| Lesson 7:
Date & Time: Sunday 01/06/2008 Where: UZA Aircraft: Cessna 172 N517DL Instruction: 1.3/1.1 hour (air/ground) Dual Instruction with Derek Alter I Can�t See: So we�re in Delta Lima again today and this flight is going to be interesting. Today we are using a hood. The hood goes over my head and prevents me from seeing outside the airplane. It makes me concentrate on the instruments inside the aircraft. This will most likely not be an issue for me because I tend to look at instruments throughout the flight anyway. So we get to the practice area and I put on the hood. I did a few standard rate 180 degree turns with this, and now I know what it feels like when you can't see outside. Most aviation books have a section on this sort of thing - they tell you that when you can't see outside, your senses will lie to you. With the hood on, you can�t really feel that! Once the turn is established you cannot feel it at all. It feels like you are rock steady, but the turn coordinator shows a turn, the attitude indicator shows your angle of bank - but you cannot feel it. Aside from the fact that you are surrounded by a real aircraft, you may as well be on Microsoft Flight Simulator for all the information that your senses are giving you once deprived of your external view. If you try to do anything more than just the turn, then your senses lie even worse and they may even tell you that you are moving in a direction that you are not! I found that the attitude indicator (or artificial horizon) was a very useful device in telling me just what I was doing. I wouldn't like to lose it if I were an instrument-rated pilot in a mass of clouds... Incidentally, most weather-related accidents are VFR pilots wandering into IFR, and most of those are fatal? This is why you need to learn the 180 degree turn under the hood, so if you ever mistakenly wander into the clouds when not rated to do so, you can get out without losing it. (Some pilots who have got into IFR conditions who were only VFR pilots have torn their aircraft apart in their wild gyrations to get the aircraft's attitude straight and level). After working �under the hood�, Derek had me close my eyes to fly. This was very interesting. He called out some commands, like turn left, now right. Now climb. OK, now level out. RECOVER!! I opened my eyes to find us aiming straight for the ground and rolled to the right! I recovered and leveled out. Derek explained to me how your body will fool you when you can�t see or cannot reference the ground. This exercise shows the pilot to trust their instruments, not their body. COOL! Busy day. It was now time to head back. I am now doing all radio calls and I can easily find the airport and enter the pattern for landing. Derek still talks me through some of the steps to land, but only when I miss something. He allows me to land, but it was rough and he took over as soon as we hit, and I do mean HIT the ground. What I learned: Trust your instruments not your body. I love to fly under the �hood� I need to work on my landings. |