"Instrument flying, I had concluded, is an unnatural act, probably punishable by God."
--Gordon Baxter
I flew my checkride for the Private Pilot Certificate in November 1994. It became clear to me immediately that to really make use of the ticket I would have to pursue and acquire the Instrument Rating. It wound up taking me only seven and one-half years!
I wanted to wrap up the FAA Knowledge Test before starting in on the practical "hands on the yoke" training that I would need. So as I gradually built up the needed total time and cross-country time, I looked for ways to get ready. I am the sort that really needs some kind of disciplined framework so I cast about for a course I could take. There was a false start when I signed up for an instrument course at a nearby university in 1997 or so, only to have them cancel it out from under me due to low registration. The next try was an on-line course offered by a large commercial training outfit. I sort of lost faith, though, when I found three wrong answers in the first two lessons. They clearly had a way to go!
In the Fall of 2000 I got serious, registering for the Instrument Ground course offered at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury, CT. The instructor was Dr. Greg Erianne, CFII who also acts as the Coordinator of the school's Aviation Science program. Greg is an outstanding teacher and instructor. Over about 25 lectures (working primarily with instructional materials from Jeppesen but adding other resources as needed) he gave us the intellectual foundation we needed to not only succeed with the knowledge test but also to understand what was happening when we got to the airplane.
Did it work? I took the knowledge test a week after the course ended and scored a 97. There is no way I could have done that well without Greg's superb preparation.
Now the clock began to tick. I had 24 months to get the training I needed and to pass the Practical Test for the rating. My regular CFII, Bob Parks, is a fine instructor and I felt that I could work with him all the way to the flight test - but events soon demonstrated that I would need to access other resources. First, shortly after I'd put the Knowledge Test behind me Bob was hospitalized with a fairly serious illness. It would take him some months to get back his medical. Further, I discovered how hard it is to align the airplane, the weather, the free time and the instructor in order to get in a lesson in the airplane. It soon became clear to me that I would need some sort of concentrated preparation. I looked into the PIC Course - where the instructor comes to you with his suitcase simulator and spends an intensive 10 days or so getting you ready for the examiner. But at least two of my friends had less-than-wonderful results with PIC and that put me off. I also considered a couple of programs offered at flight schools in sunny climes, such as Sporty's operation in Hawaii. I might go there and fly all day while my wife did the beach and shopping program. It might have worked but the logistical complexities were daunting.
Finally, an internet search on "instrument training" led me to the answer - Field Morey's IFR West Coast Adventure. One viewing of his web site convinced me that this was the way to go. For one thing, the program emphasized the importance of proper preparation. It also would clearly be "of the real world".
The problem was that Field Morey is a limited resource! He can only take two students on a trip and can only fly one trip each month. With well-deserved time off, that allows twenty seats per year, and some trips are his "graduate school" expeditions to Alaska - fascinating, but not for me! So it was with considerable disappointment that I discovered all of 2001 and most of 2002 was already sold out by the time I called. I put my name on a waiting list for cancellations without much hope. (In fact, Chris Drew - Field's able Office Manager - did call me about a February availability, but a previously scheduled vacation trip made it impossible for me to take advantage of it.)
My disappointment turned to relief, nay, elated excitement, when a subsequent visit to the web site revealed that in response to popular demand, additional West Coast trips had been added. The instructor would be Rich Morey, Field's son, who is a CFII of thousands of hours experience and an A&P Mechanic to boot. (The latter appealed to the engineer in me. I figured, accurately, that I'd learn interesting things about airplane systems from him.)
I called Chris immediately and signed on for the May trip. She quickly forwarded a preparatory packet that included Field's advice on how to prepare for the trip and a copy of the late Peter Dogan's Instrument Flight Training Manual as a reference. The recommended program of preparation is divided into ten "lessons" - several of which should be accomplished in the airplane while others can be done either in the airplane or in an approved simulator.
I called Greg Erianne to inquire whether the simulator at the College could be available and after checking that I still had student status he told me that I could use it. More importantly, he would be able to act as my CFII on the sim.
I started working with Bob Parks, under the hood in our Piper Archer II. We did basic attitude flying - level, climbs and descents, turns, climbing and descending turns - and did good ol' Pattern A and Pattern B. We did steep turns, some partial panel, and recoveries from unusual attitudes. I especially needed Bob's help with steep turns, where I was usually late getting the backpressure in and then would overcorrect on the recovery. Eventually he was able to hammer most of my bad habits into submission.
