AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - 94

P&E

DOGFIGHT
Is experience in actual conditions vital to training for an instrument rating?

Head in the clouds

Clear as day

IMC is essential for IFR training

Clouds are overrated

BY DAVE HIRSCHMAN

BY IAN J. TWOMBLY

THE BEST FLIGHT TRAINING ADVICE I ever got was to do my IFR
training in the murk. "Wait for a week when you know the weather's
going to be awful," my instructor told me. "Then drop everything
else, and we'll fly two or three times a day in low clouds and rain.
You'll be glad you went about it the right way."
Simulators can't induce vertigo the way flying in and out of
clouds does, and sims can't recreate the feeling you get in the pit
of your stomach when you reach decision height and can't see the
landing zone. And let's admit that most view-limiting devices are a
joke. Pilots who get their IFR tickets under the hood in fair weather
are in for a jolt the first time they fly an approach to minimums with
rain pelting against the windshield.
For me, a gloomy week in a long-ago November turned out to be
a blessing: six consecutive days of low
clouds and rain, only traces of ice, and
no thunderstorms. My long instrument
cross-country featured approaches to
near minimums on each segment.
The first time I ever had to wear a
view-limiting device was on the checkride, and it felt like cheating. Visual cues
like shadows moving across the cockpit
made flying under the hood a cinch.
DAVE HIRSCHMAN
Now, as an instrument instructor, I
do my best to make sure my instrument
students see the insides of clouds. Preferably, hours and hours of
them. It's easy to do since training airplanes are plentiful on cloudy,
low-visibility days when primary students are grounded.
It's common for new IFR pilots to let their instrument currency
lapse soon after passing their checkrides-and that's a shame. But it's
totally understandable, especially for those who didn't fly in actual
instrument conditions in training. Imagine the pressure of making an
approach in actual conditions for the first time with family or friends
as passengers. Who would want to do that?
Instrument tickets earned in Arizona, Southern California, or
Florida aren't worthless. There's useful knowledge to be gained about
the IFR system, and crafty instructors in such places get their IFR
students to fly under the hood at night to make training more realistic. They also seek out bad weather for training-even if that means
flying at odd hours or going long distances to find it.
But fair seas don't make a sailor. If you plan to use an instrument
rating to travel, keep a demanding schedule, or go long distances, do
yourself a favor and train in low-visibility conditions. If you already
have the rating, save your practice sessions for dreary days.
You'll be a better pilot for it.
AOPA

I RECALL MY FIRST SOLO INSTRUMENT FLIGHT better than my first
airplane solo a few years prior. There was a solid undercast of cotton with no vertical development. As I was being vectored for the
approach the airplane was gliding along right on top of the white
blanket, and turning to intercept the localizer it felt like my wing
was slicing through the mist. Then, descending through the layer
and seeing the runway? It's a magical feeling.
It's possible that one reason I remember this so well was that
it was one of my first experiences in the clouds. I trained for my
instrument rating in Florida-a state that, with few exceptions,
offers black-and-white flying weather. A quick check of the logbook
shows only 0.7 of actual instrument time prior to my checkride. That
first solo instrument flight more than doubled my total.
In an ideal world we would all
learn to fly instruments in low clouds,
no convection, and maybe a little rain,
but those opportunities are rare. If
most of us waited to fly on those days
it would take us years to learn. It's
more likely that we learn in a place
that gets snow and ice in the winter
and thunderstorms in the summer,
or a place such as Arizona or Florida,
IAN J. TWOMBLY
where there is reliably good weather.
Given those two choices I would take
the southern states.
Learning to fly on instruments takes three core groups of skills:
proficiency on procedures, weather knowledge, and judgment.
Learning procedures is best done in a structured, repeatable manner, ideally with increasing stress. If I could set up an ideal training
scenario it would be based in a place that offers a quick in and out
of the airport environment and that is close to a variety of towered
and nontowered airports near a busy corridor.
This is part of what makes Florida a great training location.
The weather is reliable, especially in the morning, and you can find
major Class B airports, busy Class C airports, Class D airports, and
sleepy rural spots. By flying often and with increasing complexity
the student has a great opportunity to learn procedures. That will
keep her ahead of the airplane when things get crazy.
Clearly instrument flying is meant to be done in weather that
is less than ideal, so some weather knowledge and experience is
helpful. That's why we have personal minimums. My personal minimums were high on that first solo in the clouds, and breaking out
around 800 feet helped me build confidence in actual conditions-
something that only happens when you're flying solo.
AOPA

EMAIL dave.hirschman@aopa.org

EMAIL ian.twombly@aopa.org

94 | AOPA PILOT February 2020



AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020

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

Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Intro
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Contents
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2020 - Cover4
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