Lesson 25: Instrument Flight

Today was an interesting lesson. Since December 29^th, I had flown a plane and been able to see out the cockpit. If I ever happened to accidentally fly into a cloud I could virtually lose all sight. I experienced a virtual cloud today. When learning how to fly via instruments, pilots must wear goggles or a sort of a visor which shield all of the glass so that the only thing in view is the instrument panel. The Sky Arrow has a huge plexiglass cockpit with amazing visibility. The instrument visor that blocks a pilot’s vision does not block out everything in a Sky Arrow. We brought on board a portable cloud. Basically a couple pieces of poster board cut into triangular and trapezoidal shapes taped to the inside of the cockpit to block out all view of the outside world. It was very nerve racking seeing only my instruments. My instructor would have me close my eyes so I couldn’t see my instruments. She then slowly changed the planes pitch or bank or speed slow enough that I wouldn’t feel a change. Once I opened up my eyes I realized that all was not well. The plane was spiraling downward. I knew that I needed to level the wings and pull up the nose. I had to trust my instruments. I closed my eyes again. I heard the stall warning horn sound so I knew that when I opened my eyes I would need to push the nose down to recover. I opened my eyes and not only were we in a power-on stall but we were in a turning stall. I had to level the plane lower the nose and establish a stable climb. This all required me to trust my instruments. Even though I felt like the plane was doing one thing or another, my instruments told me the opposite. The most important lesson was to trust my instruments. I instructor gave me a heading to fly and then began to take down the portable cloud. I finally looked out the cockpit and saw Bay Bridge airport. It was an awesome experience and I couldn’t believe that I made it back to the airport without being able to see anything but my instruments.