September 16th, 2003 - Well, it had been 11 days since my last flight and I needed the break. On the last flight I got ill and felt like complete crap. The flight was a waste and little if anything was accomplished. Today we were planning on the same as the lst flight along with an intersection hold as well. I went through my usual preflight and was ready to go. The weather was great and there was little wind. Yippee !! I was slightly worried though because when I checked the FD winds, there were listed at 2047 and 1941. 40+ knots of wind, am I crazy. There is no way that I should be flying in that mess. After checking and rechecking the wx with Drew we determined that the wx was wrong. The flight was very smooth, In fact smoothest I have seen in some time.
The first approach was to be the ILS 10R and Drew was playing ATC giving me radar vectors. It was nice because that was actually the active rw for the day. We flew SW about 10-15 miles and Drew began giving me the vectors to fly. Once we were on what could be the downwind leg, I began to get setup for the approach. ATIS, Set the deck, Where am I?, and How am I going to get there? Now go through MARTHA, missed aproach procs, initial altitude, rate of descent, time (FAF to MAP), heading, MAP/DH. Now, Time (start timer at FAF), Gear (down), Power (reduce 500 rpms), Tower (let tower no you have crossed the FAF). The glideslope came alive and we tracked it down to the MAP. I did have a slight deflection, but when we got to the MAP I flipped up the foggles and like magic, the RW was right of the nose and we could definetely have landed. We went missed and planned to come back around, this time with an intersection hold at STUBR.
The hold was about as easy as it could get. The inbound course was set up for a direct entry and there were no problems ANTICIPATED. Just as we began our right turns for the hold, ATC came back and says, "5088Q are you using left turns?" and our response was, "we are starting right hand turns." ATC:"Citation XYZ, please slow approach, C172 beginning RH turns at STUBR." Drew took the plane and made a quick LH turn to get us out of the way of the jet. We just did the hold with left turns and it worled for the most part, but I was a little wide because of our unplanned S-turn to get out of the way of the Citation. After 2 trips around the holding pattern we went in for the approach and it went well. WE got to the MAP and went missed and headed back out for one more approach, the VOR 10R approach.
Not much different with this approach, I went through the usual setup for the approach and got ready to land. This was to be the last approach for the day so we were taking it all the way down for landing this time. The biggest difference with this approach was the VOR. It has a wider range and is not as sensitive as the glideslope. I started to correct as if I was using the GS and nothing was happening. After a second I remembered the sensitivity and made corrections accordingly. We corssed the FAF and began to descend. I was calling the Alt. as we went down, 2600 for 1340, 2500 for 1340, etc...1400 for 1340 (MAP) I flipped up the goggles and the RW was slightly of the center of the nose. I added the flaps and dropped down. I had the speed nailed and the RW was coming closer. I started the flare and the horn came on. I was slightly high and the plane touched down. It was not the best landing, but the plane was in one piece and so were we. Even with the little experience I have on using approaches, I have made a decision that I am sure others have as well. If an ILS approach is available, I will use it. I could have landed using the VOR approach, but even with the needle pegged, I was off center of 10R. It looked more like I was headed for 10L. When using the ILS approach, I was lined up with the centerline of the RW.
As were taxing back Drew commented, "That was the best flying that I have seen you do." I knew the flight was good, but that made my day. After my last flight, I felt like %#$% and needed a boost to keep my cinfidence up. Not all days will be like that, but it is those days that make it all worthwhile.
Things To Remember:
1. ATIS, Set the Deck, Where are you?, How are you going to get there?.
2. MARTHA - missed approach procs, initial altitude, rate of descent, time (FAF to MAP), heading, and altitude (MAP/DH).
3. Time (start timer at FAF), Gear (down), Power (reduce 500 rpms), Tower (contact ATC).
4. Go through flow when getting setup for the approach.
5. SCAN, SCAN, SCAN...
Overall a great day. My Stage 2 Check is set up for Thursday and I cannot wait.
