(andrew m. boardman) writes:

[...] if you're messing with a chart or plates or anything else, let
go of the yoke.

I gotta read this one to my (Grumman specialist) CFI he'll
get a good belly laugh too.

FWIW, our AA5B does fine hands-off if the pitch trim is OK, even in
bouncy stuff, using one's feet to keep it vaguely straight.

And please remember, my original point was that you should let go of
the yoke in IMC when you are not looking at the attitude instruments,
not that letting go of the yoke was a way for the plane to fly itself
while you fold charts, look up plates, etc.

How long you can go not looking at the attitude instruments may vary
from a fraction of a second to several seconds, depending on the
plane, but however long it is, it's unlikely that you'll do much good
(and very likely that you'll do harm) steering the plane blind. My
problem was that I would involuntarily pull the yoke slightly to the
right every time I leaned over to look at the mag compass straight on
-- the movement takes well under a second, but now I know to release
the yoke before I do it.


All the best,


David