IFR flying on 25th April and 26th April

On Friday I had the Cessna 182 straight leg. I had flown my first IFR cross country almost two weeks before. Weather and aircraft/instructor scheduling had conspired to keep me from training anytime before that. On Fridays I fly before work that is 8 am - 11 am. To top it off I had come back the previous night from the Bay Area after a trip.

Howard wants to keep me planning and doing IFR X-countries but decided I needed to brush up on my skills after the two week hiatus. We decided to do some NDB practice, since we hadn't done that for a while. Howard filed us to Shelton, WA (which is Sanderson field KSHN). He wanted me to do the NDB / GPS -A approach in to SHN from CARRO, with a hold, missed approach and then a full procedure NDB approach. Then we would come back into Renton using the NDB approach to 15 instead of the GPS approach that we usually fly back into Renton.

It was a nice warm day, with lots of puffy cumulus clouds at about 3000 - 4000 ft. That meant I was going to get actual time because the MEAs were in that region. It also meant lots of turbulence with the updrafts and downdrafts around the cumulus clouds.

I find using the ADF quite intuitive, more so than the VOR. The needle just points to the beacon and you have to turn to where the needle points! No TOs or FROMs there!

The procedure at SHN is an NDB-A approach, which means that it has a pretty steep descent profile. Howard warned me about this. The approach path is 4.62 degrees, and one has to descend from 2300 ft at CARRO to 1400 ft on the beacon which is the Final Approach Fix (FAF). Then the MDA is 900 ft for the Cessna 182. From the FAF to the airport is 2.2 nm which at the 100 kt approach speed means that to land one has lose 800 ft in a minute and 15 seconds.

I was not doing very well holding altitude in the turbulence. I was not looking at the attitude indicator enough, so that I couldn't fix the little diversions immediately. When I concentrated on altitude I lost direction and when I concentrated on direction I lost altitude. The corrections were coming in fast. I hadn't flown in turbulence for a while and 735LH trims right out in stable air. I was getting lazy!

I was able to land nicely from minimums tracking the NDB all the way in. Using the GPS to see the ground track is very helpful too. I was rusty on making corrections, and was focusing on just using the NDB. Howard pointed out that I should use ALL the help available to me, and advised me to use the GPS ground track all the time. Of course I forgot to start my timer, so if I hadn't landed I wouldn't have known when I hit the missed approach point, which was the airport threshold in this case.

This picture was taken by Howard on the landing from the approach.

I was good with the hold too - and didn't have too much trouble doing the hold. Howard pointed out how to use the 45 degree marks on the DG to visualize intercept angles - and this time I think it stuck. Those marks make it easy to see where I have to head for the outbound turn on the procedure turn based on the final course and also the inbound turn so that the final course intercept angle was correct.

I went missed on this approach. I was late in remembering to start the timer, but I subtracted the estimated 10 seconds that I was late from the 1:15 approach time for my ground speed and went missed at the right point. We then went to Renton for the NDB approach into 15.

Renton has an interesting NDB approach. The initial approach fix is NUGUE and it is a radar based waypoint. The waypoint does appear in the GPS, but only radar can legally fix your position on NUGUE. This meant that you essentially have to be vectored on to the course. HAKIM intersection is also radar fixed.

I was concentrating harder on my attitude keeping, starting to use the AI more. So my flight was more a less on course and altitude. Fighting turbulence for so long is fatiguing, and I think an autopilot is de riguer for flying any distance in weather. We tried the heading mode on 735 LHs autopilot. However the updrafts and downdrafts were frequent enough to not make it much use to follow a heading. Looking at the AI and flying it carefully was the best way to fly the correct heading and altitude.

This shows the cumulus I was going through - I got some actual instrument time.

I monitored the GPS and the needle and it all seemed to come together. The compass was off on 735 LH, however I was using the needles for navigation and adjusting the headings on the DG to whatever made sense. This seemed to work well.

Coming down to a landing, I got a little slow and did the famous 182 hop - need to keep sharp for the landing, the flight isn't done till the aircraft is tied down!

On Saturday afternoon, Howard decided that I should do a quick cross country to Hoquiam. Hoquiam (KHQM) is on the coast about 80 nm from Renton. I had the 182 RG this time, since someone had taken the straight leg 182 (735 LH) for an extended cross country. It is getting increasingly difficult to schedule airplanes at the time I want, since the weather is getting better and the fair weather flyers are coming out in droves. We had to make sure we got back in time since there was another person who had the airplane after us.

Howard wanted me to do the ILS or LOC/DME RWY 24 at HQM. This is kind of weird approach - the LOC minimums are lower than the ILS minimums. This is because the LOC keeps the airplane above an obstruction that protudes into the protected airspace for the ILS glideslope and the can subsequently keep the aircraft safely above terrain to a lower height. The ILS approach has to keep you above the obstacle to be safe and is hence higher.

I was flying a lot better but still not looking at the AI enough. I flew the ILS perfectly though, since the decision height was 750 ft and my ILS goes to hell in a handbasket only close to the ground! We did a circle to land and did a good landing at HQM to a stop and go. Climbing out of HQM we opened our flight plan back to Renton. We asked for the visual approach and I hand flew the aircraft to get some practice flying the right headings and courses.

I found that the 182RG burns fuel from the left tank first and gets progressively right wing heavy as the flight goes on. This requires a constant left pressure on the yoke that messes up precise flying - I cheated a bit by holding a little left rudder (which Howard said was OK to do).

I did well on the way back and had a good long landing at Renton.