Going Around

Most instructors get their "Certified Flight Instructor - Airplane" license first, and add "Instrument-Airplane" or "Multi Engine - Airplane" advanced ratings sometime later.  Not me!

I now have a Temporary Airman Certificate on my wall, for Instrument Instructor.  And I'm taking classes (almost done) and taking instruction (likewise) to get ready for a check-ride to add on the Instructor - Airplane" rating.  It's the American Flyers approach, although the reasoning seems a little hard to understand.  Still it works, and works well.

All the others are using the AF Cessna 172 and 172 RG airplanes.  Since I have my own 172 equivalent (the Sundowner), and a complex airplane (the Bonanza) in my temporary possession, I have decided to train and take the test in my own airplanes, and using my own flight instructor (Instructor Anne).  She knows me and my airplanes, and she's less expensive than the AF instructors Evelyn and Manny that I did the CFI-I work with.

The Bonanza's going to be a little tricky, one of the required landings is a power-off 180 degree precision landing, which in the Bo requires that I be much closer to the runway than a normal pattern.  Still the Practical Test Standards don't say that it has to be from a normal pattern, or that it has to be a surprise.  I will just have to explain to the examiner that it needs (for safety) to be done from only 1/2 mile out.  The Bo sinks like a rock without power, and twice as fast with the wheels down.

But the Sundowner is a sweetly handing airplane I know well, so I have been practicing the commercial maneuvers I did last year (all still good) from the right hand seat, and trying out the private pilot ground maneuvers that I haven't performed since my check-ride in 1991 (not so good).  So at least I know where to focus - the private maneuvers and some right seat circuit work in the Bo.  I think I'm almost ready........