Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.")

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

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Aero-Tips 11.12.06

Generally we want to choose a flight instructor who will get us through the requirements of a certificate or rating in the least amount of time... to reach our goal, and to save some money. There's one instance I feel, however, where we should insist on just a little more time than the bare minimum needed to qualify for the checkride. I think all pilots should go out of their way to get at least some training in "actual" conditions during instrument training.

By "actual" I mean "actual instrument meteorological conditions", or IMC. Flying in the clouds is significantly different that flying "under the hood" (simulated IMC). As valuable as simulators and Flight Training Devices (FTDs) are as instructional tools, they don't provide the same "feel" as actual IMC either. There's a certain psychological component to actual instrument flight that needs to be experienced before venturing into IMC alone.

Experience: I had an experienced instrument student, Jeff, on his first flight in IMC. We had a roughly 1000-foot ceiling, in smooth, stratus clouds, so it was a great day to introduce Jeff to "actual." On departure we climbed into the clouds and his right leg began to twitch-enough that soon he was rapidly "punching" the right rudder pedal with his foot. Nerves were taking over. It took about 15 minutes of "actual" IMC for me to get Jeff settled down, during which time I had to help him maintain basic control of the airplane and handle the division-of-attention problems that arose from his first flight in this unusual environment. What might have happened if Jeff's first flight in actual IMC was after his checkride, with a plane full of passengers?

Another experience: I wasn't smart enough when I got my instrument rating to know this lesson. My first flight in IMC was after my checkride, ferrying a Cessna 172 a short distance in warm, smooth clouds. I didn't get the shakes like Jeff did later in my career, but I was amazed at how exhausting the concentration required was, even on a short hop. What if it had been turbulent when I first flew in IMC? An "actual" flight or two with an instrument instructor before my first IMC experience would have better prepared me for the workload.

You can learn a lot more rapidly in simulators and under the hood, but overcoming the psychological aspects of flight in actual IMC is a lesson that can be taught only by flight in the clouds. It's far better to have this experience with an instrument instructor than to experiment with the unknown alone, or with unsuspecting passengers.

Yes, IMC is hard to come by in some parts of the country. At times IMC contains other hazards (turbulence, hail, ice) that prevent training in actual. But I think the "actual" experience is a vital part of learning to fly on instruments…even if we have to wait, or go well out of our way, to find it.

Aero-tip of the day: Don't go it alone the first time you're in "actual" conditions. Insist on flying in the clouds with an instrument instructor until you learn the psychological lessons of flight in IMC.

FMI: Aero-Tips