1 - IMC- Under the Hood - Demonstrated SRA Approach

This was my first IMC lesson with the CFI at the LAC. It didn't disappoint. Started out with some ground school. Id be learning two types of let downs; Localiser DME and Radar vectored ILS. Martin went through the Control instruments and the Performance instruments. The radial scan. Rate one turns , angle of bank calcs which for the C172 will be IAS/10+5 so for about 90 knots that's 90/10+5 = 14 degrees. He mentioned Precision Approach Radar, Decision heights for precision and non precision approaches. What stood out was on a precision approach the go around would start immediately where the Non precision height you are allowed to fly at the decision height from 2nm until the threshold looking for an opportunity become visible. Important was timing the 2nm till threshold because you may not be visual and need to know where the threshold is to establish the MAPt (Missed approach point). Martin said that he'd demonstrate an SRA on the first flight which he did later. He went through the RT which appeared to be a bit muddled but I am sure would become clearer for me as my next ground school Ill be flying the SRA doing the RT as well (after a run through on the ground.

So India Lima; old territory for me. All appeared to be working. I checked her out. It became obvious that the right mag was not operating properly (200 rpm drop) and ran very roughly. Martin demonstrated how to clear this. Firstly 1800 rpm still bad then 2200 rpm, he then leaned the mixture (increasing the temperature). Back to 1800 rpm and the mag drop was gone!! I think I did most things to Martins satisfaction; needed more power correction on take off. India Lima was off the ground quite quickly, before I was ready (55 knots) so I nosed forward and attained 65 knots before climbing. After departing the circuit to the North West in level flight on went the hood. What preceded was a series or turns, climbs and descents with me trying to make everything come together. It was very hard and I was always making heading corrections, climbing in my turns and not correcting for skid fast enough. I stayed within 100ft of my required altitude (50 ft required for a real pilot). I can see I have to work at this alot harder. Especially climbs and descents where speed was the issue and turning I was misjudging my roll out. Tricks I learnt apply predictive trim after a power change. This goes against the PAT taught in the PPL but as Martin demonstrated it could help nail the speed quicker. Roll outs at Rate 1 were best done 5-8 degrees before on the HI. Incidentally not once did I synchronise the HI during the lesson. Martin didn't say it was a prob but I need to demonstrate better airmanship than that. Climbs at 70 knots I needed to leave the power on for longer to get my speed back. Only 10% of climb rate needed for this for leveling off. Again I noted he trimmed before everything was stable. Descents at 90 knots, letting the power arrest the descent rate, carb heat 100ft before then power 50 ft above. Again I noted Martin trimming early.

Good reminder of the climb and descent checks Check altitude, Ps and Ts, Mixture rich then check Carb heat (or select it if descending. All climbs were on full power and descents were on 1750 RPM. Interestingly enough cruises were at 2000-2050 rpm AI central which gave 90 knots. I wouldn't have believed it. I always potter about with 2450 or 2400 rpm in VA. Granted its a slightly more underpowered engine but I would have thought 2300 would have been more appropriate.

The friction nut in India Lima was a pain as it meant that the Engine RPM kept creeping up. This just increased the workload and made what was already a hard session more difficult.

Power Figures given by Martin for the rate of descents (RODs) were 1750 RPM (500 ft/min) 1850 RPM (400 ft/min) 1950 RPM (300 ft/min) 2050 RPM (200 ft/min). So for a 90 knots IAS you remove the headwind component, in our case it was negligible (3 knots) so GS x 5 = Descent rate. In our case we took 90 X 5 = 450 ft/min. That mean RPM was set to 1800 RPM!!!

The lesson was finished off with Martin demonstrating a complete SRA approach. This consisted (theoretically) contacting

1) Barton Radar G-BOIL - Request weather
2) Note Metar Standby G-BOIL
3) Barton Radar G-BOIL request Surveillance Radar Approach to the airfield
4) Maybe ask for a turn for identification
5) Readback SRA Runway 20 QFE You will be given a MDH (check this against your privileges
6) Vectored to the downwind, base or final
7) Perform Pre Landing Checks G-BOIL Pre-Landing Checks complete
8) Vectored on base, then vectored to final.
9) Somewhere in the exchanges you have to mention 3 greens!!!
10) Fly level at 1800ft from 7 to 6 DME
11) Coming down the approach path you are given heading changes and heights from 6 to 2 DME.
12) At 2 DME you should be at 600 ft. (MDH for a non precision
13) Start the Stop watch and fly level at MDH looking for the runway.
14) It took just less than 110 seconds (2nm) Just over 60 knots (cos on final approach. If you were flying at 90 knots from 2nm it would take 2nm/1.5nm/60 secs = 80 secs

Martin simulated a missed approach to Runway 20 which we flew over at 600ft. He put me back under SRA for a LH circuit for a left base join on for Runway 27R. He lowered the flaps on the late downwind position and had me fly at SSC (65 knots). I flew the final approach and crossed the hedge at 60 knots. I did a good landing. Martin stated that's its very difficult to get the nose wheel not to touch in a three pointer with the power off. Next weeks challenge is to make that 2 point contact. Martin seemed pleased with my progress and I was still trying to take in all the learning.

2 - IMC- Ups on Full panel / Limited panel - SRA Approach

I had intermittently about half an hour of ground school. After discussing what we were going to do next. A few reminders popped up, for instance, the 25 degree / 25% rules for wind estimation. I.e. wind at 2000ft cf surface wind veers 25 degrees with a 25% increase in speed. Climbs and descents First check Altimeter, Ps and Ts, Mixture then Carb heat. This is for visual flying as well. Not the way Id been taught but all make perfect sense and will adopt this for any future climbs or descents. Glide slope will be in a multiple of 300ft and the clue to the actual height that the actual approach will be started at can be deduced from the distance stated by ATC i.e. 6nm is 6 x 300ft = 1800 ft height, where 4 nm will be 4 x 300ft = 1200ft. We went through some RT in preparation for later.

SRA RT (Updated from Lesson 4)
1) Take off and Ask Barton to Activate IFR Flight Plan
2) "Barton Radar GBOIL on Frequency Request Weather"
Write down weather
3) G-BOIL Wx copied QNH XXXX Standby
Check minima; 1800m vis and 600ft cloud If OK
4) Barton Radar G-BOIL Request Surveillance Radar Approach to the airfield
Maybe asked for a turn for identification and given a squawk - Identified
"G-IL identified X nm North of XXXX, SRA for Runway XX XH circuits QFE Minimum descent height xxxxft"
6) Readback SRA Runway 20 QFE XXXXX
7) Vectored to the downwind, base or final by ATC
8) Perform Pre Landing Checks G-BOIL Pre-Landing Checks complete
9) Vectored on base, then vectored to final.
10) Somewhere in the exchanges you have to mention 3 greens!!!
11) Fly level at 1800ft from 7 to 6 DME
12) Coming down the approach path you are given heading changes and heights from 6 to 2 DME.
13) At 2 DME you should be at 600 ft. (MDH for a non precision)
14) Start the Stop watch and fly level at MDH looking for the runway.
15) On one occasion it took just less than 110 seconds (2nm) Just over 60 knots (cos on final approach. If you were flying at 90 knots from 2nm it would take 2nm/1.5nm/60 secs = 80 secs
16) "G-IL Going around"

Should have pre-calculated the HW and selected the ROD and associated power setting

ATC will advise to start decent from +-6nm set power check ROD and check Heights as per RT. ATC will ask for no replies.

At 2nm start the Stop watch and fly at the minima (600ft)

I did the take off all went well climbed out at 65 knots, after stowing the flaps at 400ft I handed over to Martin and put the fogs on. I climbed and turned onto various headings. Next Martin demonstrated recoveries from Nose high turning attitudes and Nose low spiral descent attitudes.

Nose High turning speed dropping, recovery Pitch to level, Full power, level the wings, as speed reaches 90 knots reduce to cruise setting.

Nose low spiral Speed increasing, Power idle (correct for yaw). Level wings and pitch up meeting 90 knots with reducing power.

I've performed better but did OK I think.

Next came limited panel Suction failure no AI or DI. I performed various turns, a climb and a descent. This was tough I the TC was slightly out and it took me a while to figure that out. Climbing I needed to select a bigger nose up. Interesting when coming down on limited panel pitch down was in stages for better speed control. I was trimming more this lesson trying to anticipate the correct trim once the power was changed. Almost using it as a control function. Whilst this is not how VFR is taught I can see it helps a lot to get things more accurate sooner.

Limited panel - timed rate 1 turns using the compass. I found the workload high. Keeping station on limited panel was really hard. I struggled to control the turn. I think I will rote learn some times for changes to speed things up again. Good tip was to set the VOR up on the heading to visualise the heading change and easily calculate the number of degrees to turn i.e. 30 degrees right 10 secs from roll in to roll out. Martin had me using a 2 second early roll out as a rule of thumb. This was hard. I was applying too much bank and was in some longer turns 30 degrees out!! Also you have to wait 5 seconds or so for the compass to settle down after the turning error has been resolved.

Full panel Freda I was tired and this was a real effort. Basically resume your scan after each check.

