Half Way Point

February 12, 2012

I like to think that today was the half way point in my instrument flight training. We began to solely focus on approaches. I studied all my approach plates and charts, and learned how approaches are done before today's lesson.

I arrive at the airport and it's a beautiful clear, sunny day with a cold mild wind. It's been two weeks since my last lesson, so I'm more than excited to hop in the plane. With the preflight inspection now complete, we listen to the AWOS (Aviation Weather Observing Station) which is located on-site. With the winds coming from the northwest, we could either takeoff from runway 27 or runway 36. I chose runway 27 because it was closer to the direction we needed to fly.

Today we were only working on approaches... for the first time. To keep things a little more simple, Mark said we'd be practicing approaches at uncontrolled airports. By doing that I wouldn't have to talk with ATC, which meant less stress. After takeoff, I put my foggles on, then Mark gave me instructions to fly a heading of 240° and at 1500ft. We're on track to follow the approach in to Creve Coeur (1H0) airport. Mark continued giving me headings before giving me the "ok" to track the VOR-A approach to the airport. Below is a picture of the approach plate I used for guidance. My course is drawn in a red line, with the larger circle being where we came from, and the smaller circle being 1H0 airport.

Photo of the AOPA Approach Plate for 1H0

The only thing we did differently was following the altitudes it requested. If you were actually flying under an instrument flight plan, you would be cleared to enter Lambert's class B airspace, however since it was just a practice day, we could not enter. So we kept low and clear. After one approach, we started flying northeast to head back home.

We track to the St. Louis VOR station, then continue heading north so that we could set up to do a VOR approach into my home airport. We could now climb without violating Lambert's airspace, so we flew up to 2500ft. We used the TOY VOR and the STL VOR to find our location. With the needle on my instruments lined up with both VORs, I knew we were at the first intersection. I continued flying outbound for one minute, then turned to a heading of 243°. I flew that for one minute, then made my procedure turn to the right. I no longer needed to use the TOY VOR, so my attention went only to the STL VOR. When the instrument's needle lined back up, I could follow it home. The needle tells me which direction I need to fly. Below is the approach plate for this approach.

AOPA approach plate for the VOR approach to KSET

The chart can be difficult to understand, and I'm certainly still learning how to read it. But the top collection of red arrows is the course I flew. The bottom set of arrows is a close up of the approach. It tells me what altitude I need to be at, at certain points of the approach. Since we did not want to land on the runway it required, we did what's called a circling approach. We flew over the airport, then basically circled back around to land on runway 27. We needed runway 27 because of the wind direction.

By now, the wind was a little breezy and bumpy at low altitudes. I did not care for my landing, and since we were done with the lesson early, I asked Mark if I could do one more landing. He didn't mind, so away I went. After flying the pattern around, I felt that my setup was better. Feeling more confident this time, I made a nicer landing.

For the rest of Stage 2, we will be doing approaches. Some using VORs, some an ILS or Localizer approach, some with DMEs (distance measuring equipment), etc. There's a lot of different approaches, and I'll need to know them all. We will also continue to practice holding procedures, and doing missed approach procedures. Eventually I'll start practicing them at controlled airports.

I actually had a lot of fun today. By time I drove home, I was ready to go fly again. The fun part of instrument flying has officially begun.