Organizational Skills Required During Instrument Flight

I'd like to to consider another organizational skill for flying in
IMC, this is related to approaches etc.

Always -- make that ALWAYS -- brief yourself on the approach, but with
this important difference. You may have said to yourself "OK, final
approach fix at 3500, fly 210 degrees, descend to 2150, fly for 2
minutes 30 seconds, land. Don't do that!

Always self brief the miss. "Fly for 2 minutes 30 seconds, look for
the airport, full throttle, gear up, establish positive climb rate,
report the miss to approach, maintain 210 degrees, climb to 4000, left
turn,"

Always treat seeing the airport as a happy accident -- you know how to
land, don't sweat that.

In real life, especially if you're flying into uncontrolled airports,
you may be flying missed approaches one time in 20 or 1 time in a
hundred, and I want you to be ready for that exceptional time. It'll
be handy on your check ride, too, because you just know the examiner
is going to tell you to fly the miss at a time when you're focusing on
landing.

Treat this advice like the others you have gotten -- if it makes sense
to you, make it your own. But trust me on this. This mind set, that
seeing the runway at MDA is a happy accident, and you've already
planned to fly the miss, will save you a lot of workload at a critical
time. I can't imagine a downside, although some readers may find one.






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

Always self brief the miss. "Fly for 2 minutes 30 seconds, look for
the airport, full throttle, gear up, establish positive climb rate,
report the miss to approach, maintain 210 degrees, climb to 4000, left
turn,"

Good advice to brief and be ready for the missed approach. However, for the
actual mechanics of the missed, I'd add as the first step "pitch up to climb
attitude" (generally about 10 degrees, or 2-3 bar widths). Many times on an
instrument proficiency check I've seen the pilot add full power without a
definite pitch up, and spend a lot longer than he should down near 200 feet.
Absolute priority on the missed is to get the climb established, and you do
this with both pitch and power.

Barry

On Feb 19, 6:10 pm, "Tony" wrote:
I'd like to to consider another organizational skill for flying in
IMC, this is related to approaches etc.

Always -- make that ALWAYS -- brief yourself on the approach, but with
this important difference. You may have said to yourself "OK, final
approach fix at 3500, fly 210 degrees, descend to 2150, fly for 2
minutes 30 seconds, land. Don't do that!

Always self brief the miss. "Fly for 2 minutes 30 seconds, look for
the airport, full throttle, gear up, establish positive climb rate,
report the miss to approach, maintain 210 degrees, climb to 4000, left
turn,"

Always treat seeing the airport as a happy accident -- you know how to
land, don't sweat that.

In real life, especially if you're flying into uncontrolled airports,
you may be flying missed approaches one time in 20 or 1 time in a
hundred, and I want you to be ready for that exceptional time. It'll
be handy on your check ride, too, because you just know the examiner
is going to tell you to fly the miss at a time when you're focusing on
landing.

Treat this advice like the others you have gotten -- if it makes sense
to you, make it your own. But trust me on this. This mind set, that
seeing the runway at MDA is a happy accident, and you've already
planned to fly the miss, will save you a lot of workload at a critical
time. I can't imagine a downside, although some readers may find one.

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

Sounds like great advice to me! I imagine as time goes on it will be
easy to become complacent. This sounds like a good way to guard
against that!