I did my first IFR flight last weekend (First one after getting my Instrument rating). It was in an Piper Arrow, which I have flown only two times before. Sky conditions where 2000 to 4000 overcast with 10sm+ visibility. I found it harder to fly the plane when "VFR" than when in actual because of the extra scanning you have to do outside the aircraft. For the first half of the flight, I was constantly fighting to keep within 10 degrees and 100 feet. After I got the hang of doing that, it was a little easier, but trying to learn a new complex plane and do an IFR flight in semi VFR conditions was a lot of work. I would recommend to anyone that is new to Instrument flight to go up with a safty pilot and practice. It is completely different than flying with the hood or foggles.
BTW, in the last 4 months, I have flown 6 different models of aircraft.. I find it very rewarding and would recommend it to anyone. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Alex Perry Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 9:22 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Flightgear-devel] IFR in FlightGear Tony Peden writes: > Coming from one who lives in a place that is overcast 9 months out of > the year, I must point out that there is a solution to that problem ... > IFR. David comments: > Surprisingly, I find this much harder when I am above the overcast > layer because I *can* see: I tend to look out the window at the cloud > horizon and my instrument scan goes to crap. As soon as I'm in the > cloud and there's nothing out the window but white, my scan goes back > to normal. When outside IMC, even when IFR, you are _supposed_ to be looking out at the scenery and almost never at the instruments. When not in a cloud, you are just as responsible for see-and-avoid as any other VFR aircraft. Therefore, above an overcast, you should be doing full traffic scans as usual, occasionally glancing in to check heading,altitude,navigation against your IFR clearance before going back to the traffic scan again. If you don't do that, you're setting yourself up to be a midair statistic. In FlightGear, do something like ... shift-4 [traffic] shift-7 [traffic] shift-8 [scan] [traffic] shift-9 [traffic] shift-6 [traffic] shift-9 [traffic] shift-8 [nav] [traffic] shift-7 [traffic] ... and repeat. Also, when you exit a cloud, whether side, bottom or top, do a full traffic scan that includes shift-1 and shift-3 before much else because you've got about 20 seconds before collision with a legal VFR aircraft and a lot less for someone who is cutting corners ... or if you're in class G. And, yes, maintaining IFR tolerances when in bumpy VMC is very busy work. _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
