Flight Lesson 2

Jumping back in

After a very long absence, I started flying on instruments again. This time was unlike anything I’ve done before; this time I flew a simulator. The simulator is programmed to model a variety of general aviation training aircraft, including the Cessna 172. Unfortunately, it doesn’t model them all perfectly. Even so, it is very similar to the real thing.

I started my simulated flight at Boeing Field in Seattle, just like normal. Christian asked me to intercept and track navigation beacons, which I did. As I intercepted the heading, I initially turned the wrong way and tracked to the station instead of from the station. Christian threw me a curve, and I fell for it. Many students get this wrong the first time because they hear the heading, but ignore the to/from part.

Eventually, I arrived over the Paine VOR near Paine Field, in Everett. I entered the holding pattern and circled three times before being cleared for the ILS full procedure. The ILS procedure went well, until on my decent. I was descending through 1000 feet when the plane made contact with something. I was very confused, so I pressed the pause button and asked Christian what went wrong. It turned out that he had a setting wrong, so he reset me 10 miles back and I tried again. This time, everything went fine.

The final task was to get back to Boeing Field. I flew west until I intercepted the localizer, then turned inbound for the ILS approach. I broke out of the simulated clouds at 300 feet and saw the runway straight ahead. Luckily, I was out of quarters at this point because flying instruments is hard work, even in a simulator!