After finishing graduate school in Jun I resumed my instrument training (finally). I did a few flights in a RedBird sim and then did an XC with my instructor recently. We flew KJYO -> KECG (precision approach) -> KEDE (non-precision approach) -> KJYO (GPS approach). I was under the hood most of the time and was much more tired than I expected when I got home.
I have a bad habit of not eating or drinking much before flying and I am pretty sure that 5-hours of flying dehydrated me.
On the return to KJYO we were hoping to get the COATT4 STAR which would have been a first for me. Unfortunately, KIAD got busy and had a commercial flight do a missed approach so we got vectored to the west and almost up to MRB before we were sent in.
In general the flight went well but from now on I am not under drinking/eating beforehand. As usual, every flight is a learning experience one way or another.
I bought an iPad a few months ago and decided to try using it as an EFB for the XC. I bought ForeFlight and have been very impressed with it. It gathers and aggregates everything that you need to know for planning, filing and actually flying. I recommend giving it a try if you have not seen it. The only issue that I had with the iPad was that I did not have any way to attach it to my kneeboard so I fumbled with it whenever I wanted to use it. I think I need a yoke holder for it or else some way to secure it to the panel next time.
