Tuesday, October 11, 2011

My head hurts

Rough night in the sim. Different instructor.


I went first.


Departed from KPSP (Palm Springs) on 13R with the Cathedral 9 departure. Very busy departure with turns and climbing to avoid terrain. We briefed it using conventional (no FMS) navigation and how busy it is. On takeoff I was able to use the FMS but monitored the conventional nav as a backup.


Flew to LAX. Seavu Two arrival to ILS 25L. The ILS 25L has a ton of step downs. I've flown this approach several times over the last few months in real life. Piece of cake. Down to mins. No runway, diverting.


Headed to our alternate...KSNA.


I was at 5000 feet and cleared direct to the Seal Beach VOR. The FMS was now "inoperative"....old fashioned conventional navigation.


On the way to Seal Beach we were told to expect the Localizer Back Course Runway 1L approach.


I briefed the approach.


Crossing the VOR I will  descend to 3000 and track the 105 radial outbound to MAAGG which is 11.3 from SLI (Seal Beach). I have tuned in MAAGG NBD as a backup. I plan on flying 200 knots so I will turn 2 miles early to track the localizer outbound heading 194. (One mile per 10 knots works well for a 90 degree turn. )


After heading 194 I will fly outbound to 4.5 DME (NEWPO intersection) then begin a procedure turn and descend to 2000 feet. Once back inbound I will descend to 1700 feet until recrossing NEWPO then descend to 500 feet (MDA 480, we round up to the next 100 feet). I will then fly to 1 mile DME  which is the VDP (visual descent point) hoping you see the runway end identifier lights (no approach lighting system). If not I will  go around. The go around is climb to 800 feet, left climbing turn to intercept the 120 degree radial back to SLI.


That was the briefing. Took way longer to type than brief. Note if I shot the full approach and went missed there are two different frequencies and two different radials involved.


In a Piper Seminole I would use Nav 1 for SLI and Nav 2 for the localizer. In a jet Nav 1 is normally used by the Captain and Nav 2 by the First Officer. We would each monitor our own radios.


Crossing SLI I forgot to descend right away, caught it. The approach was going great. Made the procedure turn, descended to 2000.....then 1700....then 500. Runway in sight.


Short final an aircraft pulled onto the runway, "Go around".


Now when I was a CFI....and even when I was a student I was told to "fly the damn plane".


I announced, "Go around, set thrust, flaps 8, positive rate gear up" and began the maneuver. I saw the Captain complying with my request.


At 600 feet the instructor started talking to me in my headset asking why I wasn't calling for things.


At 800 feet I began my turn to the left and replied, "I'm flying the airplane first and giving the Captain time to catch up, rather than overload him with request."


The instructor kept talking stating I should have called for the heading mode and autopilot on while climbing.


I was still flying the missed.


Once level I called for the autopilot.


The instructor didn't like how I handled the missed. He felt I should have called for the autopilot at the first possible chance, then I could have turned the heading knob and swapped my own frequencies.


I agreed that I could have called for the autopilot, but I wanted to fly the plane first. He disagreed. I understood what he was saying, he didn't get what I was saying.


Next approach was the LDA to 19R.


Given vectors. Briefed the approach. Another busy missed.


There are multiple step downs.


The approach plate states if GAUER is able to be identified the MDA is 480. If not the MDA is 880. GAUER is 2.0 DME out or identified with a crossing radial. We had DME.


Normal approach. Half a mile before GAUER the Captain called the approach lights. I was fixated on descending after GAUER thus I didn't click the autopilot off right away.


That moment would come back to hurt me.


I saw the runway and began descending. I was high. On the way down I got a "sink rate" as I was descending too quickly. No way to land, go around.


Once again he hated my missed.


Here's my thinking.


When I was a CFI and even now when I teach the ATP RJ Course I give the student room to mess up. If I see them making a mistake that's not life threatening I let them work through it to see if they can correct it. If not then I ask them to level off and I either take the controls or pause the sim. Once they take a breath I discuss the situation. This way they aren't trying to fly the plane the way they planned while I am trying to correct them. I have found that when I interrupt OR when I am interrupted things go badly.


When I am interuppted and being instructed while trying to fly a procedure I shutdown. I become a puppet and will do whatever you state just to get through the moment. Reason being you are giving conflicting information to what I previously briefed (thus the other guy is expecting ME to do). In real life if something isn't right after beginning and approach....I am going to abandon the approach, climb and then discuss it.


During my missed he hated how I was flying through the flight director instead of calling for things to be done. With his talking in my ear I began to shutdown. I blew through my altitude by 120 feet. He paused the sim.


I totally understand what he wanted. I could have called for the autopilot early on and then been able to be more percicse. I am going to have to get out of my mindset of "flying the airplane first".


The biggest issue I had problems overcoming last night was not having the FMS. Going missed using the FMS is a one stop shop. The FMS will command all the turns at the right time. Yep.... I was a child of the magenta. I haven't done a full conventional navigation approach in a jet.......ever. In a Seminole yes. Jet. No. That's not to say I shouldn't be able to perform, just that I was rusty.


Simulator resumed. Back to a VFR approach. Done for me.


Break.


The Captain then shot the same two approaches. It was a bit easier since he knew what to expect and has 3000+ hours in the airplane.


The Captain then did a circle to land approach at a different airport.


Took off again. While level we lost all hydraulics. He flew the airplane while I ran the checklist. Emergency gear extension. Busy.


We discussed what would happen on touchdown. I would takeover the yoke for wind correction while he used the parking brake to stop (since we had no hydraulics we had no regular brakes).


It was very hard keeping the plane on the runway. It took us 9000 feet to stop. We drifted off to the left even though I had full right rudder. Done.


Tonight we practice ILS PRM approaches and GPS approaches with the same instructor. Off Wednesday and Thursday.


Good because my head hurts.


 

1 comment:

  1. I'll read this again in the morning and comment further.  At the moment, I'm sharing your seat (smooch!) and I'm really happy with "Just Fly the Damn Airplane."  -C.

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