That was the most fun I've ever had, ever. Cackled like a loon most of the way home.
Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, 13 knts crosswind so no circuits for me and wasn't sure if I'd get up at all. But nay, my instructor had other plans... it was time to don the hood.
So I spent an hour and a half flying on instruments, getting used to trusting them and getting used to the scans. I was pretty accurate, held my altitudes, headings went a bit squiffy now and then but caught and corrected. We practiced spacial disorientation, he asked me to close my eyes, then he flew it through a series of turns, descents and climbs and asked me to say what I thought the plane was doing. Of course I was totally wrong and it felt very discombobulating.
Once we'd gone through the basic manoeuvres he had me call up Newcastle radar and request basic service so we could get QDR + distance, then find the reciprocal on the chart so I could position myself. That's when things fell apart a little bit, trying to do the radio script, keep my instrument scan going AND find position on the chart. But it was cool. First time on the radio to ATC so a bit daunting but they were very nice. I was expecting a massively increased workload, but it's frightening how quickly the aviating can drift once the focus shifts onto navigating and communicating for just a short time without being able to see the ground. And it's exhausting!
Then the fun really started. Recovery from unusual attitudes with the hood on. Quick demo of the procedures and then it was up to me to correct the rollercoasters he put me onto. Spiral dives, steep turns at silly attitudes approaching the stall, it was amazing fun and we pulled some proper Gs. I could do that all day long.
I flew the approach and circuit with the hood on, FI calling out headings and altitudes, and then performed a very sketchy landing (with the hood now off of course). 3 weeks since last lesson it seems I've forgotten how to round out (also MAY have been the crosswind + brain finally giving up the ghost) but we'll be back in the circuit next week so I'll worry about that later.
It was properly rough on approach, and between that and the aerobatics with the hood on it triggered some pretty nasty waves of airsickness I haven't felt in a while! But who cares, I'd forgotten how much fun flying was outside of the circuit