SRA I did the RT to this. It was tough doing this and writing things down whilst keeping the aircraft in track. I'm gripping the control column too hard. Need to get my feet working harder on this. I came down the approach at 95 knots, struggled to keep on track, was 50ft above my glide slope, never really had the rod nailed, even started the stopwatch a bit late. Workload was high and I flew a drunken approach which had me nowhere near the runway when decision height came. After putting flap on I flew at 60-65 knots a left hand circuit as per Martins instructions.

Martin then demonstrated an approach from late Downwind to bring the aircraft into 10 ft above the ground using the rudder, power and trim without touching a control wheel!!!! He grabbed it at 10ft and finished the flare to land. Very impressive. To get where I'm at now to that stage is like standing at the bottom of Everest. Still I want to do it;

3 - IMC- Bumpy ride - Limited panel/UPs - SRA Approach

Didn't go at all well today. The wind was straight down 27 and gusting. The altitudes that I flew at today were full of turbulence and I really struggled with every exercise. It seems that every time I take my eyes off the controls I was turning or climbing. Need to resolve this issue

Take off went OK. After climbing turn I went under the hood. Climbs and turns. The turbulence seem to have me untrimmed all of the time.

Fairly early on we went limited panel. Martin gave me a tip on climbing. Common sense really. Pitch up let the speed drop then apply full power as the speed drops has you on 70 knots quicker and the correct pitch attitude quicker. Sort of a APT approach as opposed to PAT (power attitude trim) I was tending to let the power pitch me up and it took a lot longer to get my speed right for the climb. Using rudder to stop the turn was hard because I'm still unsure of which way things were going with the compass. The compass was outside my scan and I was not accurate to 30 degrees. Also my natural instinct was always to turn the wrong way. It was frustrating. I've since sat on the simulator and developed a failsafe system of knowing which way to turn to get the compass to play ball. Now I just have to make it a motor skill. My rudder use was all to cock today. I need to be more authoritative on it and use it more to keep straight and hold a heading. I did do one really good timed turn. Probably the only thing that went right. My mental maths prep on this worked but estimating the exact number of degrees to turn. Again back to the simulator. The display on India Lima's rotatable ADF was not conducive to a quick estimate of turn. I figured out that it was quicker to calculate the difference in my head than count 30 degree increments off the ADF. The mental math is easy but its like trying to do it whilst singing Oh Danny Boy, balancing on your head whilst boiling an egg. I think I need to let go of the controls when I do something to not put in adverse unwanted control inputs. This will take mental effort and again is not yet a motor skill. I find most of this instrument stuff getting a system that works for me and installing the right motor skills to achieve this. I need to bash the sim after and before every lesson to get that working.

My checks pre-climb/descent checks are getting quicker (Alt P&Ts,Mix Rich, Carb Heat). Not quite there with descents. Carb heat hot, reduce power, correct for yaw and maintain 90 knots. Roll in some nose down trim. To level out carb heat in 100ft before power on at 10% of ROD before. At pitch up maintain speed with pitch and roll on some trim up

Ups on Limited Panel Martin demonstrated first followed after. Did about three of each either way then he hid the gauges and gave me one surprise UP and one surprise DOWN. Alot harder on limited panel. UP Pitch forward after 2 seconds apply full power (correct for yaw) roll level once the VSI shows no climb. Its easy to point the nose down so seeing the speed pick up is important but VSI can tell you if you've over cooked it. DOWN Power off (correct for yaw) Roll wings level (ball centre) Pitch up (as soon as speed decreases hold that attitude (push slightly forward) as the plane is level) Anticipate with power and fine tune on VSI.

Not looking at the RPM helps Just use the sound of the engine. Infact, this is true for all power adjustments in IMC. I found that I was within 100 rpm of my estimated rpm on sound alone. A small correction later was easily done. SRA Didn't set the QFE - went really badly RT all over the place - 260/19 knots hence 60 degrees off so headwind would be 50% of that i.e. 10 knots GS would have been +- 80 knots so 1850 rpm would have been appropriate. I lost track and made many power changes on final. Learnings - If too low level out and re-join the track. I had to work the power more to meet the height requirements. Didn't have it nailed. I started the clock late again... however I made sure I stayed between 600 and 670 ft on the 2 nm final.

Landing Not great left some power on as Martin suggestion but rolled out too late and 3 pointed or even wheel barrowed. Must admit I'm used to chopping the power with VA and having a large round out. Martin suggested 1200 RPM upto the roundout. I've noticed that most of my worst landings are made when someone is trying to talk me throu it. I prefer just to get on with it and usually find 8/10 are smooth and don't donk the nose wheel. Now I have a new master to please. Things can only get better.

4 - IMC- Full/Limited panel/UPs revision - SRA Approach

Much better attempt today. Granted the turbulence was not as bad as the last lesson although it did get bumpy during the SRA. We started with some ground school. Martin confirmed some issues for me. The tolerance on the approaches well be doing will be -0/+50ft... that's going be tough going. Established means you have localiser. Fully established means you have localiser and glide slope within half scale deflection. Beacons will be said on the radio in phonetics i.e. Bravo Papa Lima. SRA on the other hand will be said as SRA. Interesting anecdote that Martin mentioned was the time when he found the engine running rough and trying to stop after carb heat was set (showing no problems) He was in light rain in the cold. Basically by using carb heat he was allowing the rain droplets to stay on the filter and freeze!!! Starving the engine of air.

I checked out the aircraft. Fuel was fine. Martin checked the oil all fine. The very cold starting up was interesting. I made a quick check of the pitot heater after dropping the flaps and turned the power off in the minimum time. Martin specifically said don't turn on the landing lights or nav lights, or strobes. He had me pump in 4 slow squeezes of primes whilst he hand cranked the engine. He had me leave the primer half way and unlocked in case it needed more. It started first crank. I slowly squeezed in half prime to get the primer into its locked position.

Improvements to my pre-flight. During the checks Martin pointed out about looking the right way when checking the controls i.e. yoke left look right at the descending aileron, look at the elevator. Also exercising the trim to its maximum extent either side. Turning away from the runway as usual good airmanship demands. I want this stuff to be perfect

Take off went very well. I kept really straight and she flew a lot earlier than I was ready for so I kept the nose down. After stowing flaps the foggles were on and Martin had me climbing and turning to get away from the aerodrome. Today I paid a lot more attention to the AI and my scan was much better than Id done before. Keeping that rudder nailed really helped in keeping on track. There were a few wanderings but nothing got away from me. Must listen out carefully at the type of climb Martin asks for. Cruise 90 or best rate 70. My leveling out was much better. My descents went well stowing carb heat at 100ft before and arriving within 50ft of my station.

I did some upsets on full and limited panel. Reasonable, bit of brain fog on one but I asked for repeats of all and on the whole fully in control and comfortable with it.

Lots of limited panel. Just what I needed. I included the compass in my scan properly and it worked. I was happy with my timed turns. Some calculation errors but I am getting quicker at this and can push myself on the sim in this respect. Height gains and losses were recouped by small power adjustments instead of elevator which in limited panel really worked well. I stayed rate one for the most and one thing I do need to do is to make corrections on time to satisfy Martin rather than trying to nibble at a compass that is swinging widely. Nibbling takes alot longer and ruins your scan.

Co-ordinated power / rudder and pitch will also make me better. This is a finer motor skill that I need to gain. I feel that in the four sessions so far I've come a long way in this respect. I've not reached my peak in accuracy terms and still have some improvements to make.

Foggles off time to contact Barton Radar for an SRA. Points of note ask for SRA rather than the long winded version. I did my FREDA spaced out with my scan. Relaxed on the controls and didn't induce any brown moments this time. Need to practice and make quicker. SRA. My RT was much better. Still not perfect. My PLC's I did on downwind this time all went well. My height and heading holding was much improved over last lesson and it was getting bumpy. I set the correct power for the descent (450ft /min for 90 knots) but it soon became apparent that my glide slope was too high so I had to increase it by chopping power back less than 1700 RPM. It worked although it was an effort at 2nm and 600ft to crank it up again and not dip below my MDH. I may have gone 20 ft below max and no more than 50ft above if that. I do remember seeing a speed greater than 90 so my pitch attitude was not right and I could have used less power to get things under control as my groundspeed was having me arriving too soon for the descent path. I had correctly started the stopwatch at the right time. Have to remember my lookout scan. Lookout-instruments-lookout-instrument. About 100 secs we were close to the.

After calling going around Martin had me fly at 65 knots 20 degree SSC of flap for a LH visual circuit. He wanted short field so on final full flap and fly at 55 knots ... never done that before. More used to flying faster and reducing over the hedge. Martin wanted something different. I tried to keep the power on. I obviously didn't because I felt a huge sink (low and slow) I added power. Rounded out too aggressively and hopped down the runway trying to use power to soften the landing. Wasn't exactly short field but it was a soft landing held off. I need to hold off more in the roll out. Well pleased with my performance and lots of good learnings and tweaks to my flying. Happy.

