Curious about flying in IFR

I've only flown through a few light clouds,
and a couple of twilight evenings with pretty
good evening light. (had the red cockpit light on)
So that wasn't IFR.

Then flew out of Atlanta for an hour wearing the
hood for training. A little nauseating, but other
than that just kept my eye on the six-pack.

I keep trying to imagine flying in a white-out
for an extended period of time. Wouldn't you be
focused on your instruments enough to discern
orientation? (not counting synthetic vision).

Can't quite picture getting upside down without
gravity and attitude indicator letting me know
how OFF you are.

___

Flying in IMC is a great exercise of the brain.


I once wrote in 1998:

"For me, IFR flight is a lot like playing a game of Chess in the
blind while juggling three balls in the air and maintaining a
running conversation at a noisy cocktail party. You have to
mentally visualize the position of the "pieces" on the "board,"
continually monitor and interpret a myriad of arcane instruments
and make corrections to keep the airplane shinny side up, all
while constantly attempting to pick out the ATC communiques
intended for you from the rest of the "guests'" conversations. To
this add the _stress_ of the consequences of losing the game
(death). (Of course, this analogy fails to consider weather,
turbulence, flight planning, interpreting charts and plates,
tuning radios and OBS settings, equipment failures, ....)

Single-pilot IFR aircraft operation in the ATC system in IMC
without the benefit of Global Positioning Satellite receiver,
auto-pilot, and Active Noise Reduction headset, is probably one of
the most demanding things you will ever do."


On Wed, 4 Nov 2015 17:00:18 -0800 (PST), wrote:


I've only flown through a few light clouds,
and a couple of twilight evenings with pretty
good evening light. (had the red cockpit light on)
So that wasn't IFR.

Then flew out of Atlanta for an hour wearing the
hood for training. A little nauseating, but other
than that just kept my eye on the six-pack.

I keep trying to imagine flying in a white-out
for an extended period of time. Wouldn't you be
focused on your instruments enough to discern
orientation? (not counting synthetic vision).

Can't quite picture getting upside down without
gravity and attitude indicator letting me know
how OFF you are.

___

On 11/7/2015 4:41 AM, Larry Dighera wrote:


Flying in IMC is a great exercise of the brain.


I once wrote in 1998:

"For me, IFR flight is a lot like playing a game of Chess in the
blind while juggling three balls in the air and maintaining a
running conversation at a noisy cocktail party. You have to
mentally visualize the position of the "pieces" on the "board,"
continually monitor and interpret a myriad of arcane instruments
and make corrections to keep the airplane shinny side up, all
while constantly attempting to pick out the ATC communiques
intended for you from the rest of the "guests'" conversations. To
this add the _stress_ of the consequences of losing the game
(death). (Of course, this analogy fails to consider weather,
turbulence, flight planning, interpreting charts and plates,
tuning radios and OBS settings, equipment failures, ....)

Single-pilot IFR aircraft operation in the ATC system in IMC
without the benefit of Global Positioning Satellite receiver,
auto-pilot, and Active Noise Reduction headset, is probably one of
the most demanding things you will ever do."

Good summation.

With the cockpits of today a lot of the small parts are taken away.

But it still demands a high level of discipline

On Friday, November 6, 2015 at 2:06:31 PM UTC-5, george wrote:
On 11/7/2015 4:41 AM, Larry Dighera wrote:


Flying in IMC is a great exercise of the brain.


I once wrote in 1998:

"For me, IFR flight is a lot like playing a game of Chess in the
blind while juggling three balls in the air and maintaining a
running conversation at a noisy cocktail party. You have to
mentally visualize the position of the "pieces" on the "board,"
continually monitor and interpret a myriad of arcane instruments
and make corrections to keep the airplane shinny side up, all
while constantly attempting to pick out the ATC communiques
intended for you from the rest of the "guests'" conversations. To
this add the _stress_ of the consequences of losing the game
(death). (Of course, this analogy fails to consider weather,
turbulence, flight planning, interpreting charts and plates,
tuning radios and OBS settings, equipment failures, ....)

Single-pilot IFR aircraft operation in the ATC system in IMC
without the benefit of Global Positioning Satellite receiver,
auto-pilot, and Active Noise Reduction headset, is probably one of
the most demanding things you will ever do."

Good summation.

With the cockpits of today a lot of the small parts are taken away.

