Help me clear up my brain fart

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...
"Roger Long" om wrote in
message ...
[...] You should always be dividing your attention between inside
and outside.

IMHO, not even close. Not for VFR flight.

The airplane is perfectly flyable without ANY reference to the instruments,
or anything inside the airplane. Turning base to final is no time to be
wasting ANY effort looking at instruments, and is certainly no time to be
attempting to use the instruments as feedback for control inputs.

snip lots of good stuff

I'll make that another "me too" post. You want to learn how to fly without
instruments? Get a lesson in a Cub, or another tandem seat airplane you fly
from the back. Most have only an airspeed, tach and altimeter, and with an
instructor in front, all you can see is a little bit of the tach.

You learn to fly by feel, by noting what the engine sounds like and where your
throttle is at a certian RPM, and what the pitch attitude looks like in all
regimes of flight. And for the pilot who didn't know what "uncoordinated" felt
like, swinging back and forth in the tail will show 'ya. If not, open the door
and windows. If the wind isn't hitting your face, you're coordinated.

FWIW, I learned to fly in Skyhawks and Archers. Then I towed banners for a few
seasons in Cubs and PA-12's. One of our planes had an airspeed indicator out of
an Aztec (ever see a Cub with a blue line?) For most of our pattern and towing,
the airspeed just wasn't sensative enough, and would sit on the peg. After
about the second day, you didn't even miss it. My second season, I went and
flew a "new" PA-12. I picked up two banners before I even looked at the
airspeed indicator, because you learn what it "feels" like.

--
Mike