IFR 2 - Chasing it

We spent some time briefing this one and decided that the best use of time would be the ILS/DME 1 into Rome (RMG - I-HBQ), followed by a simple VOR/DME A (RMG) into Cartersville and finally an ILS 27 (I-RYY) back home. Pretty straight forward with no apparent tricks, as long as I stayed ahead of the aircraft. I didn't.

The departure was uneventful and the climb to 4500 went fine. I had the 284 from RMG dialed into #2 Nav, Localizer with 007 in Nav #1 with GPS backing up the approach. I chased the needle a little bit inbound, but the rest of my air work was solid. The holding entry to approach was straight forward(right turns - parallel) and I looked good at the initial approach fix (IAF). It went down hill (in more ways then one) from here. I intercepted the glide slope normally, but started chasing the needle for heading. I should have picked a course to fly and let the needle correct, instead I kept chasing it all the way down. Pretty ugly

Missed was fine, back to holding at RMG (left turns - teardrop) , but I was late doing checklist and getting Navaids set up for the VOR into Cartersville. Just plain ugly. Busted mins, chased the needle, overall just worked way too hard. Circle to land went well, and the landing was great.

Picked up radar vectors for the ILS 27 back home. Had to just fly straight for awhile...gave me a chance to think ahead. Everything was set by the time I intercepted the final approach course. I flew course this time, calling out the corrections to myself all the way down. This worked well. Took the glasses off at mins for a beautiful setup for landing. I blew the landing.

Hard, hard workout, but a great training flight. The course covered 165 miles. My cockpit organization is lousy, my procedures are rough, but I'm optimistic. I can do this...and it is REALLY fun!

Time 1.9