AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2020 - 99

through several departures, approaches, and
landings, even applying heavy pressure to
the brakes to avoid the deer that ran in front
of her airplane. As they were concentrating on emergency situations, Berg handled
smoke in the cockpit according to her checklist and managed a landing following a bird
strike. I learned several additional features
that make ATDs terrific training tools:
No peeking. Let's face it-view-limiting devices don't replicate instrument
conditions. Even the best ones can't offer
a full view of the panel without allowing a
peek outside now and then. An occasional
glance at the horizon can help the pilot
maintain orientation and make a poor scan
seem effective. The ATD encourages developing and maintaining a good one.
Realistic emergencies. The
Instrument Rating Airmen Certification
Standards requires that examiners fail
instruments during one of the nonprecision approaches. If the aircraft is equipped
with a vacuum system, this might mean
putting sticky notes over the attitude

and heading indicators, but the aircraft
doesn't betray the emergency with such
fanfare. In an actual vacuum system failure, the attitude indicator begins to lean
slowly so the pilot can commence a turn
or even enter a spiral by following it. The
ATD gyro instruments faithfully reproduce
the same symptoms and promote including
the vacuum gauge as a regular part of the
instrument scan.
Impact of weather. Pressure setting,
temperature, wind, and precipitation type
are just a few of the settings that can be programmed for a flight in the ATD. Before one
planned takeoff Berg determined, based on
the obstacle departure procedure and the
conditions Harcrow set, that the aircraft
performance would be insufficient to make
the required climb profile. Not every flight
should be attempted and sometimes we
need to shut down and wait for better conditions. I was pleased to see Harcrow present
such a situation in training.
When they finished with their session,
it was my turn to give it a try. I flew the ILS

From deep in the heart of Texas
comes the next-generation of LSAs

22L into John F. Kennedy International
Airport (JFK) and followed it with the
RNAV (GPS)-A to the Mariposa-Yosemite
Airport (MPI), where my father took flying
lessons in the 1950s. My tour of the country finished with a LOC/DME approach to
Aspen-Pitkin County Airport (ASE). While
I can't say I'll be spending all my free time
flying ATDs, it wasn't so bad after all, and
I now recognize them as an effective-and
even necessary-complement to flying my
own airplane with a safety pilot. On a cold
day with clouds too low to fly, I extended
my currency, improved my instrument scan,
and saved some money to boot.
Some say a great flight is one after which
the airplane can be reused. By all appearances, I left the ATD in that condition so I'm
chalking the session up as a rousing success.
AOPA
CATHERINE CAVAGNARO is an aerobatics

instructor (aceaerobaticschool.com) and
professor of mathematics at Sewanee: The
University of the South.

The all-new Colt is everything you want in a new S-LSA: It's easy to fly,
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* Luxurious interior with hand-cut and sewn upholstery
* And much, much more...

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| 99

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*Ballistic parachute and autopilot are optional on the Colt-S. See Texas Aircraft representatives for details.

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2020