5 - IMC- Radar vectored LOC/DME Approaches to Barton

First of all some ground school to discuss the differences between the SRA and the radar vectored Localiser DME approaches. Basically, a similar start to the flight as SRA but with some definite differences in procedure.

After start-up we went through the Nav Equipment ground check. Convention check from top down (Shutdown from bottom up). Audio panel on COM1 and the com 1 button selected. Radio on, check the squelch is ok and intercom works. Tune VOR MCT - Select the VOR button. Ident twice. Set FROM 331 check centering, +5 see deflection, -5 see deflection, Then reciprocal to check TO Cent ring then all the way around back to FROM. ADF, tune and check ident twice, WTN 337. You need to depress the ANT to get a better ident signal (needle deflects to 90 degrees) make sure it goes back to ADF. Set expected Runway on ILS gauge. Transponder to 0000 then test light. Standby then 7000.

RT wise for the Localiser DME approach

1. Barton Radar GBOIL on frequency request airfield weather
Given the weather and maybe QFE
2. Weather copied QFE XXXX standby GBOIL
If minima OK
3. GBOIL request Radar Vectored Localiser DME approach to the airfield
Given info
Read back
4. Radar Vectored Localiser DME App, runway 20, QFE 1000, minima checked , G-IL
May be turned for identification heading and level requested turned and identified or maybe with Squawk
Downwind asked to complete pre-landing checks
5. Standby G-IL BUMCFFC
6. G-IL , Pre Landing Checks Complete
Turned onto base leg Arming checks
- Alt QFE set and correct
- ILS tuned VOR Set QDM - Estimate Right or Left indication No flag present
- ADF (tuned) is it sensible
Turned onto Joining Leg Repeat arming checks called "execute checks"
ATC will ask for a report when established Established Localiser within scale 2 dots. Fully established is when localiser and glide slope are BOTH within half scale deflection
7. Wilco G-IL
At Half scale
8. GIL established on the localiser
End of radar vectoring
Complete turn onto final, cleared to land runway 20, QFE xxxxx
9. Wilco, cleared to land runway 20, QFE XXXX GIL
ATC may ask you to report at 4DME
10. Wilco GIL
11. GIL at 4 DME
ATC will ask you to change to Tower 120.250
12. Tower 120.250 GIL
Change frequency
13. Barton Tower GIL at 4 DME established on the localiser
ATC cleared to land
14. Cleared to land G-IL

Monitor your own heights 1800ft at 6 DME, 1500 at 5 DME, 1200 at 4 DME (report), 900 at 3 DME then fly level power/pitch and maintain 90 knots implement a lookout scan till DME 1 (or in Barton case the TO goes to FROM. The localiser wobbled quite a bit so sometimes it was difficult to know which way to turn!!! More practice needed to nail it. It very rarely departed from 0.5 degrees either way but there was almost no wind. Be a different story with turbulence.

Non precision 600 feet and fly level with a lookout scan. Mapt DME 0 - Power on G-IL going around. You can plan your lookout height by the cloud base in advance.

We did three of these in total. FREDA checks after each go around once wed climbed back out. FREDA, Each letter then scan. For radio include the identification of the Beacon / ILS / ADF

After the third we did a LH circuit in slow safe cruise. 10 flap less than 110 then 20 degrees in the white arc and fly at 65 knots. I took over for final, dropped full flap, a bit high 55 knots holding the attitude and powered down, she dropped like a stone, I added a tad of power, small balloon and held the nose high with a reasonably soft landing. Another Good lesson and forging ahead. Much happier on the RT now. Pleased with my performance and learning.

6 - IMC- SID / STAR pattern plus a Radar vectored Localiser / DME approach

Passed my theoretical exam the day before (84% - 21/25 was hoping for better but I found the exam really pushed me and it was alot harder than the practice questions). The night before I practiced the SID / STAR routes the night before on the sim I was keen to get up and fly this one. Quick briefing. Martin had already fuelled up G-Boil and said the oil was ok so quick checks then we were away.

The first time around the track I did it without foggles. All went really well. Id made a mistake on the DME distance for one of the legs but Martin was happy as I spotted it early and corrected it. The second time around I did it with foggles on. This was a lot harder and I had to try harder to nail the speed although I was happy with my wind corrections which all worked out just right. I found I had some spare capacity and put in FREDAs to Martin's satisfaction after each turning point. All my climbs and descents went well too. We finished off with a LOC / DME approach. RT improving but not quite there. I missed to 7 DME descent point by 0.1 DME and the my localiser tracking was not the best Id done. More practice required. Things I learnt - take the head/tailwind into account to adjust your VOR changeover / turn. ie with tailwind turn earlier (1.5 DME) with a headwind turn later (0.5 DME).

7 - IMC- Two Radar vectored Localiser / DME approaches

Learning point -Radio checks Tune to Warton for the ADF 337 ident WTN Identify twice using the ADF button on the KNS80 which toggles between ADF and ANT (ANT 90 deg deflection for test and ident). Check the heading reset North up

Today we were in a rush so the plan was two Radar vectored Localiser DME approaches then land. Hood on not long after take-off.

The first once at 7 DME so descent starting at 2100 ft. I hit the mark. This time I pretty much nailed the Localiser. I did come down under the glide path and at one point dip below the minimum descent height but on the whole pretty happy. I did forget the arming check on the base leg but apart from that pretty much spot on. The next one from 6 DME (1800ft) worked out spot on. I nailed both the localiser / descent rate and the height. I did not descend below 600ft at all.

When I got down Martin said that was one of my approaches done to be signed off!!!! Fantastic. He gave me a brief on the likely scenarios for Blackpool as the next lesson was going to be 3 full blown ILS/DME approaches. Really looking forward to that. My instrument flying is really coming on and I'm nailing the right figures now and having some spare capacity for FREDA.

Learning point Re - Identify the Nav aids again in the air.

8 - IMC- Holding Patterns / LOC/DME Let down

Fog was forecast and things didn't look too great. Martin was concerned that we may well go to Blackpool to find ourselves unable to return (according to the TAF). So he wanted to do the lesson on holding patterns as being over Barton would be the best place to judge the fog. I'd done no preps for this although I had covered it in Trevor Thom 5 so it was gonna have to be off the hoof.

Ground school - We estimated the wind at 225/15 knots at 2000ft. We were going to be operating at 1900ft on QNH (Clear of Manchester by 100ft). The headwind on 270 runway heading (from the beacon being) Martin estimated 12 knots headwind and 7 knots Xwind when flying 270 degrees.

After takeoff we climbed to 1900ft on QNH. I then tracked back to Barton after first establishing the QDM (VOR TO). From this the type of sector join could be established. We flew each sector of join.

Sector 1 join - Parallel Join - Establish QDM to the beacon - For Sector 1 this must be QDM 160 - 270 (Teardrop right for LH pattern). The join for this was to track to the beacon then set the stopwatch as the DME zeros and the flag flips. Fly outbound from the beacon on QDR 270. Have 270 set on the VOR. Then rate one turn to the Right after 1 minute plus the estimated time correction. Fly to an estimate heading (125) for intercept and get a new QDM. Fly that QDM to the beacon. As the flag flips reset time, rate one left, 3 x est. wc off the outbound hence 270-(3x5)= 255 outbound track. As we reached the outbound heading read the time and add 1 min 12 secs (which was our estimated figure). After time to 255 plus 1 minute 12 we turned rate one left and reset QDM of 90. It was easy to see in the turn whether to roll out early or late was required to get the CDI heading to the middle. Important was too get a new figure for drift plus take account of the time when the flag flips to see the time correction for the outbound. I remember one being 8 seconds late so half of the difference added to the outbound is required. Therefore only 1 min 4 seconds added to the outbound turn. On one circuit I noted no wind drift so we just flew the numbers and it worked out perfectly. I did my FREDA checks on the outbound heading which was longer (cos of the headwind and you seem to be busier inbound)

Sector 2 join - Offset entry - being QDM's from 270 - 340 QDM (Outbound +30 degrees LH Teardrop for LH pattern). The join for this was to track to the beacon then set the stopwatch as the DME zeros and the flag flips. Fly outbound from the beacon on QDR 270 +30 degrees = 300 degrees. Have 300 set on the VOR. Fly it for 120-140 seconds. Then rate one turn to the left. Set QDM 90 on the VOR and track to it. Estimating the drift. As the flag flips reset time, rate one left, 3 x est. wc off the outbound hence 270-(3x5)= 255 outbound track.

Sector 3 join - For this one we established a QDM early. Turned onto 180 degrees to intercept the 90 QDM at about 3 DME (we started turning at 2 1/2 dots deflection which worked out just fine). Enter the hold as normal.

Important - Having established the wind drift on the inbound and correcting for it on the outbound. Also making fine tuning with timing corrections. Use the QDM to plan your entry. RT - Didn't pay too much attention to this and will have to bone up on this to be ready for the surprise holds I know Martin is going to throw at me.

