On Sun, 02 Jan 2005 13:46:31 GMT, Jon Kraus wrote:

Good job Jon! I ran into a similar situation with my VFR ticket and Vacuum
pump failure. It was a night flight. See
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...ff0985c67799e8
for my experiences. (learning systems on the fly)

Here is what I'll do different next time:

1. Make sure that I have had the vacuum indicator "in the green" for
several minutes before departing to ensure that the gyros are spooled up.

I am surprised that your preflight procedures after engine start up doesn't
check for vacuum. Mine has it twice. Once after engine start, and then
once again after runup.

2. Have the approach for returning to the airport loaded or in standby
just in case you need to return quickly. I did not do this and it added
needless stress loading everything.

VERY GOOD TIP! I have generally had my arrival airport and alternate
airport approaches readily available on my kneeboard, but I will add my own
departure airport for future flights.

I don't have an IFR GPS, but couldn't you have hit the NRST button to
quickly get your airport information loaded???

Allen