Meanwhile, I was going up to the sim once a week for an hour with Greg. We started by learning to fly the thing - it's really sensitive and you need to fly it all the time. Then we moved on to tracking navaids and intercepting radials for both VOR's and NDB's. We did holds with varying entries and then moved to approaches.
To the IFR cognoscente, it's a serious misunderstanding of instrument flying to think of an approach plate as a mere map for dropping out of the clouds in search of a runway. At the very least, a plate is a work of art and for the true zealot, it's a symbol of man's continuing struggle against the forces of nature.
-- Paul Bertorelli, 'IFR' Magazine.
In the sim with Greg, I started to develop an appreciation of how exquisite instrument approaches are. Everything on the plate is essential and nothing is left to chance. If you fly the course it indicates at the altitudes it indicates you will succeed - although success may be to find yourself safely in the missed approach's hold. Of course, at the beginning I over-controlled badly. But after a few weeks, Greg had me making small corrections and holding the localizer with turns within the width of the heading bug. He taught me to fly the heading and the descent rate and not to chase the needles. In our last session together, Greg had me in a hold and issued me a VOR approach, then failed the gyros on me, then failed the radios. With the cloud deck at minimums I managed to fly an ugly but adequate partial panel approach and land the sim "in one piece". I felt ready to take on Field Morey's West Coast Adventure!
A fierce and monkish art; a castigation of the flesh. You must cut out your imagination and not fly an airplane but regulate a half-dozen instruments . . . .At first, the conflicts between animal sense and engineering brain are irresistibly strong.
-- Wolfgang Langewiesche, describing flying on instruments, 'A Flier's world,' 1943.
I landed in Madison on a Tuesday afternoon and was picked up by the hotel's van. The next morning my partner on the trip, Jan (pronounced the Dutch way - "Yon"), met me in the lobby. Jan had his car there - he's from Wisconsin - and he drove us over to Morey Airport (C29).
Both Rich and Field Morey were waiting to greet us (as was Chris Drew) and we set to work fairly quickly. Field gave us both a briefing on some of the things we should expect, collected our licenses, medicals, test reports and log books for inspection, and gave us some warnings about some of the more popular ways to bust the check ride. The first of these was forgetting to start the timer at the FAF. That one was going to haunt me in the coming days.
While
Field took Jan to work in their Frasca simulator, I went out with Rich to meet
the airplane. We would be traveling with N6141T, a Cessna T182R - turbocharged
with retractable gear. Her avionics stack includes everything except weather
radar - a Garmin 530, an HSI, a Stormscope, an STEC autopilot with altitude
hold, and even TCAS! Her anti-ice equipment is limited to pitot heat and propeller
de-ice.
Rich and I went flying. We did a normal takeoff where he explained power management (the turbo is quite capable of over-boosting the engine) and then we went up to altitude so I could demonstrate some steep turns and a stall. Then it was back to Morey Airport to swap seats.
While Jan flew with Rich, I sat in the sim as Field had me demonstrate partial panel control and 90-270 degree turns. The sim has been carefully set up to handle as much like the T182R as is humanly possible and proved quite a bit easier to fly than the hyper-sensitive sim at the college.
My presumption is that the first flight and the sim work are there to allow Field and Rich to gauge whether you are sufficiently well prepared to make the flight. I guess they concluded that there was hope for me.
Thursday morning we got to fly together, with Rich, to do some approaches in the local area. I sat in the back seat first, while Jan flew both of the VOR approaches into C29 with misses and holds. It was a somewhat turbulent morning with the ceiling at about 1500 AGL. At about the second turn in the second hold it became clear to me that I needed to do something about motion sickness.
I've always been a little susceptible. If I am doing the flying it is never a problem even in turbulence. But a Dutch roll motion will get to me, I have a limited capacity for keeping my head down while a CFI sets up an unusual attitude and now, I know, a lot of motion in the back seat will incite gastrointestinal rebellion!
We landed and took an early lunch break and then after lunch I flew the same program as Jan had with no problem. Just to be on the safe side, we stopped at a drugstore on the way back to the hotel and picked up some Dramamine of the non-drowsy flavor.
