IFR Check Ride

Log Book - 6/17 C172 KOTM Local 3 1.5

The day finally arrived and as you can guess I was very nervous. I had been watching the forecast the last few days and noticed that is was supposed to be hot, humid and a strong SE wind. Today arrived and it was just as forecast when I looked out the window at 6:45 this morning. The wind was already swirling and it was already in the 70's. I checked the weather and there was a small disturbance making its way across the midwest part of Iowa. It was scheduled to get here about the time that I was ready to depart at 11:30. I headed out to the airport at 10:45 knowing that I would be the flightline guy and have to fuel the plane. Things weren't looking good for me getting out when I wanted as that small disturbance was making its way towards IA24. I checked radar and called the examiner to tell him that I might be a little late as I might have to wait out the storm. I was able to depart after it passed and actually got there on time. I was going over the notes (my oral cheat sheet) when the DPE arrived. We exchanged pleasantries and he told me to give him a few minutes and he would be ready. He got things ready in the conference room and asked me to come in when I was ready. IACRA info was done and it was time for the oral part of the exam. I was given KOTM-KSUS for a flight to plan and when I was finished we discussed my flight plan. During the discussion we talked about several parts of the flight, including whether an alternate was needed, the different things to look for on the approach plates to determine if it can be used as an alternate, etc. We then spent several minutes going over approach plates. We discussed basic weather briefing and had me read and current METAR and TAF for an airport. After that we got into a discussion of the standard 6-pack of instruments and which ones were powered by the electrical system and by the vacuum system. The pitot and static systems was discussed what you would expect if the pitot tube was blocked or the static system was blocked. We discussed what items were needed for IFR flight above and beyond the minimum VFR instruments. We then took a few minutes discussing regulations and how many approaches, etc needed to be done. After that, we checked the aircraft logs to make sure the altimeter, transponder, static systems and the VOR's had been checked in the last 30 days. The DPE felt that there really wasn't anything that he needed to discuss with me anymore so we started the discussion of what we would do during the flight portion of the exam.
Three approaches were going to be done after we took some time for climbs and descents to heading and unusual attitudes were flown. After that he would give me vectors to the ILS 31 then directly into the LOC/BC 13 to the missed approach hold and follow that up with a partial panel VOR 31 circle to land 13. The winds were horrendous 15014G24 so I knew that there was going to be some definite crabbing to keep aligned with the approaches. That also meant a steeper than normal 400-500fpm descent on the ILS approach and 600-700fpm descent on the non-precision downwind approaches. We took off and when we had climbed through 500' AGL I handed the controls over and put on the Foggles. After getting the controls back I was instructed to turn left to 090 and climb to 2500'. After I was to 2500' and trimmed I was instructed to fly heading 150 and climb to 3000'. Once I was at the heading and altitude it was time to do some unusual attitudes. I was directed to close my eyes and look down while the plane was put into an unusual attitude. After what felt like 30 minutes and being on a roller coaster ride I was told to look up and recover the airplane. I was given a nose high climbing turn to the left. I advanced the throttle and pushed the nose over and maintained wings level. The trim wheel had also been adjusted because it was trimmed nose high so I had to adjust that as well. Once I was back at 3000' and on a HDG of 150 I was directed to see how well I was able to keep the plane level by using my ears only. After about 30 seconds I was able to look at the instruments to see how I did. I was at 2950' and at a HDG of 120. Not too bad that I had only lost 50' and 30 degrees on the heading. After I got back to 3000' I was given vectors for the ILS 31 (Link located below) approach. I was directed to fly HDG 290 and maintain 3000' until established on the LOC and I was cleared for the ILS 31 approach. I was doing real well on the LOC and GS although it was a real steep descent for an ILS to keep the GS needle pegged. I was descending between 700-800 fpm and was getting bounced all over the place with the gusty winds. This approach was flown to minimums and I was instructed to climb to 2500' and start the LOC/DME BC 13 (Link located below) approach. I started climbing to 2500' and twisted the OBS to 132 and waited for the DME to click up to 12.4m. Once I was there, I started the timer and maintained my heading to keep the LOC needle centered. Once 2 minutes arrived on the clock it was time to start the procedure turn. Knowing the wind was going to push me to the north I used 250 as my heading on the outbound leg of the procedure turn. After 1 minute expired it was time to turn inbound on the procedure turn and wait for the LOC to center. This approach was working out good as shortly after I was wings level on the inbound leg, the LOC needle started to center. I gradually turned to a heading of about 150 and looked at the LOC to see if I had selected enough of a crab angle to keep the needle centered. I was doing really good considering that the LOC BC gives you the opposite indication on the needle. Once I was established on the LOC I descended to 2400' and waited for the DME to wind down to 12.4m. Knowing it was a strong headwind, I knew that I didn't have to do the normal dive for the runway which is typical for a non-precision approach. I passed 12.4 and started my normal descent around 500-600fpm. I got down to MDA with a mile to spare before the MAP and held the altitude waiting for the DME to get to 8.4m. Once there, I called missed, started my climb to 2500' and proceeded direct to the OTM VOR which is the actual published missed approach procedure. As I was about 4 