Sounds like you did well, but there is an alternate way of interpreting
the VOR that would avoid exactly the type of situation you got into. I
have a description of the method on my website:
http://131.238.38.204/~sarangan/avia...or-article.pdf


Wizard of Draws wrote in
news:BD172E07.166AB%jeffbREMOVE@REMOVEwizardofdraw s.com:

July 11, 2004 7:30 1.8 hours
Instrument flight test (oral passed 6/25/04, no flight test per WX)

Today was the 4th rescheduled test date, with yesterday afternoon
being weathered out yet again by thunderstorms and low ceilings over
the N.C. mountains. We felt that today would be a better day if we got
an early start, so we rescheduled for 7:30 am. That meant I'd have to
get up at 5 am in order to fly to Andrews-Murphy (KRHP) by 7:30. At
6:30, a call to the FSS showed RHP with 300 scattered, 600 scattered
and an Airmet for the entire area VFR not recommended. Knoxville (TYS)
was clear as a bell, just like it was at 47A. So I waited. Every half
hour, the RHP AWOS showed 300 & 600 or worse. Then at 10 am, Mr. Jones
called and said it was clear, come on up. Randall got in the plane
with me since there was still quite a few clouds between us and he
wanted to make sure that I'd be able to get home if conditions
changed. Sure enough, puffy clouds all over the mountains, but the
valley that RHP was sitting in was clear below 12,000.

We landed and walked up to Mr. Jones office to finalize the paperwork,
then it was out to the plane. All my plates were in place on my
kneeboard, in the order that they'd be required per his briefing.
After lifting off, I put the hood down and he vectored me around in a
giant circle to get us out of the valley and headed to Knoxville. We
had to dodge a few clouds that were building already, but they were no
real problem yet. I dialed in the TYS ATIS, loaded the ILS/DME arc
approach, and contacted TYS for vectors. (I had slight reservations in
my mind about the DME approach and the partial panel VOR. The arc was
a concern because I hadn't done very many in real life, and the
partial panel was iffy for me because I was afraid I might foul up the
math determining my timed turns.)

Back to the DME arc. We were vectored to intercept the 102 Volunteer
VOR radial and cleared for the approach. In my mind, I was going to
hit the radial, turn outbound to 7 miles and the follow the radial.
But Mr. Jones wanted me to head directly for the IAF at OTAKY using
the GPS display. I told him that that wasn't my clearance and he tried
to explain, but then stopped and said OK. By this time, I was so close
to the 7 mile arc anyway, I just started flying it, which turned out
to be the point he was trying to make. A few more turns of the OBS
than usual, but I held it to 6.9/7.0 all the way around to the ILS
intercept. Smooth as hell from there with the needles painting a
bullseye when the glideslope came in. My 5T's and GUMPS check (and
wonder of wonders, radio calls!) were all done correctly and without
much fanfare. At DH he let me lift the hood and do a smooth T&G, if
I say so myself. Then back down with the hood and back around as he
pasted the stickies on my AI and DG for the VOR partial panel. My
vectors from approach were fairly easy to figure thank God, with only
one taking a bit longer than I would have liked. I saw him start
timing how long it took to me settle into the vector, but it came in
right after that. Then they vectored me onto final approach. With
everything dialed in and my timed turns working fairly well, things
seemed to be going fairly smoothly. But then... a bit left of my
course, almost over the VOR, there's the zone of confusion and the
needle pegs right, the TO flag shuddered and flopped over and is now
showing FROM... and the...needle...stays...pegged. Now I'm turning
left, only making it worse, and by now it's too late with a full
deflection, I realize what I've done, so I called my missed and shoved
everything forward.

Sigh.

We quietly climbed to our assigned altitude and requested clearance
back to RHP. Approach gave us a vector and we headed back. I now had
30 miles to think, with one hold and one GPS approach still to fly. I
knew I was coming back, but I was resolved to only have to retest the
partial panel. The hold was part of the GPS approach, so I loaded that
and after we crossed the IAF, a teardrop entry and another full lap
that went well. Then we shot the remainder of the approach. I went all
the way to minimums without busting, and then he let me lift the hood
and land.

Mr. Jones is now on vacation and will be out of state for two weeks.
He offered to set me up with another examiner to get the retest done
sooner, but I said no. I'm not in a hurry for this rating, I'll just
get a few more practice flights in and do it right the next time.