Pilot Life: IMC in the Cherokee

So last week, there was a little setback as the Cherokee had some engine maintenance that had to be done, meaning that some of the flights I was supposed to do last week had to be pushed back until today; I also have some polishing up to do as far as procedures and personal habits are concerned, hence why I have flown out of Albany for nearly two weeks now. I'm hoping to get a checkride done by the end of the month (here's hoping!). As for today, I went up again with my usual instructor and shot some approaches into Corvallis and we even got some actual IMC conditions!

Getting some actual instrument time in N98241!

After doing the pre-flight and walk-around in the rain, we hopped in, got the engine started, and taxied out. We picked up our IFR clearance on the ground via phone with Cascade Approach before getting airborne off Runway 34. Once airborne, we flew the obstacle departure procedure out of Albany towards Corvallis and got into radio contact with Cascade Approach; from there we got radar vectors before proceeding with some full-procedure approaches all the while keeping in mind the improvements I needed to make (I have made it my personal mission!). We first shot the VOR 17 approach into Corvallis via the DME arc; we were in and out of the clouds throughout the flight.

As per the usual, we went missed before requesting the RNAV 17 approach via the procedure turn back to Corvallis. Again, we went missed after shooting the approach down to minimums. We were then going to shoot the approach back into Albany, but my instructor decided to cancel on our way down during the second approach into Corvallis due to time constraints, so we flew back to Albany VFR. We made an uneventful landing on Runway 16 after approaching and descending down to traffic pattern altitude and taxied back to the ramp.

Following logbook entries and a debrief, we called it good. As far as polishing up and kicking some personal habits go, today's flight saw quite a bit of progress and improvement since my mock-checkride with the chief flight instructor two weeks back. I fly again tomorrow (weather pending!) and I'm hoping for a repeat as well as continued improvement when personal performance on my part is concerned!