I'm sure everyone going through IFR training has one or two things that caused them to smack themselves in the forehead and say "Doh!"
I had one of those today and thankfully it wasn't something dangerous. I'll just chalk it up to a blonde moment (and no, I'm not blonde.)
We had just flown the first missed approach that I've done in a plane (as opposed to a sim where all the approaches go missed) at Hawthorne (HHR). the approach was actually quite good considering it was almost two weeks since I'd gone up. no the problem is when we flew to the hold. once established in the hold, I figured "Gee. why don't slow down to approach speed of 100 knots so I'd have more time to get set up for the next approach.
Some of you may already have spotted the error in my logic but for the benefit of the rest of the class, I will continue on.
Ron, my instructor, asked me "I've never seen flaps in a hold before. What is your thinking here?"
"I figured I'd slow things up so I'd have more time on each leg of the hold to get set up."
"How do you measure the legs of a hold?" asked Ron with I'm guessing a smile or bemused look on his face. I couldn't tell as I was still under the hood at the time.
"Uh... each leg is one minute so... Crap" or I'm sure I added something less civi once I realized the error of my ways. You see, slowing down would only shortened the length of the legs, not the amount of time on each leg!
On the positive side, I did my first coupled approach back into SNA and it went quite well. I think once I shook some of the rust off, it was a pretty good lesson.