single pilot ifr trip tonight

"Dan Luke" writes:

May I suggest that you try it under the hood? I've found that it makes
flying my airplane no-gyro very easy. That may not be true of higher
performance airplanes, I haven't tried it in one.

Personally, the only time I've found flying under the hood or foggles
useful was on cloudy nights over relatively unpopulated terrain --
otherwise, the light and shadows in the airplane make the hood even
less effective at simulating IMC flight than a flight simulator on my
home computer. I recognize that other pilots may have different
experiences, of course, but that's one of the reasons I took my IFR
flight test in IMC, so that I would know if the examiner thought I was
safe in the real thing.

Agreed, but I don't think I'm a good enough pilot to use it safely
in a partial-panel situation, where I'm already under a great deal
of stress.

Try it. I think you'll find it reduces the stress.

I'm worried that it might reduce the stress a little too much, causing
me to fixate on it and ignore the TC and ASI, but I will try it some
time with an instructor or safety pilot anyway.


Thanks, and all the best,


David