We also got in some additional sim work, including full VOR and ILS approaches.
Jan flew first, from C29 to Charles City, IA (CCY) where he flew a missed approach then proceeded to Spencer, IA (SPW) for an approach and landing. Jan got some actual time on the first leg, of which I was jealous. But my turn came soon enough.
We ate our box lunches in the FBO's conference room at SPW and then it was my turn to fly.
After departure from SPW I flew to Joe Foss Field at Sioux Falls, SD (FSD) where Rich had me fly the NDB 36 approach, miss and enter the published hold. After a turn in the hold we went on to Pierre, SD (PIR) where I had my first real encounter with a DME arc on the ILS 31 approach. My glide slope control left a lot to be desired and Rich had his instructional work cut out for him.
Overnight in Pierre, we stayed at the Best Western Ramkota Inn and after check-in we met in Rich's room to plan the next day and to pick up our quizzes. There are five quizzes, 20 questions each. They help Field to focus the oral portion of the checkride and also provoke a lot of discussion. Some of them are very good!
Dinner was at La Minestra, a really very good Italian restaurant. I should mention that the deal on meals is that prior to departure each person picks two of the six days on the road out of a hat and then picks up the meal checks on those days. It's a good system.
We met at 0630 (as we did every morning) to go over the previous night's quiz and discuss any last minute changes in the flight plan. Then it's off to the airport. The schedule is set up so that the person who lands in the afternoon will be first to fly the next morning - so you get the airplane back the way you left it.
I took off from PIR and we made a brief VFR diversion for a look at the Mount
Rushmore Monument. Spectacular! Then we flew on to Rapid City, SD (RAP) where
I did an NDB approach and landed for a quick pit stop. Then we took off again
and I flew to Gillette, WY (GCC). There I got to do the LOC BC 16 back-course
approach with reasonable success. 
Jan took over and flew to Sheridan, WY (SHR) and thence to Billings, MT (BIL) where we stopped for fuel.
It was my turn again. After departing BIL we flew west, in and out of actual IMC at about 12,000 MSL. The turbulence was light to occasional moderate and we asked for (and immediately received) a block altitude of 11,000 to 12,000. We pressed on to Helena, MT (HLN) for the ILS 27 approach. Rich worked with me on glideslope control and it went a little better. Not wonderful, but better.
HLN sits atop a bluff with a cliff falling away at the arrival end of 27. You really don't want to be short! We had lunch at the pleasant airport restaurant, then Jan took over and flew to Missoula, MT (MSO).
MSO is up at the end of a valley. There was quite a bit of traffic at varying speeds and the controller was working hard to juggle the arrivals. He issued Jan a 360 for spacing, which he handled with aplomb.
We checked in to the Super 8 and, after planning and the inevitable quiz, went to The Depot for an excellent dinner.
The departure from MSO was Jan's and a steady rain was falling. But we soon left it behind and Jan landed at Lewiston, ID (LWS).
I took over the left seat and flew from LWS to Walla Walla, WA (ALW) where I shot an NDB approach with a miss and hold. For the first time, but unfortunately not the last, I forgot to start the timer at the FAF. Oops! Out of the hold, I flew on to Pendleton, OR (PDT) for an ILS. I was still having issues with glideslope control (localizer was fine) and once again, missed the timer (not a mortal sin on an ILS, but still bad form).
Jan
took over and flew us to The Dalles, OR (DLS) where we had lunch at a fine airport
café. Then it was on to Redmond, OR (RDM) with Jan at the controls.
I took off from RDM and headed us down toward Medford, OR (MFR) at 12,000 MSL. We started picking up light clear ice. Rich watched it carefully. The accumulation rate was low and we had outs in the form of the ability to climb (hooray for the turbo!) or to descend about 2,000 feet to below the freezing level. We had lost about 10 knots when we flew out of the clag and were cleared down to 10,000. The ice began to sublime immediately. Thence to MFR where I shot a VOR approach with a miss. At the miss we cancelled IFR and flew down the valley VFR to Ashland, OR (S03).
The overnight was at Ashland Hills, a most excellent hotel. Dinner at Alex's in town was another excellent choice. The Ashland area is beautiful and we agreed that we'd all like to spend more time there someday.
