Lesson 14: Instrument flying (Ex 19)

Had a weeks break as Stuart has been off on a course (lets hope he knew how to fly already :) )

Well i turned up for circuits today and the vis was quite poor - 8K and patchy. So Stuart said we would do some instrument flying. The PPL requirement is for you to be able to perform a level 180 turn on instruments to allow you to get out of a cloud you may have strayed into.

So i took off and we climbed out to uncontrolled airspace (Gamston Departure 3K feet)
when we out of controlled airspace i had to put on the IFR hood, which covers you field of view and limits you to looking only at the instrument panel

The IFR Hood


Its amazing how much you do have to concentrate on the AI, the Altimeter,ASI and DI, constantly checking all three in the "T" shape. You cant rely on one instrument to give you a correct picture.

I did the turn well (apparently) so we did a couple more, and Stuart was well pleased. So we went on to some more advanced stuff (not required for the PPL) such as recovery from unusual attitudes, dives and climbs etc - power on, nose down, no elevators until speed is back up, power back level off etc.

All quite cool, then came back and did a flapless landing, came in quite quickly compared to flaps, and had to bleed the speed off in the flare which seemed to last ages.

Good lesson though, Stuart didnt half throw the plane around to try and disorientate me :)