June 3 - Ex 24a, Introduction to Instrument Flying
I remember reading about human factors, especially the tricks your various systems can play on you, in FTGU, our Ground School textbook. Now it was time to revisit some of this information as I prepared for exercise 24, instrument flying.
First we flew east along the shoreline. The rain had just stopped, and the sun was out warming everything up, so it got quite bumpy. On a hunch that westward would be a little smoother, Tats did a quick VFR review of straight and level with me, and then turned us around to fly overhead the field and on to the west. Her hunch turned out to be right, it was much smoother there, so we stayed out of Pearson's airspace, and proceed to practise instruments, my first time "under the hood".
The hood is a light, plastic contraption designed to block out visual reference outside the plane while allowing the student to still see inside the plane, in particular, the panel.
How strange it was to actually experience the illusions caused by my inner ear, which was operating as it usually does on the ground. We were really, after all, not meant to fly, it seems. Although I had read about this erroneous "feeling", it was quite different to experience it -- I watched the panel, focussing fully on keeping the AI and HI where they were supposed to be, and cross-checking periodically with other instruments (ALT, for example, or VSI, to ensure I was not climbing or descending, and TC to ensure I was flying straight and level). Alas, my inner ear convinced me that I was level again when indeed I was NOT! And my turns were a little steeper in some cases than warranted.
Overall, I think I held heading and altitude pretty well, though, and although it was a little funky, I enjoyed the lesson. Looking forward to more "instruments" this weekend, weather and time permitting.
First we flew east along the shoreline. The rain had just stopped, and the sun was out warming everything up, so it got quite bumpy. On a hunch that westward would be a little smoother, Tats did a quick VFR review of straight and level with me, and then turned us around to fly overhead the field and on to the west. Her hunch turned out to be right, it was much smoother there, so we stayed out of Pearson's airspace, and proceed to practise instruments, my first time "under the hood".
The hood is a light, plastic contraption designed to block out visual reference outside the plane while allowing the student to still see inside the plane, in particular, the panel.
How strange it was to actually experience the illusions caused by my inner ear, which was operating as it usually does on the ground. We were really, after all, not meant to fly, it seems. Although I had read about this erroneous "feeling", it was quite different to experience it -- I watched the panel, focussing fully on keeping the AI and HI where they were supposed to be, and cross-checking periodically with other instruments (ALT, for example, or VSI, to ensure I was not climbing or descending, and TC to ensure I was flying straight and level). Alas, my inner ear convinced me that I was level again when indeed I was NOT! And my turns were a little steeper in some cases than warranted.
Overall, I think I held heading and altitude pretty well, though, and although it was a little funky, I enjoyed the lesson. Looking forward to more "instruments" this weekend, weather and time permitting.