Memorial Day. We walked across the street for breakfast and planning, and ordered box lunches, as the restaurant where lunch would normally be was closed for the holiday.
I took off from S03 and picked up our clearance in the air on the way down
the valley toward MFR. We headed southwest toward California and the coast.
As we crossed out over the ocean we found the Pacific maritime layer present
in force. 
The ILS into Crescent City, CA (CEC) was actual almost down to minimums and the miss and hold were for real! I was still having trouble with pitch control on the glide slope and was getting really upset about it. Rich was great, kept working with me and assured me that it was just a matter of time and practice before I nailed it. I wished I had his faith!
After the miss at CEC we pressed on to Arcata, CA (ACV) where I shot the VOR DME 14 and we landed to eat our box lunches in front of the closed restaurant.
Jan took over and flew us down to Ukiah, CA (UKI) and on to Santa Rosa, CA (STS). At STS we had a fascinating chat with an A&P for one of the large fire-bomber outfits. They fly C-130's and DC-7's and we got to admire one of the -7's and talk about their massive Wright R-3350 radial engines.
I took her out of STS using my first pilot nav departure procedure (FREES5.PYE) and shot the NDB approach into Monterey, CA (MRY). Again I forgot the timer at the FAF. %$@*&!! This was getting irritating! We talked about the "5 T's" and I was writing, in big pink highlighter letters, "TIME!" on my plates. Oh, well, I'd keep working on it.
Jan flew us from MRY to Santa Maria, CA (SMX), where we just taxied up to the very nice Radisson Airport Regency. Dinner at the hotel was convenient and good.
When we got up on Tuesday morning the ceiling at SMX was 100 feet and the visibility was ¼ mile. The departure would be interesting. I few the BUELT1.GVO departure and we were on top at 1,200 feet. We flew down to Santa Barbara, CA (SBA) for an ILS with miss then on to Camarillo, CA (CMA) to change seats. CMA is home to the California wing of the Commemorative (nee Confederate) Air Force and we saw their beautiful old machines on the ramp - including the Curtiss C-46 Commando, "China Doll".
With Jan at the controls we flew on a TEC clearance to Hawthorne, CA's Jack
Northrop Field (HHR). There we visited the FSS on the field and got an excellent
in-person weather briefing. Back in the air, we continued to the John Wayne
Airport in Santa Ana, CA. This is really busy airspace, but ATC managed to fit
our small and slow aircraft into the flow with no apparent difficulty. I guess
anything done well looks easy! 
We switched seats and I flew the departure from John Wayne. In our first case
of ATC confusion, we were given a visual departure instead of the IFR clearance
we'd requested and the LA departure controller had to sort it out for us - which
she did, cheerfully and competently in about two minutes. The clearance she
gave us took us down to Chino, CA (CNO) where we had lunch at Flo's, a legendary
airport café, and admired the many classic airplanes on the field. It's a warbird
junkie's paradise.
I turned the left seat over to Jan for the long leg over the desert out to
Prescott, AZ (PRC). After a miss at PRC he flew VFR out to Sedona, AZ (SEZ).
What to say about Sedona?! The airport is on a mesa, surrounded by those red rock spires so familiar from Hollywood westerns. The Sky Ranch Lodge is a five-minute walk from the terminal and provides outstanding accommodations. Another minute down the road, an overlook provides superb views of the city of Sedona and the surrounding hills. The Sedona Airport Restaurant is one of the best on-the-field eateries I've encountered, several notches above the norm.
My early AM call to FSS revealed a minor problem. We planned a stop at the Cortez, CO airport (CEZ), but it was NOTAM'ed closed. This would require a change in plans.
Jan
flew the takeoff from SEZ and headed up to Grand Canyon (GCN) where he flew
a nice ILS to a landing.
We switched seats and I took off and turned East. We craned our necks for a view of the Canyon, but not too much could be seen - still, what we could see of the North rim, across the chasm, was spectacular. We flew up toward CEZ and were cleared to fly a practice approach to the closed airport.
After the miss, Rich took the flight controls and we performed our "aerial ballet". Jan sat in the left rear seat while I pushed the pilot's seat all the way back and twisted/slid into the right rear seat. Then Jan worked himself around into the pilot's seat and we settled in.