Martin also drew up a quick VOR/DME plate for a descent onto 27R. It all happened rather quickly but I just about kept up. This involved intercepting the beacon at 1800 QFE and descending (600ft in 3DME) With the wind behind us I set 1750 rpm on Martins prompting and we came down nicely to 1200ft. At DME 3 RH base turn. Set 270 QDM. Then descended again at 3 DME down to 600ft MDH (this time wind in the face so 1900 RPM) Martin said we were visual, cut power and dump flap. He wanted another 55knot short field approach to 27R. I could hardly see the runway but soon realised I was off quite far to the right and corrected accordingly. I made another (instructor assisted) landing this time the nose wheel was way up in the air and I kept it there.

I was abit daunted by the ground briefing but the practical flying all came together really well. This was one of the best lessons I've had so far.

9 - IMC- Three ILS DME Approaches at Blackpool / LOC/DME Let down at Barton

The Wx started out a bit ropey but after the sun put in an appearance it looked promising at Blackpool. I checked the ATIS there a couple of times and we were on.

After take-off I checked the VOR and ADF in the Air. Martin did all the calls with Warton. I was expecting to do them; but never mind my turn next time. Warton handed us over to Blackpool Approach fairly soon. The first attempt I was pretty tongue tied and had brain freeze. Main learning point from this was write ALL heading and level instructions down. Because my workload was high I could repeat something then buggered if I could remember it 20 seconds later!!! I did the second approach where we started out joining from the right but had to be vectored to avoid traffic and so we ended up doing an approach from the left. It all came fast and furious. Not hard once I got the hang of it. Knowing where you are and which way the airport is makes a huge difference. The ADF really helped with this. Important was recognising when you were downwind and the join you were making to the localiser. Pre-Landing checks downwind and arming checks on base and joining leg. The missed approach point was given upfront. "Descend with the procedure" was given on the joining leg as expected. The Mapt point was given upfront. I was right turning as opposed to left which the procedure states. Fully understandable to have me away North of the commercial traffic. Martin had me use QFE for the procedure and re-set QNH for the climbout.

Martin let me fly down to 100ft and on the first one he demonstrated high low left and right positions so I could see how the ILS gauge behaved. I was surprised how quickly the Glideslope could go pearshaped. The localiser was a little easier. Granted there was not much wind. I never really had a wind correction sorted as Martin kept interrupting to show me various things. Excellent days flying though. One hour forty mins on instruments. One learning point is that can still use the localiser for a short time whilst climbing out after a missed approach.

Coming away from Blackpool Martin had me track away from the Beacon. Need more ground school on this as I didn't quite get his reasoning for the headings we flew and there was no time afterwards for a debrief.

We finished off with a LOC/DME approach back to Barton runway 27R after first intercepting the 70 QDM to the beacon inbound. The correct calls are made outbound from the beacon and when the base turn is complete. Outbound 600ft to lose in 3 nm = 200ft/nm no wind so at 90 knots or 1.5 nm/min our descent rate would have to be 350ft/min. Another learning point - when a frequency is very quiet check the squelch periodically to see if you have not turned it down by mistake.

10 - IMC Groundschool- ADF Tracking / ADF Holding

With a white out in Bury and lots of snow showers forecast I took the opportunity to have some ground school with Martin which turned out very well and provided food for thought and some tools for ADF tracking as well as other useful stuff.

ADF tracking. Firstly it was important to interpret your heading and ADF relative bearing to establish a QDM (TO) the station. You fly this QDM initially. NB Top half Needle right +ve and left of centre I've. This figure is added or subtracted to give you your QDM.

The QDM is recorded and is kept in case you get lost in the arithmetic or distracted. You can always revert back to this and re-calculate your wind again. Given that a rate one turn at 90 knots will give you a displacement of 0.5 nm it's unlikely that the ADF will be showing exactly 12 o clock when you roll out. No worries just fly the heading and wait for the needle to fall off. When the needle has fallen off to say 5 or 10 degrees displacement you have been blown off track. Make a correction in the direction of the needle (twice the displacement). Say for 10 degrees drift turn 20 degrees towards the needle. I.e. for a QDM of 270 degrees if the goes right by 10 degrees you need to turn right by 20 degrees to regain the QDM. Hence 290 degrees so the RBI will be -10 Degrees initially. When it fall to -20 degrees you have regained the track i.e. 290 -20 = 270 QDM. If you adopt the heading of 270 degrees then you will drift off track again. Split the difference and fly 280 degrees (RBI will be at -10 degrees =WCA if the ADF tracks OK) .

For each heading change the Datum must also change. Tracking from the lower half of the RBI is used with the head of the needle; This time right of centre being Ive and left of the centre being +ve. Opposite to the tracking TO nomenclature.

When regaining track or when joining a radial or inbound track at a joining angle turn early to avoid overshooting (lead in) say 5 degrees before.

Holding RT - When making an offset or parallel join to a beacon "G-IL entering the hold". Then after turning back to the beacon "G-IL established in the hold"

For the direct entry there is no entering the hold call; just the "G-IL established in the hold" as you pass the beacon. Points - Remember always start the stopwatch overhead the beacon. Adjust your first turn for time if you are turning less than 180 degrees, ie 150 turn instead of 180 degrees due to the WCA then only 50 seconds for the turn.

Offset entry - more time than 1 minute outbound maybe 1 minute 40 or 1 minute 20 secs. Basically you need time to get back to tracking the Beacon so it won't matter in the scheme of things.

Parallel entry - after the turn you can either track to the beacon direct or 45 degree joining and track straight. Personally that looks like harder work in a short space of time. RT on the base turn for an ILS procedure turn call G-IL Base Turn Complete after the turn when heading join the track (before established). For a Base Turn - Normal for NDB approaches base turn complete is called when established on the final track.

Lots of good stuff. Its obvious that NDB tracking in the air is going to be challenging. There's a lot to do with it. Blackpool of course has an NDB hold!!!

11 - ILS to Warton - ADF Tracking - VOR / DME at Barton

The NOTAM the night before stated that the Radar was U/S and the Blackpool ATIS in the morning also said the same without any other info!! Martin said not to worry and disappeared for a short while. He'd organised an ILS approach to Warton. Weather the vis was crap and marginal for an approach even. Martin said he'd watch out for airframe icing which would be the risk.

After 5 weeks away it took a little while to get going again. All my planning buggered cos we were going to Warton and not Blackpool; Another eventuality I'll have in my back pocket ready. Couple of new things Martin highlighted me. Firstly you can check the condition of the voltage regulator by observing an initial flick when selecting flap. No flick VR faulty.... Second he pointed out that he'd like to hear me state when Power checks Pre-take-off checks and After Landing checks are complete. Remember to turn the volume down before identifying nav aids!! Pitot heat was on for this one.

Full of fuel it used quite abit of runway and climbed like a dog initially. Only when up could you really see how bad the vis was and how low the cloud was. We were entering cloud / low vis as I put the foggles on the crosswind leg.

Climbed out at max rate 70 knots. Upto 3500ft. Checked the nav aids out. Warton ATIS didn't respond

We started tracking to the beacon. Martin called them and activated our intentions requesting a radar information service. I took over the RT. The controller was hellish busy. Early on I was directed away from the DCT to WTN. He was directing a 146 in behind us and we were given the choice to get straight in or wait until he was through. Martin wanted to get straight in as waiting in airframe icing clouds was not going to be fun. I kept up fairly well with the RT. The controller didn't give too much info all at once. Didn't quite have my power/trim thing sorted and yo yoed a little whilst coming down the ILS. Came down to 200ft (I could see the lights at 600ft) but Martin wanted me to drive her down the track. I was cleared for a low approach and go-around and that's what I did. Climbed and turned early as the 146 was close behind. Set QNH again and tracked WTN outbound. The ADF wasn't behaving itself so well because we were 18 nm (20nm DOC)... or at least that was the conclusion we came to. Coming back we got a QDM for our imaginary VOR to Barton. I bracketed to the VOR. About 5-8 miles out we headed south east to meet it. At two dots we turned in on a QDM of 70 degrees as per Martin's VOR DME procedure. He had me check the input info this time.

TTTTQDD

Throttle I'd calculated 350ft/min for this however the wind ended up behind now so it was supposed to be more.
Time Prep the timer
Turn QDR and direction
Talk Beacon Outbound
QFE Set
Descent Rate should be calced / adjusted with the latest wind
Decelerate Light aircraft speed

I ended up losing too much on descent then ended up high at 3DME. No probs loose it on the turn. Big RT - didn't note the DME but I think I was less than 2.9 DME. Not long into the approach I had the foggles off.

My handling was not as good as last lesson but I survived and learnt a hell of alot. Really just need to be immersed in it now to make it slicker and second nature.

12 - ILS at Warton - ADF Tracking - Localiser DME to R20 at Barton

Blackpool radar again being down; The plan today was basically more of the same. ILS at Warton tracking back and Loc/DME to Barton. Requested a QFE approach again.

Today my RT was much better. The main thing that let me down was my glide slope control down the ILS. All over the place. Started too high. Ended up low. Martin had me right down to 100ft today. He confused me a little as I was trying to use throttle setting for descent rate and pitch for speed; I should be using pitch for glide slope and throttle for speed. The glide slope comes alive only at about 5 DME meaning that you were always going to start high!!!

