over the place again adding in climbs and descents. I had a repeat of some amazing sensations of “the leans” which is when your ears send false signals to the brain that you are turning. Very strange but great to experience this in a safe training environment. It just goes to show that you need to believe what the instruments are telling you, and how very easy it is to get disorientated in cloud. I’m told that on average, a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) pilot who flies into IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) is likely to crash in about 90 seconds! This is why we train for IFR: so that we know what to do if we ever get in that situation.
My compass turns today are improving but still had that fixation sometimes on one instrument rather than scanning though all the “basic six pack” of Altimeter, Airspeed Indicator, Vertical Speed Indicator, Altitude Indicator, Heading Indicator, and Turn Co-Ordinator. This again caused me to miss headings on the Direction Indicator and sail beyond the rollout point. Nothing like repeating the same thing eh?
We took a break from the foggles to work on the forced landing without power or “FLWOP”. We did this from 3500ft where the FI pulls the power. I immediately pull the power to idle and trim nose up for 70kts.
The one thing I learn from this exercise is that the plane will not just fall out of the sky. It wants to fly and is an awesome glider. I decide on a landing field and make for my 1500ft point which is abeam of the end of the field.
Once at 1500 I then descend “downwind” to abeam the threshold to 1000ft. A left turn onto final is then made descending all the way towards the field aiming for 1/3 the way into it.
Once the field is made, I then drop some flaps in increments to slow down to around 60kts. At 500ft my FI called simulation over and I power up for a go around. Not too bad considering it’s been a while since I have done a FLWOP. More work still needed me thinks.
We travelled back to NZPP circuit with the foggles still on which seemed much easier this time around and my FI was keeping a good lookout. He took pity on me and allowed me to remove the foggles and prepare for joining the circuit. We heard that a DC3 that was doing scenic flights was inbound, so I ran my downwind checks and turned onto final for 16.
The landing was a bit off today as I let the aircraft drift on the last bit so I decided on a go around. On the second attempt, we screeched the wheels a bit. Hmm I need to keep adjusting the ailerons into the wind and use opposite rudder to keep on the centreline. Bugger! As we had another aircraft coming in behind us I braked for Alpha 2 exit and turned off runway 16. After the flaps were cleaned up and turning off of all lighting except beacon and taxi lights, we taxied back to the Aeroclub and watched the amazing DC3 as she gracefully came in and touched down. She may be a really old girl, but she still has the looks.
Once at the Aeroclub I shut the aircraft down. Another great day of flying with heaps done. Excellent bang for my bucks once again!
Happy Days!
Aircraft: ZK-KAZ (Cessna 172SP Skyhawk)
Total Time: 1.4
Landings: 1
Go-arounds: 1
Visual Approaches: 2
Instrument Time: 1.0
Until next time….
For more Blogs and Digital Photos go to https://walshephotography.com
Check out Kapiti Districts Aero Club at https://www.kapitiaeroclub.co.nz
Blog – IFR ,FLWOP, Compass Turns 16/01/2022