IFR Training

Hello folks. This finds me one week into my IFR training at Stewarts Aircraft Service in Waynesville, Ohio. So far it has proved intense and challenging just like I was told, but also rewarding. There is nothing quite like flying all the vectors given by the instructor, dialing in all the approach frequency's and radials and following their indications, following all the specified minimum altitudes and looking up at the missed approach point to see a mile of runway in front of the plane. I am flying between 2 and 3 times a day. So far we have covered partial panel flying, VOR holds, intersection holds, VOR approaches, localizer approaches, ILS approaches, GPS approaches, NDB approaches and procedure turns. All under the hood, meaning that there is no visual reference to the outside of the plane. It's all flown on the cockpit instruments.

 A random picture of my CFI during ground school. 

 The maintenance shop hangar at Stewarts. Super cub, Pawnee and Pitts. 

 Another hanger full of high performance aerobatic aircraft. When I get big I'm going to........

One of the Piper Cubs that is used for training. This specific one is the one that I learned to fly in 2 years ago

I was able to log a couple free hours of complex time in this Piper Arrow. The guy who I'm staying with is a CFI and he was taking it somewhere and offered the left seat to me. The best part is flipping the landing gear lever up after takeoff!

 Then we flew it out again to take some fuel out to a guy that ran out and had to deadstick into a grass strip. Turns out that the fuel pump guy didn't shut the cap properly and it all siphoned out in flight. Happy ending to what could have been an ugly accident. 

A fuzzy picture of me under the hood. The red light is the cockpit illumination light.  

 Beautiful sunset 

 Helping to launch gliders. The towplane is a Piper Pawnee being flown by my CFI.