Organizational Skills Required During Instrument Flight

On Feb 18, 9:33 pm, wrote:
What methods do you deploy? How many folks use a kneeboard? What
kind of timer (analog or digital stopwatch) do you use, and where do
you put it? Where do you keep the charts, approach plates, and
scratch paper? How many people write down every clearance, heading,
altitude and frequency change? How do you keep from dropping your pen
(or pencil)? Is it on a string? Where do you put in when not in
use? Velcro? Your pocket?

I've read the books, but I just wonder how people cope in real life.
Rod Machado talks about using a clipboard (with extra clips on the 3
other sides) in his excellent training manual. This seems like a good
idea to me.

Steve
PP ASEL
Instrument student

The fewer things you have with you in the cockpit, the simpler
everything becomes. Leave everything in your flight bag but somewhere
within reach, and grab only what you really need. In a training
environment our students are trained as if every flight is an
emergency, and to be prepared for the worst. Nothing wrong with that,
but you have to decide the correct balance of things to carry for each
flight to minimize clutter and workload.

I clip the weather and flight planning printouts to the kneeboard.
That also doubles as my scratch paper. Attaching a string is a good
idea, but I have never done it. I carry one pen for multiple things
(signing logbooks and such), so tying it to the clipboard would be
inconvenient.

My wrist watch serves as the timer if I ever need one. I don't bother
timing the approach unless the weather is near minimum. All my charts
stay in the bag, and I only rip out the pages I need. For the most
part, the NACO chart book stays in my flight bag (which could be
outdated), and I fly with individually printed approach charts.

I don't write everything down. Squawk codes and radio frequencies get
loaded into the stack right away as I am reading them back to the
controller. I only write down stuff that the controller starts with
"advice when ready to copy". If an instruction is too lengthy and I
happen to miss something, I can always ask it to be repeated. It
doesn't happen often enough to worry about hogging the frequency.

Don't forget the flashlight. I have yet to find a good way to keep it
from getting lost. It is too bulky to attach it to a string but it is
too small to keep from rolling off into a crevice.

"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:
Don't forget the flashlight. I have yet to find a good way to keep it
from getting lost. It is too bulky to attach it to a string but it is
too small to keep from rolling off into a crevice.

Flashlights come in two styles.

Style 1 has a wrist lanyard attached to it. These get hung over a horn of
the yoke.

Style 2 has no laynard. These get lost under the seat.

On Feb 18, 9:54 pm, Roy Smith wrote:
"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:
Don't forget the flashlight. I have yet to find a good way to keep it
from getting lost. It is too bulky to attach it to a string but it is
too small to keep from rolling off into a crevice.

Flashlights come in two styles.

Style 1 has a wrist lanyard attached to it. These get hung over a horn of
the yoke.

Style 2 has no laynard. These get lost under the seat.


How about flashlights attached to your head? Or your headset? I
tried one of the LED "headlights", but it gave me a headache after
awhile. It was sure was convenient though! Does anyone use the neck
lights, seatbelt lights, ballcap lights, and even tongue switch lights
they advertise in Sportys and Spruce?

wrote:
How about flashlights attached to your head? Or your headset? I
tried one of the LED "headlights", but it gave me a headache after
awhile. It was sure was convenient though! Does anyone use the neck
lights, seatbelt lights, ballcap lights, and even tongue switch lights
they advertise in Sportys and Spruce?


While I like the idea of a flashlight on a headband of some sort, it interferes
with my headset. So I use the 2 cell AAA mini maglite as my first line of
defense. It's clipped to my shirt pocket.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

How about flashlights attached to your head? Or your headset?


I've got one attaching to the headset, tinted green. Priceless! It was
called Navihawk or some such, but I think they have gone out of
business.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

On Feb 19, 12:32 am, wrote:
On Feb 18, 9:54 pm, Roy Smith wrote:

"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:
Don't forget the flashlight. I have yet to find a good way to keep it
from getting lost. It is too bulky to attach it to a string but it is
too small to keep from rolling off into a crevice.

Flashlights come in two styles.

Style 1 has a wrist lanyard attached to it. These get hung over a horn of
the yoke.

Style 2 has no laynard. These get lost under the seat.

How about flashlights attached to your head? Or your headset? I
tried one of the LED "headlights", but it gave me a headache after
awhile. It was sure was convenient though! Does anyone use the neck
lights, seatbelt lights, ballcap lights, and even tongue switch lights
they advertise in Sportys and Spruce?

