Most pilots who fall victim to stall-spin accidents never knew how to evaluate attitude-power relationships and control coordination when looking outside the cockpit. To determine whether or not you fall into that arena of ineptitude, ask yourself this question: Can I cover up the six flight instruments (airspeed indicator, attitude indicator, altimeter, vertical speed indicator, directional gyro, and turn coordinator), and then take off, fly all of the standard visual maneuvers, and land with total confidence?
If you say "no," you need a flight instructor who is truly qualified to teach the art of flying. He or she will cover the flight instruments and show you how to obtain any performance objective using the proper references - wing tip, windshield framework, and nose position and movement; engine sound; and control pressure.
The flight instruments are required by regulation, but they are used to enhance precision, not safety. An old aviation saying is, "The attitude indicator reveals what is happening, the remaining flight instruments reveal what has happened, and what you see outside the cockpit reveals what will happen."
Loss of control during instrument flight is easily avoided if you receive proper scan training and you realize that the required three hours of private pilot instrument flight training is not a training limit. I believe that with two or three more hours of proper training, you will never experience loss of control during inadvertent flight into instrument conditions, provided that the event is not associated with severe turbulence, icing, or thunderstorms.
When I was a U.S. Army pilot, I noticed that whenever an airplane accident occurred, a new rule or regulation was issued. One pilot's stupid error led to bigger flight manuals for the rest us-the vast majority of whom used good judgment and flew properly. Those knee-jerk reactions never stopped accidents, and I doubt that they ever will.
To me, human behavior is as entertaining as a three-ring circus, but I'm just a casual observer. When some people reach a position of authority, they bring chaos with them - especially if they don't really have the expertise needed for the job. Some political appointees are good examples, but this situation also occurs in other fields such as education and aviation. I don't know the proper balance between theoretical and practical aviation knowledge, but the outstanding pilots I know have an abundance of practical knowledge and common sense. They don't dwell on theory.
When an instructor is short on practical experience, problems are usually resolved in what he and his students consider to be a logical manner. Unfortunately, these solutions may not be the best ones or those used by experienced pilots. This seldom occurs when an instructor works under the management of a supervisor and uses a training syllabus that mandates proper instruction.
If you are working toward a pilot certificate or rating, don't be alarmed if your instructor covers up the flight instruments and forces you to use the proper visual references, and don't be annoyed if he or she insists on additional instrument training. In fact, you should be happy to get that type of training. It's the bottom line for safe flying.
