This past weekend I did a really fun flight around Atlanta with 6 approaches. It was a ton of fun and IMC mostly the whole time, which was great practice! My instructor Jonathan and I had beautiful VFR on top in between layers and upon entering the holding pattern to our first approach at Paulding (KPUJ) we entered IMC. We popped out at 400 AGL, which was 200 feet above minimums, and did a nice touch and go and then off to our next approach. The back-to-back approaches were kind of grueling, but very fun at the same time. As we completed our 3rd approach at Newnan (KCCO) we were in solid clouds but could tell there were some lightning strikes somewhere hopefully distant. We knew thunderstorms were in the area south of us and we should be safe but for a moment the cockpit got a little quiet and very serious. It was great having this sobering experience to help drive home that thunderstorms are nothing to mess around with!
After we got back at McCollum (KRYY) we debriefed at the FBO and went over how the flight went, what all I need to have in my POH and logbooks to be prepared for the practical exam, and etc. Overall this was one of the most enjoyable flights I've done in the plane. I'm getting really excited about having the flexibility of the instrument rating!
