Eblo

Hoodwinked!

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On 12/22/03, I did hood work with my instructor. As I think I mentioned before, the hood is like a huge-brimmed hat that keeps you from looking outside the airplane. The point is to get used to ignoring the sensory inputs from your body in case you should happen to fly into Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC).

Very soon after I put the hood on, it was very clear to me why such practice is required and how untrustworthy your body can be. In straight and level flight, it usually feels like you're listing one way or another for any number of reasons. The tendency, then, is to turn slightly in the opposite direction, which takes you out of straight and level flight. Things can quickly go downhill from there if you continue to trust you inner ear and not your instruments.

I think I did pretty well, though - I maintained a pretty good instrument scan (you don't rest your eyes on any one instrument for more than a few seconds), and usually corrected any deviations quickly but smoothly. Brice had me do many turns (90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 360 degrees) in both directions.

I also worked on climbing and descending turns. Those took some getting used to. The point is not necessarily to get to altitude and complete the turn at the same time, and in fact, it seemed to be easier to roll out and level off separately. There's a lot to keep track of when trying to both at the same time.

One problem I had more than once didn't have anything to do with executing the maneuver - I couldn't remember what altitude/heading Brice had told me just 30-90 seconds ago. I wasn't that rambunctious in college, so I don't know where my short-term memory went. Though this isn't the first time I've noticed problems. After all, that's why I keep a Palm handy. When I can remember where I put it.

Brice must have had confidence in me, because he vectored me all the way into the downwind leg for landing back at Campbell before he had me take the hood off. It took me a few seconds to get my bearings because I really didn't know exactly where I was. I knew I was close to the airport because he'd had me descend to TPA (Traffic Pattern Altitude), but I didn't think I'd be abeam the numbers when I could finally see again. But landings are getting to be fairly routine, so it wasn't much of an issue to put it down safely.

Yet another good lesson.

[Ed. note - This was entered on 1/4/04, but I'm dating the entry for the date of the flight for archival purposes]