I once considered the headset mounting arrangement but wasn't too
crazy about it. Every time I had to illuminate something I had to turn
my head towards it instead of turning my eyeballs. I found that I was
reaching for the flashlight and turning it by hand. Since excessive
head movements are not the best thing in IMC, I abandoned this
practice. I now carry an LED flashlight. Sometimes I do lose it. I
have to try Roy's suggestion of attaching it to a lanyard.

On 2/18/2007 11:32 PM, wrote the following:
On Feb 18, 9:54 pm, Roy Smith wrote:
"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:
Don't forget the flashlight. I have yet to find a good way to keep it
from getting lost. It is too bulky to attach it to a string but it is
too small to keep from rolling off into a crevice.
Flashlights come in two styles.

Style 1 has a wrist lanyard attached to it. These get hung over a horn of
the yoke.

Style 2 has no laynard. These get lost under the seat.


How about flashlights attached to your head? Or your headset? I
tried one of the LED "headlights", but it gave me a headache after
awhile. It was sure was convenient though! Does anyone use the neck
lights, seatbelt lights, ballcap lights, and even tongue switch lights
they advertise in Sportys and Spruce?


I have actually worked this problem a bit. I found that it is very important
that the light source be above your eye level. If it is not, then your hand
casts a shadow across your pen point when you are writing on a kneeboard and you
can't see what you are writing. This problem will occur with the mic-lights and
any other light that is below your eyes.

I also found that having an adjustable light level was very important, as the
on/off type lights are waaay to bright.

My simplest solution was to put 3M "Dual Lock" tape on the headset shells and to
mount a couple of red lights like the Photon Micro-Light II. (You can also use
Velcro but it does not provide as positive a positioning.)

http://www.photonlight.com/LED-Keych...lights-s/1.htm

They used to have a model they called the "Covert" which had a little
sleeve/snout covering the LED so that all the light went forward. This is
important to eliminate reflections from the side windows, so a little home-made
engineering will now be required. They also sell a thing called a "short
lanyard clip" that helps keep the lights from going under the seat when you bump
them off the headset. If you align them properly they will illuminate most of
the panel and there is not a lot of head-turning required.

Then I went to a Clarity Aloft headset. Spectacular sound quality, etc. but
nowhere to mount the lights! For that I made my own set of "headlights" which
work well but took so much time (and a lathe and a milling machine) that only a
lunatic would do it. For this type of headset, an adjustable brightness red
headlight or ball cap light would be perfect but I have not yet seen one.

Velcro.

The top of my glareshield is slowly evolving to complete velcro. I've
got one of those little photo lights on a velcro strap that is placed
very conveniently on the glareshield in front of me.

Removed the ashtray years ago and now have a battery-powered
'ash light' (no, this isn't an ad).

Frankly, flashlights are the least of my worries at night or IFR.

(small maglight in pocket next to me, big D cell maglight under the
seat, etc)

I tried the clipboard concept - not practical when there's really
not enough room in my lap (I need to sit close, short legs).

Timer, with velcro on the back, on the glareshield. But I really like
the clock in the aircraft with the second hand. Dealing with setting
and resetting the digital clock is a pain when trying to do multiple
things.

On Feb 19, 7:34 pm, Blanche wrote:
Velcro.

The top of my glareshield is slowly evolving to complete velcro. I've
got one of those little photo lights on a velcro strap that is placed
very conveniently on the glareshield in front of me.

Removed the ashtray years ago and now have a battery-powered
'ash light' (no, this isn't an ad).

You have to be careful when saying those words aloud.


Frankly, flashlights are the least of my worries at night or IFR.

(small maglight in pocket next to me, big D cell maglight under the
seat, etc)

I tried the clipboard concept - not practical when there's really
not enough room in my lap (I need to sit close, short legs).

Timer, with velcro on the back, on the glareshield. But I really like
the clock in the aircraft with the second hand. Dealing with setting
and resetting the digital clock is a pain when trying to do multiple
things.


Velcro seems to be a common theme here! What a great invention!
Anyone remember those old David Letterman shows where he played
"Velcro Man" (am I remembering this right?). He donned a velcro suit,
jumped on a trampoline, and then stuck to a velcro wall. Anyway, I
thought it was funny.

Thanks Blanche!

On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 22:54:11 -0500, Roy Smith wrote:

"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:
Don't forget the flashlight. I have yet to find a good way to keep it
from getting lost. It is too bulky to attach it to a string but it is
too small to keep from rolling off into a crevice.

Flashlights come in two styles.

Style 1 has a wrist lanyard attached to it. These get hung over a horn of
the yoke.

Style 2 has no laynard. These get lost under the seat.

I always thought a flashlight was a device in which one stored dead
batteries. I believe that applies to both of your styles!
Ron (EPM) (N5843Q, Mooney M20E) (CP, ASEL, ASES, IA)