IMC Rookie - Tips and Advice Requested

[DJS]

Real IMC

I completely lucked out when it came to my training, both in location and timing.

I live in the Pacific Northwest. It's gorgeous in the summer, it's rainy, drizzly and generally gray and yucky in the winter. I did my private pilot training this previous summer, which was even sunnier than normal. I started my instrument training in the fall, just as it was getting blechy. I'm probably a month or so from taking my instrument checkride, and I have quite a few actual hours, including a number in bumpy, rainy weather. My last lesson was continual moderate turbulence (try practicing partial panel when you're getting the snot kicked out of you! Woohoo! Too much fun!), raining, and pretty solid IMC for most of the day. And just for added fun, the seal on the left window kept spraying water inside the plane....I ended up stuffing some paper in the window to keep the water from coming through.

I think that, for me, the differences between actual and hood time must be the subtle clues my brain can pick up on, because I've got enough actual time now to know that I can do it for real, so I'm not afraid of it. But there is a profound difference between the two.

...Dave

 

[Timebuilder]

Dave, you are the kind of pilot that I WOULD send off into the murk right after a checkride.

The guys with .5 in IMC? Take an instructor along. I should say an instructor with actual time.

 

[JediNein]

My first experience with IMC was as a student pilot. It was my first flight with a new (to me) flight instructor going through a layer of the **** Tule fog in Fresno, CA. I'd perfected the two finger death grip and was nervous with the new instructor, so that part hadn't changed from my VFR flying. On the way back, the instructor had me under the hood, showing him I could keep the airplane as level (a relative term) under the hood as I could in IMC. He told me to look up, just as we entered the clouds for the way back. The motion outside the window was quite distracting so I put the hood down again.

For the longest time, entering into the clouds had my body convinced it was going to impact a wall. Everything would tense up, the adernaline was pumping, and I wouldn't breathe until after impact. It took one flight where I did about 10 approaches, each time circling through a wall of clouds to set up for the next approach, before the brain figured out that the clouds were not brick walls.

The automatic rough running engine settled down at 5 hours in IMC. It took another CFII to show me how to really trim the airplane and insist on better-than-ATP standards in my own flying to get my workload down enough that I could stay ahead of the airplane, ATC, and a student in IMC. This was around 30 hours in the clouds. Last week I took my first 'green' instrument student into the clouds for her first time.

Tips on making the transition to IMC easier (compiled from those with hundreds to thousands of IMC hours):
Start scanning the instruments before entering the clouds. This may be while still on the runway.
Move very little while in the clouds. Move the eyes down to write down headings, altitudes, and frequencies, but not the head.
Keep the approach plates on the yoke clip, not on the kneeboard.
Fly with a kneeboard to keep the cockpit organized.
If a pen/pencil falls, leave it there and pull out the backup.
If the approach is within 30 minutes of takeoff, brief the approach fully on the ground before starting engines.
If the approach is within 15 minutes, set up the primary navs for the approach and the secondaries for the departure procedure.
Checklists done at the IAF, most definitely done before the FAF.
Glance outside a few times during IFR training in IMC. The novelty (and "deer-in-the-headlights") will wear off sooner, rather than later with the family on board.
Laminate a folded $100 bill and keep it in the flight bag. That's dinner and a hotel room for the night. That also means when the weather drops, a comfortable place to sit on the ground and wish you were flying, versus flying and wishing you were on the ground.
Once you get the ticket, keep it polished with currency and proficiency training. The accidents are IFR pilots scud-running when they could have filed and flew quite comfortably in the system.

Hope these help.

Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein

 

[El Cid Av8or]

Update...

I got to fly in some IMC for the past two days. It was great! I was a lot more relaxed and confident. My instructor even said I did great especially since it seemed like we were being tossed all over the sky for a while.

I would like to thank all of you for your tips and advice.

Hope to see you all on the airways...

 

[midlifeflyer]

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Nobody flies as well in IMC as they do under the hood.
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REALLY??

Me and my friends at the airline might not exactly agree.

I wouldn't agree either. I was lucky enough to train in New England with plenty of stratus. If anything, I found actual much easier than the hood.

I think there were two things that made it easier for me.

First, it was definitely easier to see the instruments without the need for vertigo inducing head shifts.

But more than that, when you're under the hood, you know it's VMC outside and even a gross error is unlikely to cause a real problem. There's nothing like a real NDB to minimums or having to really go missed on an ILS to focus your attention, even with a CFII on board.

The best single tip I can come up with is to develop a standard self-talk. After the 5-Ts, there is a 6th T - THINK! What are you going to have to do next.

 

[JRSLim]

Was the same for me...

On my first trip into IMC I entered the cloud sand just went into my training. Granted, I was fairly fresh from my new rwating and had an instructor next to me anyway, but I felt comfortable. I felt that I actually was better (more precise etc.) because it was for real.

Guess it just depends.

Shaun

 

[fulcrum]

remember the most important thing after getting your ticket is staying current i dont mean the 6 approaches in the last 6 months , i mean staying sharp ----- single pilot
fulcrum