Working Under The Hood

Today began and continued nicely. My instructor and I spent about 1.2 hours flying around to finish up working "under the hood" i.e. instrument flight only. I did fairly well and was significantly less stressed. I doubt I will be able to shake all of the butterflies, but this is a good thing and keeps me on my toes. In order to help limit my view outside of the cockpit, we had to MacGuyver my sunglasses using a bit of duct tape.

All I needed to go along with this get-up was a penciled in mustache. During our time in the air we completed several basic maneuvers including power on and off stalls, slow flight (i think I observed 27kts = 31mph at one point), standard rate turns using only the compass and a stop-watch, and some "VOR" tracking. VOR is in quotes b/c we were using the GPS, as the cub is not equipped with a VOR receiver. After tracking the Barrett's Mt. VOR we headed back to HKY.

The ride back was uneventful. I had to navigate to runway 24 using the GPS and instruments. Things are a little trickier when you can't see outside. My instructor was directing me through the altitudes to descend to. At about 9 miles out I called HKY tower to inform them I was inbound for a full-stop. During this transmission I neglected to tell the controller my location relative to the airport. Apologetically, I informed her that I was North of the airport. When should couldn't find me on the radar she asked me to ident the trasponder. After doing so she corrected my position report, informing me that I was more to the North-East. Lesson: ATC would like to know more detail. I called back at 3 miles out and received my clearance to land. After a 1.5 more miles my instructor allowed me to remove my "foggles". After removing them runway 24 was right in front of me.

A slight cross wind coming from my right greeted me as I made my way to the runway. For some reason I wanted to apply left aileron and right rudder, rather than right aileron and left rudder. This switch of controls must have been muscle memory from forward slips to lose altitude.

All-in-all today was a good day; even at work. I was less nervous and significantly more confident. Next flight: Solo x-country part two...