Today I spent 1.5 hours with Harrison Ashworth beginning training for the instrument rating.  I have been reading the massive Instrument Training Handbook (which is very technical) for the past couple of months and wanted to apply reality to theory.  We flew .9 hours in one of the club’s Piper Warriors to re-acclimate myself to the Warrior.  I made 5 take-off and landings and then flew around learning about the GPS system in the plane.  We use the Garmin 650 heavily during instrument training.

After landing and securing the airplane, we went inside the club and played “video games.”  Not really, the club has an Elite Flight Training Device (computer simulator).  I can log up to 10 hours of training for the instrument rating through the use of the Elite.  I logged .6 hours just learning how to take off and make certain standard maneuvers required for the instrument rating, such as the two-minute, or standard-rate turn, cruise descents and different climbs.

After completing the Elite, Harrison gave me several more handouts to study to prepare for the next lessons.  Back to books I go!