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Flying Lesson 25
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As a student pilot I am required to complete three hours of instrament flying. Tonight's lesson was an introduction to instrament flight and an instrament approach. Conditions were perfect for instrament training. The ceiling was just over 1700 feet so there wouldn't be any reason to simulate the instrament flight. Let me start by saying that flying blind is 100% different than flying with visibility. It is not intimidating but it is a different ballgame all together. Before leaving the FBO my instructor opened an IFR flight plan by telephone. We were planning on traveling to a VOR station nearby, doing some turns in a dedicated practice area, then returning home. My instructor contacted the nearby tower before we left the runway to tell them our intentions and the fact that this was IFR training. They gave us a variety of information and a squack code. Takeoff was normal but it didn't take long to lose all visual references. I knew this would be an interesting lesson as soon as we entered the soup.
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View over Taylor, Old Forge, PA |
We flew the required heading and altitude and I did my best to keep the airplane in straight and level flight. I can see this being an issue in the future. Once the visual ground reference is gone, everything I've read about on the topic of spatial disorientation becomes true to life. You really can't tell which way is up or down unless you scan the instraments. As a matter of fact the were a number of times I found myself banking and not even realizing it. I learned really fast that you can't hold your desired heading when you are trying to fly a straight line with the aircraft banked left or right. My instructor made it perfectly clear that in no way should I ever be flying in instrament conditions unless I persue and instrament rating. The three hours of IRF required for your private certificate are only enough to get your feet wet in case you ever found yourself flying in this situation accidently. I can see his point.
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I know I would need much more instruction and experience to have any chance of survival flying in these conditions.
After practicing some turns in the practice area we turned back for home. My instructor reported our location to ATC at various points along the way. He gave me a summary of our IFR course and the checkpoints we needed to pass to find our airport. Many of my questions regarding instrament flight were answered tonight without me even asking them, but I could tell also that I was only scratching the surface in regard to this aspect of flying. We eventually broke free of the clouds as we descended and our airport was right where it was supposed to be. By the time we landed it was complete darkness. This lesson gave me plenty to think about on the ride home.
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