Ross Richardson wrote:

One of the things I did on my training was to take some .010 opaque
plastic and make shields that fit the corners of the windshield on my
172. They were about 6" high and about 16" long. This provided the
vision block to the side. I did find the sun would give "clues" as you
turned.

I don't think that there's anything that can truly replace flight in IMC
(outside perhaps of high-end simulators, with which I've no experience).
There are just too many different variables.

For example, flight right above the clouds makes possible a "false horizon"
illusion. I'd read about that, but I remember starting the turn as I
looked off into the distance and saw "the horizon" tilted. It was a
humbling reminder that "knowing" and "experiencing" are not the same.

Then there's the simple matter of heading into a cloud "wall" the first few
times. Given PPL training which said "stay away", and all those "clouds
are death" lessons (okay; I may exaggerate a little {8^), it was difficult
to stay on course and not "avoid".

I've perhaps a dozen or so "actual" hours, and I'm both glad and eager for
more. But yes, it is tough to get that time in the barely-IFR trainers we
tend to fly. It also requires the "right" selection of airports. Training
out of a field with no approach, or perhaps only a GPS or NDB, it's going
to be tough to find "good" weather w/o getting stuck away for a while.

We were fortunate that our airport had a localizer. Before a flight when
clouds were about, we'd hunt for the "best" weather in the neighborhood.
I've even flown some "real" misseds (?) as a result (albeit never on an
ILS, as I recall).

It's especially fun with approaches like the VOR-27 into SWF (if I'm
recalling the right approach). In poor visibility, you must really *look*
as the airport isn't straight ahead, but instead off to the right.

Still, I envy the students my CFII has that have their own airplanes. Many
were very well equiped. One just did his long XC in his Trinidad (?) with
a stormscope and NEXRAD.

Sigh

- Andrew