Staying Okay

Im fortunate my wife wanted to learn to fly when I decided it was time for me to learn. We shared (and truly understood) the emotional highs and lows experienced by each other during our three-month journey to the private certificate. July 5 of 2004 was very foggy. Our instructors were bored, so they called us to see if we wanted to do some actual IMC. We jumped at the chance. At this point I was six weeks into my training, Id soloed and done one cross-country, but I didnt know what an approach was. The forecast was 800 overcast for the day, so all was good for an ILS return. I took off first; my wife was 10 minutes behind us with her instructor. After VOR tracking and other exercises, it was time for an approach back into home plate. My instructor "remembered" the localizer frequency, but never identified it. He reviewed the plate as I flew the vectors provided by ATC. Once I was on course, he took the controls.

Editorial Staff

Monday, February 23, 2009 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

During an early IMC flight, the author and his instructor faced a critical situation involving multiple missed approaches and a diversion due to the instructor incorrectly setting the localizer frequency in low visibility.
The stressful event contrasted with the author's wife, whose instructor correctly identified the localizer, enabling a successful landing.
The author emphasizes the paramount importance of pilot-instructor teamwork and maintaining composure, even when the instructor makes errors, to manage challenging flight situations safely.
This incident served as a profound lesson on verifying navigation settings and highlighted the significance of proper instrument flight training, especially as the instructor was not a CFII.

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July 5 of 2004 was very foggy. Our instructors were bored, so they called us to see if we wanted to do some actual IMC. We jumped at the chance. At this point I was six weeks into my training, Id soloed and done one cross-country, but I didnt know what an approach was. The forecast was 800 overcast for the day, so all was good for an ILS return.

I took off first; my wife was 10 minutes behind us with her instructor. After VOR tracking and other exercises, it was time for an approach back into home plate. My instructor “remembered” the localizer frequency, but never identified it. He reviewed the plate as I flew the vectors provided by ATC. Once I was on course, he took the controls.

I watched everything he did, but understood very little other than flying a heading