I’m starting to get a little bummed.
I have 15.7 hours of hood time (including 3.5 PP) and 12 instrument flight lessons in the books. I feel like I’m below average in my progress.
The last 2 lessons were VOR and localizer holds.
Here are my suckage points:
*Altitude - every flight I seem to have 2 or 3 episodes where a change in configuration gets me out of trim, and then I get fixated on a task/disctracted and I’m 100 ft off, sometimes as bad as 200.
I've had the same problem in the past. It's a flaw in your scan -- you need to keep scanning around the instruments, even when you have a task like tuning a radio or programming your GPS. It's hard, and it's the first skill to deteriorate when you've had some time off from handflying in IMC.
To make things easier, you don't have to scan the altimeter every time. If you have your AI set properly, and you keep the bar right on the horizon, then you're probably not climbing or descending (much); just include the VSI and ALT once in a while to confirm.
Altitude is never "set and forget", especially if you're leading with the trim.
*Holding - easy to get distracted and “forget” to start my turn.
Buy the noisiest $5 kitchen timer you can find at your local hardware store and attach it to your yoke. In a high-workload environment, don't count on remembering to look at a digital display somewhere on your panel. You won't forget if the timer is screaming at you.
We end most flights with an approach-
*I got below glide slope by half scale 2 flights ago.
*Heading - once or twice I’ll get distracted and lose track of the localizer by about half scale.
Same thing -- scan, scan, scan. As early as possible, figure out what
heading is keeping you on the localiser, and hold onto that heading like glue. Ditto for whatever RPM is keeping you on the GS. The AI will tell you if the wings are level, you confirm regularly that the heading bug isn't moving, then once in a while you confirm that the heading is keeping you on the loc and the RPM is keeping you on the glidepath. If you're actively chasing the needles like a sword fight, you'll lose your approach as soon as anything pulls away your attention.
And now my VFR landings are starting to suck because I’m used to being on final at 90 kts IFR, vs my VFR 70 and 60 on short final. Just more discouraging on top of the IFR suck.
Yeah, my VFR landings went all to hell while I was doing my instrument rating. I celebrated after getting it by visiting a lot of short, grass strips and reminding myself of the fundamentals. They'll come back OK, but it's understandable that your focus is on the IFR approaches to big runways right now.
My CFI tries to be encouraging, but he’s also noted that I need to be getting my altitudes nailed at this point.
If you nail your scan and attitude, you'll nail your altitudes. Give yourself time, and be patient. BTW, your scan and attitude flying is an easy thing to practice on a home sim like X-Plane, FlightGear, or MSFS -- just make sure you add in some winds and turbulence to make it realistic. And if you want distractions, get a family member to keep coming in and bugging you while you're doing it.
Be kind to yourself. You've already proven you're a serious, committed pilot by working on your instrument rating. You'll get there, and it doesn't matter if it takes you longer than some other students (remember the old joke: "What do you call the person who graduated last in their medical class? Doctor.")
