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 training flight, the author experienced a series of missed approaches and a diversion due to their flight instructor incorrectly setting the localizer frequency.
This navigational error led to a high-stress situation, requiring a diversion to an unfamiliar airport without proper charts or GPS, contrasting with the wife's successful landing with her accurate instructor.
The author emphasizes the critical lesson of maintaining teamwork and avoiding panic between student and instructor, even when faced with significant in-flight errors or unexpected challenges.
The incident also raised concerns about the instructor's qualifications (not a CFII for instrument flight) and the incorrect logging of actual instrument time.

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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