But it still demands a high level of discipline

I would only add to what Larry has already said that once a pilot has developed a good instrument scan what actually happens while scanning is that the flying of the aircraft as that relates to subtle corrections actually takes place BETWEEN the time the eye scans the instrument and is in route to the next instrument in the cross check.
In other words, you see what the instrument is asking you to do as you scan it then as you move to the next instrument in your scan you DO what that last instrument told you needed to be done.
So on and so on as your never ending scan progresses.
It takes time and even more importantly CURRENCY to maintain competent scan proficiency.
I liken it very much to a major league baseball hitter reading the stitches on a fastball. Leave the venue for a while and you start losing your ability to read that fastball.
For this exact reason I always encourage pilots with instrument ratings to USE THE RATING !!!!!!!!

Dudley Henriques

On 11/8/2015 3:03 PM, Dudley Henriques wrote:

I would only add to what Larry has already said that once a pilot has developed a good instrument scan what actually happens while scanning is that the flying of the aircraft as that relates to subtle corrections actually takes place BETWEEN the time the eye scans the instrument and is in route to the next instrument in the cross check.
In other words, you see what the instrument is asking you to do as you scan it then as you move to the next instrument in your scan you DO what that last instrument told you needed to be done.
So on and so on as your never ending scan progresses.
It takes time and even more importantly CURRENCY to maintain competent scan proficiency.
I liken it very much to a major league baseball hitter reading the stitches on a fastball. Leave the venue for a while and you start losing your ability to read that fastball.
For this exact reason I always encourage pilots with instrument ratings to USE THE RATING !!!!!!!!

Dudley Henriques

True.
An old instructor who flew in WW2 always referred to 'The Graveyard
Spiral' and demonstrated just how quickly a situation could and would
develop.
I seem to recall 90 seconds was the average time it took me to unnail
the needles
I did a few hours 'under the hood' and a few hours night flying around
the circuit but never had the compulsion to go any further.
An IR should be part of the pre CPL requirement

On 11/8/2015 1:53 PM, george152 wrote:
but never had the compulsion to go any further.

I also have no reason to ever get an instrument rating. But I still
insist on including a hood session with every flight review. If that
takes my flight review beyond the minimum one hour, that's a small price
to pay.

I am strictly a "fair weather pilot", but it's nice to know that I at
least have a fighting chance to live should I end up in inadvertent IFR.
(And that's something than can happen to anyone.)

On Sunday, November 8, 2015 at 1:54:00 PM UTC-5, george wrote:
On 11/8/2015 3:03 PM, Dudley Henriques wrote:

I would only add to what Larry has already said that once a pilot has developed a good instrument scan what actually happens while scanning is that the flying of the aircraft as that relates to subtle corrections actually takes place BETWEEN the time the eye scans the instrument and is in route to the next instrument in the cross check.
In other words, you see what the instrument is asking you to do as you scan it then as you move to the next instrument in your scan you DO what that last instrument told you needed to be done.
So on and so on as your never ending scan progresses.
It takes time and even more importantly CURRENCY to maintain competent scan proficiency.
I liken it very much to a major league baseball hitter reading the stitches on a fastball. Leave the venue for a while and you start losing your ability to read that fastball.
For this exact reason I always encourage pilots with instrument ratings to USE THE RATING !!!!!!!!

Dudley Henriques

True.
An old instructor who flew in WW2 always referred to 'The Graveyard
Spiral' and demonstrated just how quickly a situation could and would
develop.
I seem to recall 90 seconds was the average time it took me to unnail
the needles
I did a few hours 'under the hood' and a few hours night flying around
the circuit but never had the compulsion to go any further.
An IR should be part of the pre CPL requirement

What makes the "graveyard spiral" so deadly is that in most cases it's coordinated (ball centered). Pilots seeing the airspeed rising react to a pitch change neglecting the bank. The applied positive pitch simply tightens the spiral doing nothing to decrease the airspeed.
The solution to ANY nose down increasing airspeed situation is to FIRST check and correct the BANK......THEN correct the pitch!
This is so basic it's almost unbelievable that a pilot can pass even a PPL check ride without knowing this and demonstrating that it's known.
Doing it wrong usually ends VERY badly!
Dudley Henriques

On Sat, 7 Nov 2015 07:06:27 +1200, george152 wrote:

On 11/7/2015 4:41 AM, Larry Dighera wrote:


Flying in IMC is a great exercise of the brain.


I once wrote in 1998:

"For me, IFR flight is a lot like playing a game of Chess in the
blind while juggling three balls in the air and maintaining a
running conversation at a noisy cocktail party. You have to
mentally visualize the position of the "pieces" on the "board,"
continually monitor and interpret a myriad of arcane instruments
and make corrections to keep the airplane shinny side up, all
while constantly attempting to pick out the ATC communiques
intended for you from the rest of the "guests'" conversations. To
this add the _stress_ of the consequences of losing the game
(death). (Of course, this analogy fails to consider weather,
turbulence, flight planning, interpreting charts and plates,
tuning radios and OBS settings, equipment failures, ....)