My Instrument flying has been better. I concentrated a lot on the rudder and station keeping today. My QDM and QDR tracking went well today. We did operate at the extremities of the range but closer in than the previous lesson and it all went fairly well.

I did a Localiser DME approach to Barton. High on the glide path. A bad weather circuit at 65 knots and 20 deg flap then I continued a short field landing which Martin took over to demonstrate a wing down approach landing on the right hand wheel.

No real learning points today. I've asked Martin for more ILS practice as I don't feel ready for skills test level yet. I really would like to do some myself with Minimum Martin intervention.

13 - Airwork Revision - Localiser / DME approach to Barton

Again I was all dressed up for the Warton party when this time Warton couldn't play ball. No ILS approaches today. The airfield was closed for a short time. Today I tried to get everything perfect a la Martin. This includes being fully prepared and performing all the checks and everything else to Martin's satisfaction even before take-off. I did well today.

After a decent take-off on 09R over to instruments. A full revision of all the airwork section of the IMC syllabus including full and limited panel recoveries. The only thing that I wasn't happy with was my timed turns on limited panel. Had these sorted in the past but brian fuzz made me screw some of them up. I'll have to have that done on the sim. My handling in limited and general instrument handling I was happy with. RV LOC / DME approach to Barton. I have the RT sorted for this now as I half expect the calls. Martin through in a few specials which I coped with well. Descended from 5 DME 1500 ft. High on approach but localiser was nailed and I was in control. Held off nicely at 630 ft looking for the airfield. At mapt (Zero DME) SSC 65 knots and 30 degs of flap; 1750 rpm trimmed. A low precautionary

circuit; oval circuit then Short field landing that came off just perfectly I left a tad of power on and sure that the nose wheel was up. Martin was happy and so was I.

Just need to nail the timed turn mental arithmetic on the sim. Plus remember 5 x GS for the descent rate that Martin reminded me of.

14 - Two ILS Approaches at Warton- Localiser / DME approach to Barton

Beautiful day for it. Blue skies and a stiff north westerly wind. Warton was on for two approaches. I did almost all the RT. 1st Approach I was outside test limits; 2nd approach was better but I was wrestling with it below the 500ft mark and my speed increased too much.

At the debrief some points came out....

In my initial call I should have asked for radar vectors for two pre-arranged ILS / DME approaches

I needed to request a QFE approach as opposed to QFE alone

I took too long sorting my avionics out during my FREDA check need to speed this up.

During the first vectoring to the localiser I was brought down to 1500ft from 2200ft. Apparently I descended below my cleared height before I'd let the glideslope. I dont remember this but will take Martins word for it.

When going below 500ft - speed control - whilst chasing the needles I didn't adjust the speed with power and we gained excessive speed.

I kept saying established on the localiser instead of Localiser established.

I did remember and do the ARMING CHECKs on Base and the EXECUTE CHECKS on the closing leg.

Must remember to do my BUMFFCH and FREDA checks on the downwind leg. I did them but need to be more vocal to Martin. Not a great performance and I struggled with the turbulence today. I did however do a good RV LOC/DME to R20 at Barton then a LH poor weather circuit to a short field landing.

15 - IMC Rating Skills Test

Warton were too busy and Blackpool Radar still U/S. I did all the ground work to Martins satisfaction. His influence on this part of my flying has made a big difference and I feel a lot more professional in my approach to making sure everything is checked out fully before flying. Good take-off and straight over to the hood after flaps were away.

First of all I tracked a radial from Pole Hill. Then full panel exercises followed by a full panel upset down. No probs with this. Next came limited panel. Lots of climbs descents and variations thereof. Lots of timed turns. Really had my shit together today and did everything spot on. All the timed turns that weren't quite on the money I corrected for to Martins satisfaction. Next came a upset down on Limited panel. All my sim practice paid off.

I tracked Whitegate into the low level. Finally Martin brought me in for a VOR DME approach on 09R. All my RT was perfect. The localiser needle was behaving strangely and from 1500ft at 6DME I had to fly level before descending. After that I was 100ft above the recommended 3 degree path until Minimum descent height of 600ft. I held off at 650ft and stated looking out. Had the fogs off quickly then I took over and landed on 09R. Probably the best landing I'd done so far. Only took just over an hour. I felt like I'd put in a sterling performance and only made small errors that I recognised, stated to Martin then corrected.

I am glad it's done; the pressure is off and now we can concentrate on advanced instrument flying as I'd like to go further skill wise and Martin has a lot more challenges in the bag for me going into the realms of the full blown instrument rating.

POST IMC TEST INSTRUMENT FLYING

16 - Further IMC training - ADF tracking and Intercepts

We did some ground school on ADF tracking. First establish the QDM (top half) or QDR (bottom half). It was good to go over this again as its always harder in the plane. Plus X looking for Minus X and vice versa. This really works!! We then went on looking at intercepts. Mainly perpendicular using the +100-10 rule. Using the ADF as a tool for judging the turn onto track i.e. turning at + or 85 degrees.

It was a cloudy day with low cloud being a feature. I opted to fly without fogs. It was absolutely fabulous flying in and out of clouds. We revisited actual ADF tracking turning onto radials and QDMs. Warton agreed for us to track to their overhead. This was interesting because the needle came alive and especially with Warton the beacon is actually one of the markers so it wasn't on the airfield itself!! The main thing to remember was to double check the airfield plate to see exactly where the markers are.

Heading back to Barton we went in and out of clouds it was quite an ethereal experience. Martin had me track to White gate to get me lined up with a VOR / DME approach a la Martin. This went well and I felt it was a lot more relaxed than before. I took over for the landing after making the base turn complete2 call. Martin asked for a short field however it was proving gusty so I didn't let the speed come down too much below 60. Great lesson and I'm ready to start looking at NDB holds.

17 - Further IMC training - ILS at Liverpool

Just before I left for work last time I did one more IMC lesson which gotta say scared the crap outta me. I was meant to be doing ADF holding over Blackpool but their radar was still u/s so he dropped a Liverpool approach on me for which I had no prep for! Quickly pulled something outta my arse and we had to be airborne cos these approaches are done to agreed timings.

Vis was crap (couldn't see alot beyond the end of runway 27) and cloud base could have been reached by throwing stones at it. We entered cloud less than 1000ft and remained in it for the whole lesson. I observed icing on the climb out as the engine juddered. Then I was held at the end of the low level at 1200 ft with a stiff wind blowing me into Manchesters zone so I had to fly a race track and extend by the wind vector to keep me outta trouble but near enough to be ready to enter the zone when I have a clearance. There was one of Martins IMC pilots struggling in the Liverpool zone and we were listening to it play out on the radio. He was in trouble. Later on we found out that he eventually got a let down at Shawbury after trying Liverpool and Hawarden.

I then got a clearance and was immediately on base leg as Burtonwood is not far from the final approach track. Straight on joining leg, with localiser rapidly established as the wind was coming from behind. Fidders Ferry plume was being blown into the glidepath and I all sorts of turbulence coming down the glidepath. Managed to just stay within the limits. It was a real struggle for me. Martin said come down to 100ft. I saw the Papi lights at about 200ft come outta the mirk. Went around and Martin planned a route direct to Burtonwood. I came down to 750 ft in IMC in the low level and we headed straight back to Barton. Conditions were pretty bad and I joined on downwind below the circuit height then we kept the field in sight and just came in and I landed at the normal speeds rather than short field as we were experiencing some gusting. There was a chap in the back for the ride so the flare was easier than usual and I greased it on. I had the leans for the whole trip and was fighting this. It was bloody scary. Martin of course was bouncing with glee cos it was the real thing and I was just happy to have survived the experience. Gives me alot of respect for wx conditions.

Gotta say even though you'll do it yourself to within exam standards a trip like that was a two man job. I had nothing left to give. The IMC rating just gives you some skills but to be current in that I�d have to do that day in day out.

18 - Further IMC training - ADF Holding at Crosland Moor BBC Tower

Just my luck that BPL was down the day I was to go and practice ADF holding. Martin suggested the BBC tower(s) close to Crosland Moor on 909. I'd flown over these several times and never noticed them. It was a lovely day and the vis was great for my safety pilot.

Straight over to instruments on climb out and I had to get the Pole Hill QDM and track towards the beacon. Closer to Pole Hill I tuned 909 and established a QDM to the BBC transmitter. What preceeded was performing the three types of hold join, offset, parallel and direct with short detours after making 2 or three holds each time. My timings were improving each time. At the start I was using the pre-calculated inbound 10 degrees of drift but by the lap hold we were flying the numbers as the wind appeared to die down. I did FREDARs on the outbound leg.

Personally I prefer to write down the timing when the outbound track was achieved so I didn't lose track. This is the only thing you can really screw up. I found ADF tracking pretty similar to VOR tracking in that respect. Martin had more feel for the needle than me as he knew exactly where the needle should be at the position in the racetrack. I need more practice to develop this picture but ultimately the needle always points to the beacon. .Easier than VOR tracking in one respect as you down have to keep adjusting the OBS between inbound and outbound tracks. You also have to be ready to note the time over the beacon before re-setting; one one occasion I did this and almost didn't check my timing.

