Pilot Life: Flying on Instruments

Time to pick up flight training where I left off. I'm in pursuit of an Instrument rating and it's time get some serious flying in. I got back together with my flight instructor this afternoon to practice some more instrument flying. Before the flight, we did some ground instruction going over some instrument approach procedures that we would be doing at Provo. Once the plane became available I did the pre-flight and we put fuel in the tanks. We then hopped in and got the engine started up.

Flew in N968CT to log some serious simulated instrument flying hours!

After doing the run-ups, I taxied us over to Runway 30 and we got airborne. After getting airborne, my instructor took the controls from me and had me put on my foggles; now I was really flying on instruments! This was an opportunity to practice my scanning techniques and get some really precise flying in without visual cues. My instructor also took over the radio communications so I could concentrate on flying on instruments; he got in contact with Salt Lake Approach Control and they gave us radar vectors. We flew out west towards Fairfield and the Fairfield VOR, which would serve as the initial navigation point for when we would make our approach to Provo. After tuning into the VOR, my instructor had me track to it. Once we reached the Fairfield VOR, the first thing we did was a holding pattern. My instructor had me circle the Fairfield VOR to practice a hold, which was circling pattern (as its name implies).

Eventually, we were cleared to make the ILS (Instrument Landing System) 13 approach into Provo. We were instructed to contact Provo tower, which my instructor did. A quick listen to the latest ATIS information at Provo however, indicated that winds were favoring Runway 31. In this case, we had a chance to perform a circling approach (commonly called "circle to land"). We continued on the ILS 13 approach until we hit the published minimums for the approach. From there, my instructor had me come out of the foggles and the next thing I saw was that we were lined up for Runway 13. We were then instructed to circle to land for Runway 31 by the tower, which I did by maintaining the minimum altitude and veering to the right parallel to the runway; this was the circling approach to Runway 31. From there, I made my normal descent and went through the checklists until making a good landing on Runway 31 followed by a touch-and-go and getting airborne again.

After getting back in the air and above the prescribed minimums, my instructor had me go under the foggles again. We exited Provo's Class Delta airspace over I-15 heading northbound and my instructor called up Salt Lake City Approach again. He tried to request vectors for the RNAV GPS 13 approach but we were unable to get them due to winds favoring Runway 31. Instead we elected to climb to an altitude that would put us well-above Provo's airspace and my instructor would have me practice holding patterns over the Provo VOR. Once at altitude, we turned back southbound and tracked towards the Provo VOR. Once we crossed over, we initiated a standard turn and did several laps around the holding pattern; my instructor walked me through and helped me where needed.

Satisfied, we finally headed back towards Spanish Fork, where we landed and called it a successful flight. My instructor was happy with my performance and I logged some very beneficial simulated instrument hours in the process.