Single-pilot IFR aircraft operation in the ATC system in IMC
without the benefit of Global Positioning Satellite receiver,
auto-pilot, and Active Noise Reduction headset, is probably one of
the most demanding things you will ever do."

Good summation.

With the cockpits of today a lot of the small parts are taken away.

But it still demands a high level of discipline



Thanks for the complement, George.

I still vividly recall an IFR flight during my training. My instructor, Dan
Newman, and I were always hoping for some "actual" conditions, so that I'd have
a better idea of what to expect once I was on my own. One particularly wet
day, we were in the office trying to decide if the weather may be a bit too
much for our scheduled lesson. Just then, in a gust of wind an instructor and
his student, burst into the office all exuberant and spirited. They had just
landed, and said that it had been a pretty rough ride, and traffic was thick,
but they thought we should launch.

So we pre-flighted and filed from KSBA (John Wayne, Santa Ana, California) to
KVNY (Van Nuys). We departed in heavy rain, and soon entered KLAX (Los
Angeles) busy Class Bravo terminal area. Turbulence was significant, and
visibility was nonexistent, and it sounded like the sky was full of airliners.

Attempting to contact the controller in the next sector, who sounded a bit
overwhelmed with his workload, was a real chore, as we couldn't get a word in
edgewise, and he was giving the airline traffic priority. About that time, we
must have entered a cell or something, as I was only able to hold heading
within about plus or minus 30 degrees, and altitude was all over the place too.
I felt like a cowboy at his first rodeo, but hung in there without the
necessity of the instructor taking the controls. Finally, we proceeded via
radar vectors to the KVNY runway 34L approach, and broke out of the overcast to
see a soggy runway on the nose. A gusty cross wind nearly blew me off the edge
of the runway into the grass as I was about to touch down, but was able to
recover successfully, and plant it firmly on the macadam. Whew! What a
memorable ride. :-)

Larry Dighera wrote
A gusty cross wind nearly blew me
off the edge of the runway into the grass as I was about to touch
down, but was able to recover successfully, and plant it firmly on the
macadam. Whew! What a memorable ride. :-)

MACADAM....?????

I would suggest that you do a "Wikipedia" on "macadam", "tarmac",
and "asphalt". I'm 80 years old and haven't heard the word macadam
used since I was a child. I constantly hear "tarmac" mis-used by the
news media who mean to say "apron" or if you were in the Navy, "ramp".

Bob Moore

On 13 Nov 2015 14:57:44 GMT, Robert Moore wrote:

Larry Dighera wrote
A gusty cross wind nearly blew me
off the edge of the runway into the grass as I was about to touch
down, but was able to recover successfully, and plant it firmly on the
macadam. Whew! What a memorable ride. :-)

MACADAM....?????

I would suggest that you do a "Wikipedia" on "macadam", "tarmac",
and "asphalt". I'm 80 years old and haven't heard the word macadam
used since I was a child. I constantly hear "tarmac" mis-used by the
news media who mean to say "apron" or if you were in the Navy, "ramp".

Bob Moore


Hello Bob,

I'm happy you found my little story of interest. And it's always a treat to
hear from an ATP and former PanAm captain, not to mention flight instructor...
Given the fact that I'm currently enjoying my seniorhood, the word "macadam" is
somewhat familiar to me. Here's what Merriam-Webster has to say about the
word's definition: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/macadam

macadam
noun mac·ad·am \m?-'ka-d?m\
: a road surface made with a dark material that contains small broken
stones

Full Definition of MACADAM

: macadamized roadway or pavement especially with a bituminous binder


Here's the Dictionary.com entry:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/macadam?s=t

macadam
[muh-kad-uh m]

noun
1. a macadamized road or pavement.
2. the broken stone used in making such a road.
3. a road surface made of compressed layers of small broken stones, esp one
that is bound together with tar or asphalt

So, while the word does indeed date from the early nineteenth century, it does
seem to describe the KVNY Runway surface accurately. Given that many English
words originated a long time ago, I believe I'll continue using 'macadam'.

How about regaleing us with an IFR antidote from your illustrious career. I'm
sure you could relate many interesting tales, perhaps something that might
entice the OP into obtaining an instrument rating and becoming a more
professional pilot.

Best regards,
Larry