Ajax BU

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum; I found this site while searching for some instrument training pointers. I'm always looking for some good advice and in my book its worth asking for help wherever I can get it.

So here's my situation: I was in my second year of a 4 year school majoring in aviation science. I started my flight training the fall of my sophomore year and quickly progressed through my private license. I then started up instrument with little trouble, eventually passing my 2nd stage check (at my school instrument training was divided into 3 stages--(1)basic instrument flying;(2) holds/approaches;(3)instrument cross-countries). At this point I was feeling really confident in my ability to fly approaches both partial and ful panel. Then my situation quickly turned around.

My university school did the flight training at a local technical college, and their instructors and staff always had something against us (the chief flight instructor frequently referred to us as the stupid pilots, especially when we were studying an accident--he said the pilot must have been one of us). I tried to look past it and focus on my school and flight training until one day the chief flight instructor saw me in the hall and remarked about how slowly I was progressing. I informed him that I had just passed my 2nd stage check on instrument and I was pleased with my progress. Without a response, he walked away and I got a call the next day--I had no instructor.

So I waited around for about a month before I got another one. We flew at most maybe once a week for a month or so before he left, and then the chief flight instructor refused to help me get another instructor. I waited for 6 months waiting for an instructor before I decided that it was a lost cause and I decided to finish all my classwork and come back to flying at another flight school.

So, 2 years after I finished my private I have finally been given permission (along with many other students facing similar situations) to change flight schools. At this point I am done with all my classes, and only need to focus on finishing my instrument. I just took the written, and my approaches and holds are for the most part pretty good. However, this morning when we tried a partial panel VOR. I knew I was going to be rusty, but I was WAY behind the airplane. I felt so embarrassed because I had done so well up to this point and now I feel I really looked bad in front of my instructor. I kept apologizing to him after we landed and promised that I would do much better the next time.

As of right now I am going through the compass errors on the ground, and practicing partial panel in flight sim(microsoft, not a frasca). I am also looking over the checks I do on each leg.

I am really committed to getting better, because the guy that flew this morning is not the pilot that I know I can be. So I was hoping that there is something that some of the CFI's around here can help me with in regards to the partial panel work.

Any tips that you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Pilotpip

Sounds like you need to find a new school. You're paying a lot of money. You shouldn't have to put up with crap like that.

As for the instrument. That is hardest rating for most of us. The only way to really get back up to speed, is practice.

For that, I really liked having access to a Frasca or other FTD. You can get much more done in an hour in a sim because you're not waiting for ATC. The instructor can throw a lot at you and when you screw up, start over from the top right away versus burning .2 on the hobbs flying back to the IAF.

Sounds like you're doing everything right. The instrument rating is the only one where I think Flight sim has a positive transfer to the aircraft. Keep practicing partial panel and compass turns there and you should see a quick improvement in the flying.

Ajax BU

Thanks for the response, and yes I have changed flight school. I really feel that I wasted so much time and money at the older one. I changed from a 141 to a 61 school and the instructors are so much nicer (they actually care about the students here) and the planes are much better. At this school I can ask any instructor a question without being told "why the [f-word] should I answer you?" which actually did happen at the other school.

The one down side to this school is that we don't have frascas available, so I have been trying to do whatever I can in the Microsoft simulator with a vacuum failure. I have noticed that my compass turns and my holding pattern entries have become horrible since I was at the 141 school, but I think two years away from instrument flying will do that to you.

I don't think my scan is my problem, though. I do very well until we do partial panel. I was thinking about making flash cards to help familiarize myself with the compass errors again. By this I mean, -30 for 360, -20 for 030, -10 for 060, 0 for 090...+30 for 180 etc. These are for my latitude though, I do know that depending on your location these can change.

ppilot

In my opinion, trying to gauge compass error to roll out of a turn on a heading is a bad idea, except to teach one time so a student can roll very roughly out on a proper heading if they forget to start a timer. I'd never have someone turn to a 60 degree heading using a mag compass.

You should be timing all turns partial panel. It's much, much more precise. Again, just my opinion. Is your school making you do this sort of thing without timing?

fjetter

Don't forget you can also do timed turns in no gyro conditions. Often they are just as accurate as accounting for compass errors.

All in all it sounds like you made the right decision to tell the first school to shove it. No student should ever be treated like that. Aviation is a small and twisted business where someone could be your student one day and then your CA years later, giving that student crap years ago all of a sudden seems like a bad idea.

Ajax BU

I was originally taught to only do timed turns for small adjustments like 10 degrees or so. But I have generally had better results when I just timed them as opposed to looking at the magnetic compass and trying to overshoot or undershoot it by the perfect amount.

Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely focus on this more next time.

Edit: I just wanted to point out that I'm not a bad person/student. Just about all of us that attended the 4 year university were treated poorly, except the girl students. My roommate passed his end of course (basically a mock check ride) and didn't get his check ride for another 6-7 months--not a scheduling issue either--a check ride that he failed because of being rusty. I had my 2nd stage check with the instructor that refused to help me, and my instructor was worried about how he would treat me. So, I decided to beat him at his own game and leave nothing for him to fail me on. I did 3 ground sessions with my instructor grilling me on everything possible for an oral test. I started that stage check with my instructor shaking my hand and telling me that my knowledge was more than sufficient for a check ride; however the check ride instructor failed me within 5 minutes on the ground. I went up two weeks later with another instructor and passed without taking another ground session or even a flight with my CFI.

I just wish I would have left there LONG ago

Ajax BU

I just wanted to thank you guys, I took your advice and practiced what you had told me. This morning I went flying with my instructor again and we did partial panel approaches from start to finish and in my instructors words I did "100% better".

I also made my own little IAP checklist for each leg of approach which helped keep me ahead of the aircraft and seemed to lower my workload.