We spent some time doing this so it was a straight in Right Base join for 27 with a landing that wasn't my best but at least the nosewheel was up!

19 - Further IMC Training - BPL Holding and Procedural ILS/DME to Blackpool Runway 28

With the weather getting worse it was important to get away quickly. Again Blackpool radar was not operational. Martin seemed to think it could be a manning problem. He negotiated a holding time of after 13:30 hours.

On the climb out I got the Blackpool ATIS. I forgot to ident the navaids before calling Warton. I asked Warton for a basic service. I included the holding and the procedural approach. I started tracking to the beacon. When Warton changed my squawk it appeared that a handover was imminent and Blackpool Approach had me climb to 4000ft to capture at this altitude and hold. G-IL entering the hold. Started the clock and flew a +10 degree drift at 285 degrees. The needle didn't fall so this was a good estimate of drift. Parallel entry went well. Martin had me fly a 3 minute outbound before turning back on an intercept of 45 degrees at 050 degrees looking for 45 (actually 40 cos you have to start the turn) I soon found the track (Australian join). On the beacon I reset the time and called G-IL established in the hold. They asked me to report when leaving the hold. I did three racetracks. I started with my 13 seconds. My calculated outbound drift was too much (20 degs) as we had to turn through the needle to capture the beacon. I ended up flying 270 degs (cf planned 275 degs) the wind had backed and therefore had increased in strength in my outbound and inbound. WE adjusted to +18 seconds outbound which had us 8 seconds early so the last turn was made with 22 seconds (8/4= + 4 seconds).

On the last hold I called approach and told then I'd like to descend on the procedure. I was given the clearance on the last hold outbound and they even asked if I would like to descend early. That was a clue that both Martin and I missed. (See later)

TTTTQDD I didn't notice the time but it was definitely in the 3 min 50 something's when the needle flipped. I applied carb heat just before the needle flip, reset the time at the flip and called beacon outbound. I set my calculated descent power and gave the nose a little help earthwards which was always one of my earlier mistakes (not starting a positive descent). I corrected the speed with the trim) Sometime that's not quick enough and you have to nudge the elevator over to stay on the right descent.

I then realised that 350ft a minute was not going to drop 1000ft in 3 minutes (I didn't see the DME but my groundspeed was at least 100 (pre-calced) and probably 110 or even 115 knts because the wind had backed. I stated to Martin that we were above the normal hold altitude and therefore required twice the descent rate to hit the Height (I'd requested QFE) at 6 DME (1972 ft). This meant over 660 ft per minute so pulled the power back to 1600 rpm and stuffed the nosed down then banged on nose up trim to take off the excessive speed once things settled down. Martin seemed pleased with my recognition of the change. I also stated that I should be at 3000ft by 3 DME and he seemed pleased with that also. I was tracking out with some starboard drift which kept the ADF needle still. Also I was crosschecking the VOR (in reverse sense) as a second check because Martin had already pre-warned me about the ADF giving dodgy reading close by in that area. I all went perfectly and I was almost at the correct height when I started the procedure turn. Minus 10 degrees to the procedure turn for drift. For 1 minute then swung right onto the reciprocal track of 233 degrees. At this I called G-IL procedure turn complete. Actually had no time for Execute checks. I could see that the localiser was already being captured. App told me to make own turn onto localiser report when established and descend on the procedure. I became established and turned whilst reading back and remained level as I was still DME 7.9. Martin seemed pleased that I had not descended. We were on the procedure which shows no descent before 6 DME. At some point I was cleared for a low approach and go-around. My ILS approach was the best I'd made so far. I had the descent rate nailed (again by being more forceful with the elevator when required catching up with the speed increase of decrease with the trim wheel. I called it at 550 ft and then descended down to 250 ft steering the needles. I stayed within tolerance and climbed away at max rate after saying G-IL going around. I climbed to 2000ft but was asked to continue with my present heading. Other traffic meant that we could not return back to BPL. We were routed out to Woodvale point. Martin had me ident WTN and take a radial. I was getting tired now and just relaxed and tracked back to Barton on the displaced Manchester VOR.

I joined downwind and had a gusty approach. I made a nice landing with power on to Martins satisfaction. Mike in the back made all the difference. (Alternatively I did get off the ground a little early on take-off too. Must remember to hold it down for that 3rd passenger).

Great lesson. A put in a good performance. My RT was a little rusty but I managed it all. On the whole a good result. I will be doing it again to get it slicker then off to Liverpool to play in Controlled airspace.

20 - Further IMC Training - BPL Holding and Procedural ILS/DME to Blackpool Runway 28

Weather crap down my end. I honestly thought it would look dire on the Metars and TAFs but it looked doable. It was definitely brighter and less cloud around Manchester and the coast. Martin was happy to go to Blackpool again and the radar was not operational (or unmanned as the case may be).

I went over to instruments on the climb out. This time I was better organised on my prep. I identified BPL on the climb out and started the tracking early. Over to Warton then ATIS and ident i-BPL . Warton gave me a Blackpool squawk which we both noticed and asked me to route direct to the beacon. They had me until about 5nm out then I was over to Blackpool approach. My RT was alot better than last time. G-IL entering the hold - start the stop watch. At the beacon I almost had my outbound heading. Parallel entry for an Australian join. 3 minutes out turned and looked for the 45 intercept. Like last time I hit it fairly quickly and nailed entering the hold. We did three in total.

Whilst in the hold the timings were +33 (calced)> 8 seconds early hence add 4 secs so 33+4=37 added to outbound. On the next I was 12 seconds early. My outbound drift was too much as I wasnt making the 95 hdg inbound. I was having to hold 60 hdg to the beacon. We corrected for the third and reduced the outbound drift angle from 15 degs down to 5 degrees. Interesting was that ATC gave me the radio failure instructions fairly early on. Basically expecting me to descend on the procedure at 44. Must admit this caught me on the hop as I readback correctly but understood that I wasn't to descend before 44 regardless. Martin explained and it all made sense. I requested a descent on the procedure and they confused me slightly. Wasnt sure whether Id been cleared to descend or stay at 3000ft but it seemed unlikely. I took a longer run into the beacon on the last hold. Set the descent up nicely. Flew the numbers and the ADF again showed that all was well with its 6 o clock tracking but the ILS told the real story. I adjusted my track to get the ILS back in the picture and ignored the ADF. (ILS operated in reverse sense). I descended right on the money and made my turn at 6 DME (with wind correction). 1 minute then a procedure turn. I reported procedure turn complete. (Actually ATC had tried to simplify things for me by saying report procedure turn complete when established) I could have waited to get established before reporting turn complete. I didn't do any wrong just missed the opportunity to reduce the RT.

Once established I was told to descend with the procedure and cleared for a low approach and go around with a LHT out after the coast. At 6 DME I started the descent; Martin was pleased to see that I switched to loc / dme procedure because the ILS Glideslope was still showing a flag - Blackpool ILS is dodgy at the best of times because of the interfere with Warton. Great for studes like me. I nailed the ILS and flew an accurate approach even though it was getting really bumpy in the boundary layer air. I had at least 20 LH drift on all the way down the ILS to keep the locator. It was a wild ride with the runway coming up fast out of what seemed like the side window. The GS didnt kick in until 2.9 DME. Of course the ILS Glide Slope and the ILS locator heights are different at Blackpool so I increased my rate of descent to compensate. BPL asked me to not descend below height 400 ft as they had taxiing traffic. So at 500ft I called looking out (for Martins benefit so he knew I wasn't sleepflying) then I manhandled the plane down to 400ft. It was getting very bumpy indeed at this point. (Don't know why Ive started enjoying this I used to hate flying!!) I went around and on the climb out the plan was changed and they asked me to turn Left and route to Southport pier. I asked if there was any height restriction - none. I was given a Warton squawk then over Marshside I was asked to change to Warton. Warton handed me over to Barton Martin took control and had me work out a waypoint from the Reebok. I programmed the KNS 80 and then I tracked to my map calculated waypoint. Not too bad I must have been about 0.5 nm out. Love the KNS 80. Such a great toy to make complete amateur pleasure flyers look like I know where I am going. I then changed the KNS 80 back over to Barton on 113.55. I then tracked to this.

Asked for re-join and joined downwind for 27L. I flew a nice stable approach and landed in gusting wind with the nose wheel up and some power left on.

Fantastic sortie. Martin asked me to log it as P1 as he said Id flown to Instrument Rating standards. I of course was very pleased with myself. After a detailed de-brief we discussed Liverpool holding as my next instrument session.

21 - Further IMC Training - BPL Holding and Procedural NDB/DME to Blackpool Runway 10

I made detailed planning for Holding over Liverpool then completing their NDB ILS DME Approach to Runway 09. Unfortunately Martin said that they did not want to use that hold when they were operating on Runway 09. I suppose it begs the question then why is it even on the chart??? Never mind.

Don't think I've had one session that hasn't been completely changed before we started.

One thing of note that was with an easterly wind it would have been asking too much to get Liverpool ATIS ident the NDB and the ILS and change over to Liverpool before reaching Burtonwood which would have only been minutes away from taking off. Rightly Martin said we would have headed towards Wigan to buy more time in preparation. Good plan. I'll suggest that next time if timings are going to be too tight.

