This morning the airplane is in for maintenance again. I'll spare you the gory details, but I've got the feeling that if I ever show my face at this FBO again, the woman behind the counter will giggle and say 'Hey, everybody, that tire guy is back'. The weather is crummy, too. At first I was disappointed that I'd be missing my first chance at some actual, but now that I've called flight service and made myself aware that there are gusty winds and some heavy precipitation showing on radar, we wouldn't be up there anyway. How 'bout that - I just made my first IFR go-no go decision! See, nothing is wasted, least of all the simulator that is in the hotel room and getting some serious use.
By 1:00 PM, this is starting to get old. I study for a while, sim for a while and study some more. The rain is heavy, meaning I can't bicycle except perhaps for the parking garage. I go out to grab a sandwich, and come back to the room to hit the books.
Then, back on the simulator for some more practice. I'm still occasionally making stupid mistakes, but my control and scan seem improved. I get several ILS that look okay (including one where I'm so pleased about how well I'm keeping the needles centered that I follow them right into the simulated ground) and a couple of VORs. I grab my pile of Post-It notes, and block out the DG and AI for some partial panel work, and try the Concord VOR 12 again. It actually holds together. Glutton for punishment that I am, I take a stab at an NDB partial panel. It sort of holds together, although I have to go back to the beacon once to get re-established. I'm partially helped out by the fact that the simulator has the world's best magnetic compass. It never sloshes around, and it shows no acceleration or turning errors. I try to more closely simulate reality by ignoring it in turns, which is easy to do because the fact that it reads backwards is already confusing me.
Dinner is some Chinese takeout (not particularly good) and a walk to the Lexington Public Library, a very nice one, indeed (the aviation section wasn't bad, either). Then back to work. Some sim, some study from the guide, and so forth. By the time the night wraps up, I've put 6 hours on the sim.