IFR Lesson #13
This afternoon’s work in the simulator continued where we left off last lesson; NDB holds. Only now we’ve added realism… wind, that is. I think I’ve now reached the point where people who never finished their IFR training most likely stopped at. Why do I think that? Because for the past 5.1 hours in the simulator all we’ve done is drive around in circles. Or in this case, racetrack patterns disguised as something cooler by calling them ‘holds’. That’s not to say that I am bored or that I am the master of all things hold related, but I can see now why people might quit. This phase of the IFR training is boring, monotonous and, at times, frustrating.
The thing with holds is that whether it’s a VOR, NDB, DME or some other fix, essentially it’s all the same. The other things that change are the entry method, the instrument(s) used, and the crab angle. The entry method used depends on your heading to the fix relative to the outbound heading in the hold. The instrument(s) used depend on the fix type. And the crab angle depends on where the wind is coming from and at what speed. Everything else is the same. But that didn’t stop me from turning the wrong way on an offset entry to a non-standard lefthand turn NDB hold. Made worse by this magical wind that seemed to be blowing from whatever direction would make my predicament; or so it seemed.
My problems are partially due to two week time lapse between lessons. It’s hard enough to make headway at one lesson a week, but one lesson every two weeks is almost impossible. But by the end of the lesson, I was getting back into NDB holds and holds in general. And more importantly, I was starting to be able to handle holds with wind. Alsa, based on today’s overall performance, Jason decides that next lesson we will do a few more NDB holds before moving onto approaches.
Sim Time: 1.4 hrs