Another thing of note was that our approach was going to be on the cusp of a direct or offset hold entry pattern. Clearly with a fierce tailwind to achieve a controlled entry without maneuvering between LPL and the airfield (3.9nm apart) a direct entry would be impractical. I stated to Martin that I would make an offset as it would be much easier and be less maneuvering. He seemed happy with that decision.

One more planning issue. Given the close proximity of Burtonwood to the LPL NDB and also that that would be the likely exit point having the MCT transposing info pre-planned would be a good idea. I.e. MCT moved 14 nm on a bearing of 288 deg M would make the VOR over Burtonwood. I also planned some rough headings because we could have been in zero vis (on a traffic service) and ATC don't necessarily have to give out radar vectors to exit points if they are otherwise occupied.

I quickly planned for an NDB approach on Runway 10 at Blackpool after two times around the hold. Of course no ILS. Once I was ready Martin had booked the time. We went through my plan and the likely scenarios. Take-off, hand over to Warton, BPL ATIS - decision point, Ident BPL and only the DME (I started to do the ILS but then Martin reminded me correctly that it wasn't being used).

Everything went to plan. Warton Identified me. I used the Time To Station to give an estimate to BPL. I must use that more as it's a great tool and really assists ATC. After entering the hold ATC told me that they had a couple of inbounds which would take 40 minutes to clear and did I want to get in first and start the procedure immediately. I opted yes cos 40 minutes meant 40/4= 10 times around the hold!! and Id only planned to do 2. Plus I didnt bring a good book!! and an extra 8 holds would have been a waste of time and fuel. I went straight for the intermediate procedure by calling 'beacon outbound' then adopting the outbound racetrack course out to 7DME which is where we would perform the base turn. (7 miles offshore!!)

The winds were wild and changing and it looked like we had been blown north of the inbound track when we were supposed to be south. ATC gave us a few positional calls as they could see us struggling to regain the right track. We did it and I just about made my QFE height on the turn. Inbound I must have had 25-30 degrees drift angle. A wee bit more than the 5 degrees that the 2000ft wind was predicted to be. The NDB descent is in two easy steps.

ATC passed me my Missed Approach information which was to turn North and remain North of the M55 (to ensure separation with the inbound traffic) I flew at 600ft on the money to my MAPt which was the locator then turned left climbed and headed North. At the M55 I turned right and ATC wanted me to remain on that heading until their landing traffic was down. A go-around would have brought them into conflict with me. After they were clear I was told that I could route direct to Barton and I could advise when I wanted to change to my en route frequency. Martin said lets stay with them for a traffic service as long as we can.

Martin tuned Warton NDB and I tracked away on the 140 degree radial (QDR) +- 20 degrees of drift. The turbulence at this point really kicked up and it was a fun ride all the way back to Barton. After changing frequency Martin gave me an SRA to a long final approach to Barton Runway 09L. At 2nm I made a normal approach to an instructor assisted Xwind landing. WE used full rudder and full opposite aileron to a very respectable landing.

Top session. A nice one to round off my further training. My first NDB / DME approach. Lots of learning at the planning stage, again a quick change of plan and also quick changes in the air. My ADF tracking is coming along nicely.

22 - Further IMC Training - Refresher - SRA and Localiser/DME Barton

After a long lay off with a crook leg the crappy weather had arrived in Winter 2009. Perfect opportunity for some IMC re-fresher training!! Weather was OK some low clouds in the North West. I agreed with Martin that I wouldn't bother with the hood anymore. No-one else appeared to be flying.

We made an SRA to Barton after some instrument climbs and descents. Quite fuzzy but still accurate. It went just perfect. I'd practiced the RT the night before and that really paid off. the base legs were made in cloud so the realism was there. Hit the threshold bang on the money with the stop watch from 2nm in.

Next came a Localiser DME approach - All went tickerdy boo. We let down on 27, down to 600ft then on short final Martin just said 'full flap and land'. Bounced once but the nosewheel was well up and the speed was low. job done. I was happy since it was almost 6 months since I'd done any approaches.

23 - Further IMC Training - Refresher

Well I'd done the basic stuff with my last sortie. Wanted to mix it with the commercial chaps. Blackpool was on. It was a race against time as the weather was closing in. All went reasonably well. I remembered my setting up drills well and was ready for changeover at the right time. Warton had me. With just 10 minutes to run Warton stated that the Blackpool Radar was U/S!! Warton offered me procedural approaches which I readily accepted. (I always pre-plan these as well as holds because you never know what's going to happen) Plus the embarrassment factor of having to bugger off with your tail between your legs. I was ready for holds and procedurals on the active runway. They handed me over to Blackpool tower frequency. That was unusual suggesting either they didn't have the people to man the radar or something had failed. Anyway I bracketted the drift to BPL. The winds at 3000ft were quite strong.

I entered the hold using a parallel entry. For some reason I thought it was a right turn to track back in but my brain recovered some sense of minimal function to remember that parallels require a left turn back to the beacon inside the racetrack. The groundspeed was low 50's I think so we tracked out for a good 3 minutes to give enough room for the turn. During the planning phase I calculated a 45 degree offset angle on hold outbound. The books suggested a max of 30 degrees and that's what we were planning.

Blackpool wanted beacon outbound but gave me no permission to descend. Warton was active with Typhoons doing touch and goes. I know this because I saw one later on passing on my left side lining up for Warton on final. When the decision came I cut the power and went for max rate of descent. We just made it down to 1972ft on QFE at 6DME ready to start the procedure turn. Blackpool never asked me to report established so I reported it when the time came. I was at 7.2 DME and still had 1.2 DME to go. Again Blackpool only gave descent permission just as I reached 6 DME meaning things were a little rushed. Not the best approach I've made. I was abit one dimensional chasing needles but stayed roughly within limits for the IMC rating. Reported at 3 DME. Martin had me down to 200ft before going around.

On the climbout to 2000 QNH I noticed the wind had increased and our GS was down to 11 knots only!!! (this was at less than 1000ft and would have had some climbing errors but was still very low). Climbed out and left turned back to BPL. The next procedural descent was on the money. My approach was better although still abit of needle chasing; essentially I was fully established and stayed that way. Down to 200ft QFE and then on going around we managed to get a direct routing back to Barton. By now the weather had come in. Vis was poor and we were in driving rain. Good time to head home! gulp...seen the movie don't want to be in it.

I tracked the VOR; we switched back to Warton and I tracked away from it bracketting the drift. Great practice. I agreed with Martin that we would do a procedural localiser / DME let down to runway 27. I'd pre planned this as I always do in GBOIL and I bracketted then shifted MCT on the KNS80 to run in. All went well. Don't think my pre-calculated drifts were too far out. Great sortie. 1 hr 45 mins and I was quite tired but running on adrenalin. Ticked all my refresher boxes so I was happy to leave it until my next time home.

24 - Further IMC Training - Refresher in Spring 2010

Exactly what crappy weather days are for. I had a booking in the Yak but switched it to VA and an IMC refresher. Take off.... Much more sedate and controlled than the Yak. As usual with VA we are off the ground before the ASI kicks in.... I hold her down and on the climb out Martin gives me height and level instructions. I was reasonable pleased with my instrument work. Granted I was using 2350 RPM and it seemed to give me 85 knots all the way through. Next session I'll try and nail 90. Having done nearly all of my instrument work in India lima with its 160HP engine I'm having to shift my aim a little. The usual climbs and descents. Cruise climbs and max rate climbs. Checks before climbing.

We had a good look at the TC as it had a red flag during taxiing but was fine in the climbout. Rate one turns both ways so I could really nail the rudder, speed and level holding. I wasn't far behind on all this. Fairly soon over to limited panel and timed turns and rate one turns. I was happy with my attempts. I was using power variations all the time to get things nailed and heading the right way when they drifted. It was sometimes bumpy as we were close to CBs and sometimes the thermals required drastic power reductions or increases for short periods of time. The real thing.

We finished off with an SRA to Runway 20 at Barton. I was a little deaf on the RT but mainly comfortable with all my instructions and how to achieve them. Bang on with the SRA. Straight into SSC and a left base join for a full flap short field landing on Runway 27R. All went well. I left some power on which helped give a little rudder authority in the flare. A little flat ut I was at the backstop before the nosewheel touched job done. A useful refresher and nice to do it in VA.

25 - IMC Refresher Training - Pre- renewal training

The time had come to start thinking about re-fresher training, The air bottle for the yak was empty, VA still away for its annual. Someone had buggered off in G-Boil; GISHA to the rescue. I agreed with Martin to do some general handling in IMC (simulated) and do two Localiser DME Approaches to Barton's runway 20. GISHA old territory for me. Wasn't hard to go back through the checklist and get back into PA28s. I knew the speeds and flap settings by heart already. GISHA is a lovely stable platform. It was a very calm day and I flew very accurately considering I'd been away for a while. I was a little rusty on the RT but not bad by my own standards.

