Instrument Flight 31: Hold as Published
I finally got to do a lesson in real instrument weather today. Lakeland was 2300 scattered, low enough to bring out the instrument crowd, but not enough to deter the usual weekend VFR traffic. The place was a zoo.
Our intent was to practice holding and an approach or two if we had time. (I misread the schedule and got to the airport late, so we had less time than usual before my instructor’s next student was due.)
We got the holding we requested, and so did everybody else. At one point we were at 3000 feet with other airplanes holding over the same area at 2000, 4000, and 5000.
This was the first time I had held with other airplanes. It was also the first time I flew in clouds other than on cross country flights. I was hoping to get to fly an approach in it, but when we asked for one, we got convoluted holding instructions instead.
We were told to “hold as published” in an area where there is no published hold. They wanted us to hold on a certain radial, but said so in a way that even an ATP couldn’t make sense of it. We got half an hour of IMC, so the lesson was worthwhile even though we didn’t do an approach.
Today: 1.1 hours instrument time
Total: 2.6 hours IMC time
Total: 50.5 hours instrument time
