"Gary L. Drescher" wrote in message news:WcCtb.209285$Fm2.205149@attbi_s04...

I don't quite understand the theory behind this advice. I do agree that IMC
is harder than hood flying, because the latter provides peripheral cues as
to changes in attitude. For that reason, I made sure to have adequate dual
practice in IMC before trying it on my own.

On the other hand, once basic attitude flying in IMC becomes comfortable, it
doesn't strike me that flying an approach to minimums in IMC is then any
harder than doing it under the hood. And since doing it reliably under the
hood is a required part of instrument training, I don't really see why
pilots shouldn't fly single-pilot IMC to minimums soon after flying
single-pilot IMC at all.

Gary,

Probably the hardest and most dangerous part of IFR flight in IMC
is the transition to visual once you break out on approach.

This isn't usually well-taught under the hood. Your safety pilot
tells you "look up" and the airport is there.

It's my understanding the pros fly strictly "monitored" approaches
where the pilot flying stays on the instruments and the pilot not
flying watches for visual cues and announces the visual transition.

We do this too, when we have two pilots up front.

When you're on your own, it's different. You have to learn to
bring the outside world into your scan at first as just one more
instrument while flying to tight tolerances.

The smaller the margin for error (ie the closer the approach
is to minimums) the harder this is at first.

It makes perfect sense to me that one should practice this
skill at first with higher minimums.

Cheers,
Sydney