IFR training lesson #2

The only thing that I can compare the mental game being played while scanning a panel in simulated instrument flight, is to my early days of riding a motorcycle on the street... what is about to happen next?! I can remember then, being mentally exhausted from playing the game "who is trying to kill me now?". I know now that not every person I am sharing the road with is actively trying to kill me, and my mental games are much more tuned to the point that I can enjoy riding. So I think it will be with instrument flying, right now it feels like overload... but with practice I am confident I can relax and "love the scan".

Yesterday's flight was performed entirely hidden from view by "JeppShades" (review forthcoming) from 5 minutes into the flight until on a 1 mile final for landing. My instructor had me perform straight and level, constant rate climbs and descents, constant speed climbs and descents, and permutations of those with turns thrown in for fun. We would stabilize every 15 minutes or so, and he would have me peak at the wet compass to reset the directional gyro (whose accuracy degrades over time, and with turning). We performed standard rate and half standard rate turns. To prove the point about why turns are done at standard rate, he had me do two steep turns ( a left 360, followed by a right 360) to demonstrate that your inner ear sets up a confusing dialogue with your brain after cranking and banking. We also flew slow flight into a power off stall and recovery.

The sensations of flying while wearing a view limiting device can be really weird, but apart from not being able to keep track of where we were (by looking out the window, or on a GPS display) I felt pretty good about how the entire flight went. I will be striving to improve my scan in climbing and descending turns, as these proved to be the most tricky manuever of the day.

On the return to the airport, my instructor set up the radios and had me make the calls while he gave me altitude and heading assignments to simulate ATC calls. "Okay flip your foggles up" and it was reassuring to see the runway straight out in front of the nose.

Time this flight: 1.1
Total Time: 142.8
Simulated Logged: 0.9