Both approaches went well. I stayed within 0.5 a dot although I flew higher than I should have done. For GISHA the cruise is 2250 RPM 95 knots and the descent at 500ft / min is 1900 RPM.

Finished off with a SSC 70 knots 2 stages left hand circuit. Was going to make a 55 knot short field but ended up at 60 knots over the hedge. I ballooned a little but she came down nicely. More booked so I can renew in February with confidence.

26 - IMC Renewal - VOR / DME at Barton

Real claggy day. About 3 km vis and about 1200 ft cloudbase although it looked less. Took off and Martin put me through my paces in GISHA, All the usual climbing descending turns on full and limited panel. VOR tracking POL, WAL and MCT. I am quite used to the Garmin 430 now. Its so easy. The cloud tops were at about 2500 ft. Winter hill poked out of the top. It was a fantastic view. There was enough turbulence in the clouds to make me concentrate. I think I did very well with the maneuvers. Martin did one unusual attitude which I recovered from well (down). The we set up for the VOR / DME let down on Runway 27R. A chopper came in ahead of us and reported a 500ft cloudbase.... wow this was going to be interesting. Headed south to join the 070 QDM. Once on it I could see the wind was blowing me right. I was a little late with all the checks however I kept good control and called base turn complete. I was a little high however it all worked out well. Just about saw the motor way. The 500ft estimate was good. Just when I saw Barton, I was about at 700ft and reasonably lined up Martin said he was satisfied and took control to bring her down. Great fun and under real IMC conditions too. Doesn't get any more realistic than that. Signed off. More IMC fun to come however :-)

27 - Further IMC Training - Holding/ NDB/DME at Blackpool - VOR/DME at Barton

Another real claggy day. No one else daft enough to fly in that only me!! No chance of bumping into anyone else. Straight after take off identified BPL and starting tracking towards it. Obtained Blackpool ATIS then called Warton. They gave me the tell tail squawk that they were going to hand me to Blackpool which they did. My RT was spot on and I just reverted to english for the controller who was having a little trouble understanding what we wanted to do. Plan was twice around the hold then into the NDB / DME procedure for Runway 10.. Low approach and go around with the missed approach procedure back to BPL then routing direct to Barton

I made sure I passed just to the right of the beacon for my parallel join. "entering the hold"... then tracked out with some drift for 3 minutes. Australian join. It soon became obvious that the wind was way higher from the South than prognosed so a 30 degree lead in to rejoin the inbound leg was cut short. During the two hold we had to cheat and fly some joining extending legs additional to the normal rectangular legs because of the diametrically strong wind. Learning points for me was the two main gates that martin was using to just the hold on the ADF as we were going around them. The '5' O clock gate ie ADF pointing at 5 o clock when you are just about finished with the downwind leg. Then when you are half way through that turn the +60 degree point on the ADF. If the needle wasn't where it was supposed to be then you could try and get a feel for what was happening. Another useful hate was the 90 degree gate when you were adjacent the beacon just starting the downwind leg just after the first turn. On both of ours were were not adjacent when starting the downwind leg (ie at the correct drift track). One complication of the procedure is the alternative downwind extension of the holding pattern (which was obviously deigned with Runway 28 in mind) The only way I could see that you could maintain positional accuracy was to fly your heading with no drift to see if the needle was at the 6 o clock (bang on track ) or offset telling you whether you were inside the turn or outside the turn. We had to run out 7nm and it took everything to try and figure out what was happening. One thing for sure that we were not where we were supposed to be. The wind was very strong even at the QFE height of 1568ft. I didn't call base turn complete until we had made a large correction to get us back on track after we had turned. Martin said that the coastal effect played havoc with the signal and it was not accurate anyway. I could see by taking a quick sneaky peak that we were offset and were perfectly lined up for the Pepsi max!!!! Anyway I corrected called Base turn complete and they told me to continue my approach. Then came the instructions thick and fast and I think I coped well with what was being thrown at me. The ATC was excellent and very clear and concise. I made the go around and was to climb to alt 2000 ft then turn back to BPL and report. I duly did so and then turned for Barton after Martin after we had done a Nrst to EGCB then he showed me how to make the VOR work for Barton, CDI button then OBS. Bingo it came alive and I tracked direct. . Blackpool radar kept with me. There was a controller change and it sounded like the drunken vagrant had finished his bingo session and it was chucking out time. Struggled to understand him. Anyway soon after I was back on Barton and preparing for my VOR/DME procedure. I did all the RT with Barton and loved it. It went off really well. Martin basically said go Visual and land it so I dumped flaps and did a very nice landing in G-ISHA. Great sortie. Martin said I flew to commercial standards. He did assist a little but I felt confidence and a real buzz that my IMC skills were becoming honed again. Very satisfying sortie.

28 - IMC Refresher - IMC handling / SRA approach to 09R to land

Perfect IMC weather - gave up any chance of Yaking and decided to wheel out VA for an IMC refresher. Always interesting in VA cos she ain't no IMC mount. Anyway with Martin onboard its like being bulletproof. He needs no GPS he just knows where we are. I used the foggles the whole way. I knew we were in and out of cloud. We were on Warton at 3000 ft in places. All I saw was grass to start and grass to finish!! He just gave me lots of twists and turns and I must saw I was on my game and stayed +-5 knots and +- 5 degrees most of the time. Then he had me talking to Rushbrooke Radar for an SRA approach to Barton. Martin did all the real RT so I could concentrate and fighting the leans which I had the whole trip. A very weird feeling. I can fully understand how an untrained or none confident VFR pilot could seriously loose it in IMC by needle chasing. I was finger and thumb today to demonstrate to my instructor/examiner/mentor that I was fully in control and I could handle the turbulence in cloud. The SRA went very well. I greased the landing purposely missing the bump and leaving some power on to smooth the landing to Martins approval. That's worth everything. Great use of what normally would be a bacon sarnie and bullshit day.

29 - Further IMC Training - Limited Panel / SRA to R20 to land

Again too crap for the Yak so back in VA for some more IMC refresher training. Limited panel with the AI and the HI both failed. A mixture of the leans and the TI on VA not being level in level flight had me working hard. Climbs, descents then climbing turns and descents. Timed turns in various direction. I was tending to overcook things a little, over not bad though. I was aiming for perfection. Two second lead in / outs.

Limited panel scan all radiated from the Airspeed - ASI - TC - ASI - VS - ASI - Alt - ASI etc etc

Revision of unusual attitudes with limited panel - Downward spiral dive. Power off correcting for Yaw, level the wings and pull till the Airspeed stops increasing - Martin had me take the foggles off top demonstrate that the planes attitude was exactly level when the ASI had stopped increasing. Finally meet decreasing airspeed with power to maintain 90 knots... VSI level. High - Climbing and air speed dropping.... Push first then add full power, when airspeed increases then level the wings - VSI at zero. Not really a motor skill with me yet.

Completed the sortie with an SRA. I estimated the headwind to land as 80 knots giving 90 seconds for a two NM run in. Descending from 1800 ft (hence 6nm). 80 knots gave 400 ft/min descent rate... In VA this was giving around 2100 RPM. I found it really helpful to keep my hand on the throttle so I could make very small changes to suit the descent rate. Predicting ahead for the staged drops helps and once you figure out the intermediate drop points, for instance, between 4nm (1200 ft) and 3 nm (900 ft) you should be passing through 1050ft at 3.5 nm. That way you can increase you accuracy.

We finished off with an SRA to Runway 20 at Barton. Went really well and I made a nice touchdown with full flap with some power left on. Great refresher on some unused skills. Great use of crappy flying days

30 - IMC Renewal - General Handling / SRA to R20 / VOR DME Procedure to R27

G-BOIL - old territory - Bit of a crappy day with rising winds and the risk of severe rain and weather. Onto Foggs on the climb out. Twists and turns; Limited Panel, Down on full panel and an Up on Limited panel. Turns timed and full. SRA to R20 went well. Talking to Barton Radar. 20 knots on the nose at 1800 ft (6DME descent) I kept it tight. Then off around the North West and tracked Wallasey VOR to get me onto the Procedure. Martin had moved MCT to Barton using the KNS 80. All went well. struggling with the wind an

TTTTQDD - Throttle setting for the first Descent, Time stop watch ready, Turn actually estimated almost no turn as we were on 090 degrees looking for 070 with a wind that meant hardly any changed, Talk would be beacon outbound, QFE set, Descent - positive rate had to be set up. Decent rate already calculated, Decelerate, not required as at light aircraft speed anyway. Once thing Martin recommended was to stop my turn and get established because the wind was compressing the turn. Good call. The wind had really got up there and now there was a 14 knot Xwind on 27. Martin dressed it up for a full flap landing in a max Xwind!! no pressure; Very large crab on, kept 60 on the clock and worked the power; determined to leave 1200 on over the hedge, Kicked straight with full rudder and 3/4 Left aileron, Martin wanted more so I was at opposite stops 1ft above the runway holding the nosewheel up. Landed beautifully. Certainly proves the Xwind limit is 14 knots actual... Any more and I doubt that I would have been in control of the landing. Logbook signed. Good to go for another 2 years :-)