Jan
then flew the leg up to Telluride, CO (TEX) - the highest airport in the US
with scheduled air carrier service, at 9,078 MSL. Jan flew a good approach in
turbulence and circled to land in the opposite direction into the wind. On short
final we were hit by a sudden low-level wind shear. Rich took over and added
lots of power and drove us onto the runway. A great bit of airmanship!
For
the takeoff, the density altitude was 11,200 MSL. While I made the takeoff,
Rich handled the mixture and throttle. He leaned to maximum power and ran up
to full RPM while I held the brakes. After release and liftoff, he cautioned
me to stay in ground effect and let her accelerate. When we did start to climb,
we were getting about 350 ft/min. Just enough to let us climb on course.
Our route took us to Pueblo, CO (PUB) where I shot an ILS approach (I was starting to get it on the glideslope!) and we taxied over to Flower Aviation, the FBO. There we were met by a stunningly attractive "linebabe" who had all the tired (male) pilots smiling. Someone there understands marketing!
We had departed a little late from SEZ that morning because the hotel doesn't check people out until 0700. And, we spent more time on the ground at GCN than we would have at CEZ. The upshot was that we were quite late and the restaurant was closed. Bummer. However, we were saved from starvation when the Flower folks told us that they had some catered box lunches ordered for a corporate jet that had radioed in to say they were skipping the stop. They sold the lunches to us at half-price and they proved excellent.
Jan had the helm for the leg from PUB to Goodland, KS (GLD). There we repeated the "aerial ballet" and I took us into Lee Bird Field (LBF) at North Platte, NE via a partial panel VOR approach. Rich coached me on taking vectors and tracking the VOR in a partial panel configuration and it worked out fairly well.
We'd had lunch so late that no one was up for a dinner so we just walked over to the bar next door to the Hampton Inn and had an adult beverage or two then called it a night.
In a break from procedure, Jan took the first leg even though I'd had the last the previous day. He took us from LBF to a miss at Kearney, NE (EAR) thence to land at Grand Island, NE (GRI).
I took over and flew to Lincoln, NE (LNK) where I flew an ILS that was actually quite good! My Dad was stationed in Lincoln at a USAAF base during WWII, so my missed approach included a silent salute to his memory.
The ILS at LNK worked out really well - my glideslope control was excellent and I really wanted to do one more at the next stop, Omaha. But Rich felt that I had that under control and that I really ought to do another NDB approach at OMA. Somewhat reluctantly, I agreed. At Omaha, I flew a really slick NDB approach. Everything just right. Nailed the altitudes. The runway was right there when Rich told me to lift the hood. Then, as we rolled out on the landing Rich asked, "How'd your time work out on that?"
Arrrgh!
Of course, I hadn't hit the timer start at the final approach fix! I was devastated.
After all these months of effort; after thousands of miles with Rich and Jan;
after thousands of dollars of expense it all came down to whether I could remember
to start a timer! What was I going to do? Jan took over for the flight to Waterloo,
IA (ALO). I sat in the back, silently adding up all the things I could do to
reinforce the necessity of starting the timer on timed approaches. I knew that
if I couldn't deal with it, Field would rightly bust me on tomorrow's check
ride. I reviewed the approach plates for the Madison area and annotated all
of them with "TIME!" markings. Then, I resolved to relax and just try to get
it right when it mattered.
Rich offered a key piece of advice. He asked me what I was looking for after the final approach fix. The mantra is supposed to be HAL: "Heading - Altitude - Looking for" and I said I was looking for the MDA. "Wrong!", he said. You are never looking for an altitude (that's part of the "A" in HAL). You are looking for an event or a fix. If you say "looking for" to yourself and all that's left is the MAP, you are probably going to start the timer! I started to try to embed that concept in my subconscious.
We landed at ALO and had lunch at the terminal restaurant. They have a really good tuna sandwich. Then I took over the flight controls for the last leg of the trip. We filed direct C29 and when in range we dialed in the Madison VOR and went partial panel. I flew the VOR-B approach in to Morey Field on partial panel vectors with reasonably good results and Rich took the crosswind landing on their narrow runway. We were back!
Since arriving in Madison I had logged 24.9 hours as PIC, including 20.4 hours simulated instrument (hood) time, and 3.1 hours actual instrument time. I had logged 20 instrument approaches. I was ready for my instrument rating check ride - if I could remember the timer!
