Basic instrument flying

Before you start flying instrument approaches and holds, you’ll need to start with the baby steps. Two of these key building blocks are constant airspeed climbs and descents. Mastering these maneuvers is critical for all phases of instrument flight, and while they may not be the most exciting part of IFR flying, becoming a pro will make all instrument flying easier in the long run.

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Climb

Adjust your pitch

First, gently and smoothly add elevator back pressure and bring the nose pitch up, using the attitude indicator to guide you. Once you have that pitch set, find your climb airspeed—as long as you continue with smooth adjustments, that airspeed will stay the same throughout the climb.

Power

Simultaneously, add power. If you’ll be climbing for a while, you’ll likely need full power. If climbing only for a couple hundred feet, you may only need a few hundred rpm. Anticipate how the power change will make the nose want to rise, and adjust trim as needed.

Trim

In instrument flying, workload reduction whenever you can find it is key. Once you’re established in the climb and you’ve captured your constant airspeed (likely not far off of your typical V_Y), trim it out and reduce your workload.

Scan and prepare to level off

Throughout the climb, keep your instrument scan going, and anticipate your target altitude. Then, level off with pitch, power, and trim, and recover to level flight.

Descent

Power

In a descent, the first adjustment is power—so reduce your power in level flight, reducing your airspeed to your target descent airspeed while staying level before pitching down.

Pitch

Reduce your pitch and begin your descent using the attitude indicator to guide you.

Trim

Again, time to reduce workload by using our friend the trim. Adjusting the trim may not be necessary for constant-airspeed descents.

Scan and level off

Keep that scan going, and as you approach your target altitude, smoothly raise the nose, add power back in, and trim it out. Precision with descents is perhaps even more critical than with climbs, because this skill is what you’ll be using on approaches and what will keep you out of terrain (and away from busting altitudes in real life and on your checkride).