miles from the VOR, the DPE asked what type of entry that I was going to use for the hold. I told him that a teardrop entry was best and he agreed. As I approached the VOR and was ready to start the teardrop entry, I hadn't given the wind any thoughts and how it was going to affect the hold. After reaching the VOR, I turned outbound on a heading of 078 (45 degrees from the outbound heading) and started the timer. For starters I should have used an outbound heading of 093 (30 degrees from the outbound heading) instead of the incorrect 45. Once my timer reached 1 minute I started the standard rate turn to the right and waited for the VOR needle to move to get aligned on the 303 radial inbound to the VOR. Well that is when all hell broke loose. My first mistake was the initial outbound turn to start the teardrop entry and the second mistake was not allowing for the strong crosswind drift. As it turned out, my incorrect heading associated with the wind had me outbound perpendicular to the VOR rather than 30 degrees. This is when I started to sweat and had to think in my head that I needed to get back to the VOR and start the hold. Given that I was a little over 1 mile NE of the VOR, I started my standard rate turn to the left and centered the OBS to get back to the VOR. Once I passed the VOR, I used the correct wind drift entered a parallel entry to the hold. You would be amazed when you use the correct drift heading how easy these really are. After getting back into the hold correctly, the DPE had me do a hold and once we were again established inbound and we crossed the VOR he had me fly a heading of 060 and maintain 2800'. We flew for a couple of miles and then I was told that we would do one more unusual attitude. I had my eyes down and the DPE changed the OBS and also put me in a left turning descending spiral. I was given the instructions to correct the problem which I did by pulling back on the throttle, leveling the wings and pulling back on the yoke. After I had leveled back to 3000' I was told to fly direct to the VOR and start the VOR 31 (Link located below) approach. I centered the needle after adjusting the OBS and made my way towards the VOR. When I was about 1 mile from the VOR, my vacuum pump failed. Oh no, I just lost my attitude indicator and heading indicator. No reason to panic, I had just learned a lot from my previous botched hold to know that I needed to correct for wind drift, so this approach wasn't going to give me any problems. This approach was probably one of the best of the day. I felt real comfortable and at about 100' above the MDA I was told to remove the Foggles and prepare for a circle to land approach. I called on the CTAF that I was on the approach end of RWY 31, and that I was going to overfly the airport and enter a left downwind for RWY 13. Things went well as I had the airplane trimmed and the RPM's set for 90 knots and that I couldn't descend below 1260'. I have always maintained a small cushion for my circle to land approaches so I circled at 1300' and waited until I was on final before I descended down to land. Upon landing we taxied back to the FBO.
After shutting down the engine we sat in the plane for a few minutes and we discussed what the DPE liked and didn't like. I will start with the bad first:
• The ILS approach was good but he could tell that I wasn't comfortable with the descent rate at 700-800 fpm. We were 1 dot below (which meant I was too high) on the glideslope the entire approach.
• The wind drift correction that I failed to use on my missed approach hold. I had a moving map GPS that I was allowed to use except for the partial panel work, but my ego got in the way and I decided to remove it from the yoke. After the fact, he mentioned that any device that I can use for situational awareness should be used if you are comfortable using it. I was comfortable with it and will use in for future flights.
• He felt that on my circle to land I should have used the same steps that I always use when setting up for a landing. While I typically will add one notch of flaps on downwind and the 2nd notch on base, I didn’t add any flaps until I was on base leg. I explained that I thought anything extra that I was doing that didn’t need to be done can wait and that I was comfortable landing the airplane with no flaps if needed. I didn’t feel it was necessary to add any more tasks when doing a circle to land approach. His thoughts on this were if I was flying a retractable gear airplane (which I fly the Arrow and he saw that in my logbook) that if I didn’t keep the same steps during downwind, base, etc. that it could be a situation where I might get to complacent and forget the gear.
And now for the good:
• While I mentioned above the non standard descent rate on the ILS approach because of the downwind he said that I did good in mentioning it to myself out loud before I the hit the FAF. (he noted the ground speed during the ILS 31 approach was 115 knots and during the LOC/BC 13 was 67 knots)
• The LOC/BC approach was flown real well as several of his applicants forgets the reverse sensing LOC needle.
• While I really screwed the pooch on the initial hold, I did very good in not allowing it to get to me and that I did good in correcting it the next time.
• He said that my partial panel approach was one of the best that he had seen. 8^)
We then headed back into the FBO and he asked me for my logbook and pilot’s certificate. I was hoping that this was good news and it was. He came back and handed me my temporary certificate and told me to check to make sure the address and everything was correct and if so, that I could sign it. I did so and felt a huge relief came over me. I was feeling nervous that I wasn’t ready but my CFII insisted that I was one of his better students and that he was more than comfortable sending me for the checkride. My endorsement from my CFII came as I had 40.0 hours of instrument time. After a 3 day delay, I went with 41.2 hours in my logbook after going up for another training flight.

http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/OTM/IAP/ILS+RWY+31/pdf
http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/OTM/IAP/LOC_DME+BC+RWY+13/pdf
http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/OTM/IAP/VOR+RWY+31/pdf