That’s my sad slug for flying under simulated instrument conditions, night time flying, and doing recoveries from unusual attitudes. When combined, these three activities equal some serious fright (yes, it’s a sad pun, but deal with it).
Simulated instrument flying is flying around with a “hood” or view limiting device on your head so that you can only see the instruments in the cockpit. That leaves me with no idea where I am and following the directions barked out by the CFI behind me. It is a bit disorienting to fly this way as I feel lost and a bit off kilter the entire time, but it is to remind me not to ever fly into clouds or other instrument-like conditions.
Next up is night flying. This is a bit similar to the instrument flying, but you can kind of see lights and the outlines of stuff on the ground. The challenge is, at least in the Bay Area, that there are these pesky mountains that get in the way of your airplane. So it is very easy to fly into one (or a cloud) at night. And landing is a bit of a trip, also, since it involves heading for a dark spot in a town with only a few lights around the edges of the runway with no real depth perception.
Finally we have recoveries from unusual attitudes. It is exactly what it sounds like: the plane gets into some state where it is climbing, banking, stalling, or falling in a way that it shouldn’t, and then I have to do the right things to get it out of this condition. But the way you get into this sad state is the kicker: I am asked to close my eyes, take my hands and feet off the controls, and put my head down towards the floor. The instructor puts the plane through some violent maneuvers and then says “look up” and I have to fix it. All the while, my brain and inner ears are telling me that things aren’t what they appear to be and I have to learn to trust the instruments in front of me and not just what I’m feeling.
This training, along with the cross country trips, supposedly moves me closer to the final testing and sign off for a private pilots license. Let’s just see if I can make it through the next few recoveries without losing my lunch.