For the 2020 write-up, scroll down to diagrams to skip the narrative! (I won't be offended)
Two years ago I flew from Kingston to Cornwall in a Cessna 182 with great anticipation to do my Instrument Proficiency Check. I was flying in Visual Flight Rules (VFR) 5500 feet above the St. Lawrence river shoreline watching pretty puffy marshmallow clouds dot the landscape.
I was headed to Cornwall Aviation Flight School where the Instrument Proficiency Check was the take place. A check that's required every two years. The outcome of the test will tell me if I can make a trip to Richmond, Virginia under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) or Visual Flight Rules (VFR). Doesn't seem like much of a difference when it's a beautiful sunny day for the entity of this five hundred mile trip. But, I'll take instrument rules over visual rules any day for this flight due to airspace complexity.
You see, the flight path between Cornwall, Ontario to Richmond, Virginia puts me through the restricted DC Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) airspace, an airspace that's much easier to navigate under Instrument Flight Rules. This post isn't about that day two years ago, so I'll cut to the end: I passed the test and made an uneventful flight to Richmond, VA and back using a fresh renewal that was good for two years.
This morning, exactly two years later, I was headed to the same destination airport, to the same flight school, to the same examiner, knowing I was going to be tested on the same stuff the same way it's been with each renewal: I'll get a briefing for half an hour, jump in the simulator for an hour to go over what will be covered in the test, break for lunch and get the actual test over with in an hour. I've documented the 2014 test here, and the 2018 test here with nuances of the simulator and procedures.
It didn't matter how prepared I was for this test, it's still anticipation. In a simulator they could fail any instruments and change the weather any which way they feel like with easy keystrokes. The anticipation was high.
I thought there'd be nothing new to learn except going over the use of 1940s VORs (VHF Omnidirectional Range). The technology used to navigate and to perform hold procedures which pilots don't use much since the widespread use of GPS tech in the cockpit. Regulations still want you to be proficient with these "outdated" navigation devices. (I agree with the regulations - if you have these instruments in the cockpit, you must know how to use them. You never know when there'd be a GPS outage and you will need all the resources available to you for safe navigation.)
However, what came next were lessons that were far more valuable than outdated tech. There were lessons about rarely talked about qualities (one could even say outdated qualities in leadership): Empathy and Professionalism.
You couldn't help but notice how empathetic the instructor was. Not only did he say it was good to see me several times, but he made sure I got something just as valuable from my time - good 'ol professionalism and airmanship. He has 10s of 1000s of hours as an airline captain crossing oceans in planes that carry 100s of people. There was not even one whiff of arrogance. He treated me as a peer and showed how to construct an approach and mindset to aviation. I'm sure this was all there before as I've done this twice before with him for my renewals. Maybe knowing what was to come and being prepared allowed me to tune into the greater lessons that's been there all along.
No secret here about airmanship, there is no weird trick. Being organized, prioritizing workload and using the tools available so you can relax and enjoy the experience was emphasized. "Do this, you'll have more fun that way." was something he mentioned a few times. As examples - why sweat it when all you need to do is to push a button and let the avionics take care of it. Why focus on all over the map when all you need to do is focus on one aspect of the map and ignore all the other irrelevant info. This frees up your mental energies to get ahead of the airplane and be ready for emergencies. Yes, "You'll have more fun this way."
I've already covered the details of this flight test in two earlier blog posts (2014 and 2018) so this time I'm going to talk about airmanship and diagram each phase of this flight.
The only new things that were covered in this flight (which were not covered in 2014 and 2018) were three emergencies (1) Anticipate failure on the take-off roll. Airspeed dying or warning lights on an instrument. Throttle idle, max breaking pre-lift off. Runway remaining? throttle idle, land. Runway expiry, full power continue climbout. Know this is coming! (2) Anticipate instrument failures on other phases of the flight - you should be able to go partial panel - the key is to RELAX. (3) Recovery from unusual attitudes.
Now for the process - you should be able to right click and save image, or if on phone - touch and hold the image to save it to your phone (from there you can zoom in, rotate, etc.)
Departing CYOW 07 to Hold at the YOW VOR at 265 Radial
Leaving the Hold for the CYND Approach 09 VOR/DME Approach, Missed
and back to CYOW RNAV Z 32
and back to CYOW RNAV Z 32
I picked up a couple of things on map reading -
(1) The safe alt on the VFR/IFR maps is superseded by the safe alt on the approach plates for the quadrant you are operating in.
(2) Plate Readings
a. Departure plate: You are only concerned with the top rows (frequencies), and departure procedure instructions for the runway you are using and comm failures - READ them out, and setup your COMM and NAV instruments as you read them.
b. Nav Plate: You are only concerned with the Frequency for the VOR
c. Approach Plate: You are only concerned with the Frequency, MDA, Distances and Missed Procedures - read these out.
Put them away after each of those legs - use it like a checklist.
(3) Auto Pilot - I remembered hands off after lift off and pushing AP, then HDG, ARM and rotate UP/DOWN to change V/S. You don't touch the controls until you land.
(4) if you CHANGE ALT (rotate knob), HIT ALT (push button)
(5) If you HEAR IT or SAY IT, ENTER IT (hear ATIS pressure, enter it, say comm freq. enter it)
(6) Setup nav equipment pre-departure - VOR and GPS (be careful of gotcha - see reading on GPS unit if it says VLOC or GPS), BARO, ALT, XPONDER Code, program approach on GPS to same airport in the event of an emergency back to airport)
(7) VOR Radials radiate OUT, and HOLDING is always given as radial (this is the OUTBOUND leg) - so 85 heading is the inbound leg (to) which becomes outbound leg (from) crossing fix into YND from YOW VOR. So VOR 1 is to be set to 85 (inbound - to) and VOR 2 is to be set to 265 (outbound - from)
(8) Caution FROM and TO in the VOR - always set to TO when going to and FROM when going away from
It's a privilege to have flown with these examiners. The “work flows” these professional pilots employ are an excellent study. From how they look at the checklists and charts to how they interact with the equipment and crew and stay well ahead of the plane.
Starting with a learners mindset and paying close attention to pros furthers airmanship and professionalism. This took me back to my engineering days when a peer taught me how to solve complex math problems - mindset and frameworks matter.
Choose to work the smart way. By selectively ignoring you are more focused and get better outcomes. Don't get me wrong - knowing the entire charts inside and out as example, affords you the ability to focus on what's important.
Turns out this is really a lesson on strategy. We all have these charts in our line of work, and selective attention gives us greater outcomes. "Do this, you'll have more fun that way."
