Flying under the hood.

Today was the day I started my instrument training. This training is done by flying the plane by only looking at the instruments. They accomplish this by putting a hood over your head that looks like a bizarre visor. It blocks your view out the windows but lets you see the inside of the cockpit.

I took off and got us up to 3,000 feet heading north. My instructor took control of the plane and had me put the hood on. Once it was on he turned the controls back over to me and man, it was very disconcerting. I was in a plane at 3,000 feet traveling at 90kts (100+ mph) heading towards Mount Sugarloaf and I couldn't look out the windows.

He had me do some maneuvers like a 360° turn and a few altitude changes. Then he said, "Let's teach you how to navigate the old fashioned way!"

The "old fashioned way" is a series of transmitting antenna scattered around the country called the VORTAC system. These antenna transmit a signal that aircraft can track. One such antenna is located in Chester, MA and it's called, appropriately, CHESTER. I set the VOR receiver to 115.1 and picked up the signal.

From there, it was simply a matter of keeping the plane pointed at the VOR in Chester.

Once there, he had me raise the hood so I could see the antenna as proof that I actually did it right. Once I passed over the antenna, he said, "Pull the hood back down and let's go to Barnes out in Westfield."

I set the VOR to 113.0 and navigated my way to Westfield.

Once we crossed the airport in Westfield, we turned north and I made my way back towards Northampton. As we got close, he took control of the airplane and I took the hood off. Much to my surprise, I could see the airport and we were at the right altitude.

I settled into the pattern and landed perfectly

Not a bad day.

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