G1000 IFR training examples 12/2008

click the title to see the HD video on DailyMotion

Now it's Marijke's turn to get her instrument rating. She's planning to do her last 3 ATPL theory exams in January so it makes sense to prepare for the practical exam as well. As you might have read before, my experiences with Eelco as instructor and Wings over Holland where pretty good. No wonder that Marijke chose the same combination.

Due to mutual holidays the start up in 2008 is rather slow. There's no need to rush, since we are allowed to fly IFR together with my rating. I don't think either of us would go flying solo IFR just for the fun of it.

Marijke still has about 45 hours of instruction to go. Gives me the perfect opportunity to come along in the backseat. Especially in the winter months this should bring us a couple of new references in solid IMC conditions and/or dealing with lower freezing levels.

It also gives me the chance to follow the IFR training on video. Existing training video's are more desk based, with screen captures and endless ranges of buttons to push. I wonder how it would look like if we would show the IFR training elements on video from a real live environment. This video is a try out in search for the right format. Please let us know if you have additional idea's or suggestions that might improve the format.

You will still need some button-knowledge to able to do this yourselves. The practical use and the possibilities of the Diamond DA40 with G1000 however are clearly visible. And yes, I will clean the windows and the MFD/PFD next time. In this try-out I used sub-titles in stead of a voice over because it's easier to use the pause button on the video player to read them in detail if you need to.

I will just publish the recordings parallel to Marijke's IFR training, as it should have a logical sequence in it. Let's have a look at it afterwards to determine whether it makes sense to edit it into a more structured way.

The IFR training flight in this video is on December 2nd 2008 from Lelystad (EHLE) to Groningen/Eelde (EHGG) in the Netherlands. The weather is fine, with some showers and lower clouds. Freezing level is around 3000ft. We file 2000ft LLS DCT EEL DCT SO.

Reaching the Eelde TMA, the ATIS informs us the ILS is temporarily out of service. We here Danny of Eelde Approach saying it will be active again in about 10 minutes. So we start preparing for a VOR/DME approach for runway 23 first, based on own navigation in the direction of the holding at SO. We will make a parallel entry into the holding at 3000ft and will be ready for the approach after one full round in the hold.

After the VOR/DME approach we will perform 2 ILS approaches, one with maximum use of the G1000 & autopilot and one manually flown with a full stop.

In the meantime I have plenty of time to make pictures and videos of the training and of Eelde airport (and wave at Sander in school or in building B).

The video shows that we are asked to speed up the last one to enable a small training jet behind us to follow along. Although we did our best to expedite vacating the runway, the jet has to make another bonus round.

On the way back to EHLE you can see the weather getting a bit worse already as a first sign of the approaching occlusion from the west. Snow is predicted and Eelco clarifies that experiencing a snow shower is totally different from a rain shower. In a snow shower you will loose all visibility and you have a higher chance of disorientation. We got back to Wings well in time before the first snow showers hit the country; so we will save this for one of the next training flights.



Pancake Airlines Crew is trained by Dwarf Powered Gliders (http://www.dwarf.nl/) and Wings over Holland (http://www.wingsoverholland.nl/). Information on the PH-PCA Diamond DA40 can be found on http://www.pancake-airlines.com/. You can click on the title link to see the HD video on DailyMotion.