When I ask newly rated instrument pilots how they enjoyed their training, everyone always says, “It certainly made me a better pilot.’ When I question further, it becomes obvious that the most enthusiastic pilots spent considerable time mastering the basic elements—instrument scan, instrument interpretation, and aircraft control. With that knowledge and flight control coordination habitually established, it’s easy to fly instruments with the proper level of self-confidence.
Yes, obtaining an instrument rating involves much more, but the ability to control an airplane safely using instrument reference does not. For private pilot certification, three hours of simulated instrument flight in an airplane are required. That emergency training serves as an introduction to instrument flight, but it certainly does not generate the confidence level you should have if visual reference is lost—a situation that causes accidents and should always be avoided if you’re not instrument rated.
If you’re unable or not interested in obtaining an instrument rating, protect yourself by practicing the instrument scan, instrument interpretation, and aircraft control in your airplane using a view-limiting device. To do that, you must be accompanied by a certificated safety pilot—private pilot or higher—with a current medical certificate and the proper category and class ratings for the airplane you fly.
Perform all the maneuvers you use when flying at altitude with visual references, and use my four-step scan procedure, which I developed in 1980. It forces you to always look at meaningful information. Those maneuvers are normal and slow cruise flight at constant altitude, cruise and best-rate climbs, and cruise and slow-cruise descents. Practice them while flying a constant heading and while making standard-rate turns—three degrees per second as indicated on the turn coordinator.
Before starting, follow the same procedure that you’ve been taught for inadvertent flight into instrument conditions: When flying straight and level, adjust the attitude indicator so that the airplane symbol is directly in front of the horizon bar, set the heading indicator to agree with the magnetic compass, and make certain the elevator is properly trimmed for hands-off flight.
Step 1: Attitude and power. Look at the attitude indicator, slowly establish the attitude required for the desired maneuver, and simultaneously set power for that maneuver. Attitude and power are inseparable. Always coordinate those actions.
Step 2: Scan the attitude indicator, the turn coordinator, and the vertical speed indicator—I call the turn coordinator and vertical speed indicator the fine tuners. If their indications are unsatisfactory, return to step 1 and adjust attitude and power. If all is well, continue the scan procedure.
Step 3: Scan the primary instruments. This sounds complicated but it’s not. There are always three primary instruments for any maneuver—one for pitch, one for bank, and one for power. For example, if making a constant-airspeed, constant-rate (vertical speed), climbing turn, you scan the attitude indicator and the three primary instruments: airspeed, vertical speed, and turn rate.
Step 4: Scan all the instruments, and if not turning, ensure that the elevator is properly trimmed for hands-off flight.
Everyone calls the instruments in Step 3 primary, but that’s a gross misrepresentation. They are tertiary, the third level of importance. If you use them as a primary reference—the first thing you look at when scanning—instrument flying will become quite frustrating. This sequence of thinking works exactly the same for both conventional and glass cockpits.
Proper instrument interpretation is critical, and it occurs when you must maintain two pitch requirements: airspeed and altitude or airspeed and vertical speed. There are three situations that when interpreted correctly will make instrument flying easier.
- If airspeed is correct and altitude or vertical speed is incorrect, you must simultaneously change pitch and power. This is called elevator-throttle coordination, and it is a critical instrument flying skill.
- If both airspeed and altitude or vertical speed are incorrect—for example, airspeed and altitude are high—start with a power reduction. If airspeed is low and altitude is high, start with a pitch reduction. Other combinations will exist, but if you stop and interpret what’s happening, your first move will be correct: either a power change or a pitch change.
If Orville and Wilber could learn to fly the Wright Flyer, you can learn to fly instruments—and enjoy the experience.
Ralph Butcher, a retired United Airlines captain, is the chief flight instructor at a California flight school. He has 25,000 hours in fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Visit his Web site.
