Flying IFR - Lesson 27 - IFR Approaches Holds Partial Panel And Bumps

So I had Sara as my instructor today.

Sort of a mock Stage III checkride but I'm not Stage III yet.

So we had N6288J.

The sky while finally VFR after the last few days of constant rain, decided to be decidedly not smooth for my flight.

Lots of bounciness around, including an un-commanded 60 degree bank to the left which was a bit sporty.  Also we hit a bump in the air so hard we both left our seats but managed not to bash our heads on the roof - yay seat belts!

First we went to Flint where I did the ILS 27 approach with full procedure and it went ok, then did the published miss and hold and boy did I bugger that up.  Got way behind and it did not go well.  Need to work on my hold entries - I get the theory just fine, its figuring out how to do it in practice that is causing me issues.  Need more hold work.

Then on to the VOR 18 Circle to 27.  Went rather well, but started off with some confusion as first they vectored us a bit, then they had us start, then Great Lakes Approach decided to vector us some more, then said direct to the first waypoint so the start was a bit of a mess.  Once I got that sorted out it worked well, and learned a bit on circle to land procedure as well to improve that - in short, you can descend below the circle to land minimums when you're on base for the landing runway and shouldn't do so before.   Went missed but I would have had the runway made.

Then back to Pontiac for the Localizer  Back Course 27.  Sara was very helpful by turning off the Attitude and Heading indicators so I go to use the compass and the other instruments to get back, get vectored to the approach and do the approach.

The compass sucks for flying headings by the way, especially when the world is bouncing around.  It tends to bounce around with it and its hard to know if you're on course or not.

Also lots of fun holding your altitude, pitch, and bank with no Attitude Indicator.

But I did it well enough anyways, and remembered and announced the backup VOR would be reverse sensing the back course (you have to fly opposite the needle to get on course rather than flying to the needle) and flew it in nicely to final if a bit high and to a nice smooth landing.

A few other minor things to polish up on, but overall a good if bumpy as heck flight.

That's 1.7, 1.4 simulated IFR, 3 approaches and 2 holds and a whole lot of bumps.