Instrument flying is when your mind gets a grip on the fact that there is vision beyond sight.
-- U.S. Navy 'Approach' magazine circa W.W.II.
When we had arrived at C29 on Thursday afternoon, we'd done the preliminary work of filling out my application for the instrument rating. Field, who'd be my Designated Examiner, gave me a look at what the checkride would consist of. After the oral, we'd fly to Mineral Point, WI (MRJ) where we'd shoot the NDB approach, miss and hold. Then some airwork and a return to Morey Airport (C29) where we'd do the VOR-B partial panel with miss and hold (full panel to an intersection hold) and then to whichever ILS was active at Madison. Then back to C29 for debrief.
I got to bed early, but woke up at 0400 with visions of approach plates and timers dancing in my head. Well, I could be as tired as I wanted after noon - I just had to be sharp in the morning.
Rich picked me up at the hotel and we got to Morey Airport just before 0800. By this time I had a raging case of check-itis. Field had the quizzes I'd completed on the West Coast Adventure and most of the oral focused on the questions I'd missed (about 10 out of 100). He seemed satisfied with my responses and said, "Just let me know when you want to go flying." I rechecked the weather (it was fine, clear skies and light winds), went to the head and pre-flighted the airplane. Then I told Field, "At your convenience, sir."
We departed Morey Airport's Runway 30 and climbed to 1900 MSL. I raised Madison Approach and they responded, "I see your going to Mineral Point today." I copied the clearance. The NDB was already dialed in and I identified it. We drove over there at 4,000, while I monitored distance from the Madison VOR to gauge when I'd arrive. The approach was sloppy. I started the timer too soon (before completing my outbound turn) and thus did my procedure turn early. At MRJ the beacon is on the field. Before I got down to MDA I was through the beacon! But I recognized this and went missed immediately and headed for the hold, so the situation was never hazardous. Field said, "Take me back to Morey Airport", and I set up a heading and called Madison Approach.
Field had covered the vacuum instruments and I requested vectors for the VOR-B approach to Morey. This was the same approach I had flown the day before with Rich. I did an OK job on the approach. The banner headline is: I REMEMBERED THE TIMER!! I think it finally sank in. I actually remember saying, "looking for MAP time".
As we missed at Morey, Field gave me back the gyros and we went to the hold at IMMES intersection. The entry wasn't perfect and I got a little off on to the unprotected side, but I recognized it quickly and corrected. After one turn, Field said "Ask for the ILS 36 at Madison." I requested the approach and got vectors.
The localizer came up and I tracked it at 2,700 MSL to pick up the glideslope. The glideslope came down and I pulled the throttle to 15" MP and pitched to a 500 fpm descent and worked like hell to hold it. I kept up a constant dialog with myself on heading and descent rate, referenced to course and glideslope. The OM went by and I started the timer (Yay!).
Down we went, holding the localizer, holding the glideslope. When we got really close I was right on the localizer and maybe a dot-and-a half high on the glideslope. As the middle marker sounded Field said, "Take a look." I flipped up my foggles and there sat the most beautiful runway I'd ever seen.
"We'll just do a low pass here and then call the miss," Field advised. As I went through the mantra - "Climb, Clean, Cool, Course, Call" - Field asked me to tell approach we'd like to cancel and go VFR to Morey. Approach concurred. On the short ride back to C29 I flew in silence. Had I satisfied Field? He made some small talk and I hoped that this indicated that he accepted my performance. But I couldn't be sure.
I asked him to stay with me on the landing. Narrow runway, crosswind, more airplane that I'm used to. He asked if I'd like him to take it - oh, yes! I watched a master land as beautifully as an airplane can be landed. We taxied back and shut down. Field asked me to get out the plate for the Mineral Point NDB approach so he could show me what I'd done wrong. I did so; he explained about the timer and the turn - in retrospect it was obvious.
Then he said, "Let's go inside and make you an instrument pilot." In a fraction of a second I went from concerned to elated. Thanks to my instructors, Bob Parks and Greg Erianne and Rich Morey, and my partner on the trip, Jan Bol, and to the encouragement I'd received from my friends and the understanding of my lovely wife, I had reached a milestone I had sought for nearly five years.
Now, about that Commercial Pilot rating...
Created: Tuesday, 3 June 2002