I flew for almost an hour today and had absolutely no clue as to where I was. No, I wasn’t lost. I was flying on instruments. Click here for a demonstration. For the most part, the private pilot flies under visual flight rules (VFR) meaning with constant reference to the ground and horizon. When flying in cloud, it is impossible to maintain situational awareness without instruments. In fact, studies have shown that, on average, pilots without instruments can fly anywhere from 20 seconds to 8 minutes before losing complete control of the aircraft and tearing it apart. However, with proper training and full instruments, a pilot can manage safely in zero visibility. Commercial pilots (and many private ones) do it all the time.
Advanced instrument training is an entirely different rating and one that I might do someday. At the private pilot level, though, students are taught only the basic skills to safely execute a 180 degree turn and fly out of the cloud. To practice this you put a plastic shield on your head that blocks the view out the window, but still allows you to see the instrument panel. Imagine that plastic cone they put on dogs’ heads so they can’t chew out their stitches. Now imagine me with one on my head, because there are no pictures of this and there never will be any pictures of this. The instructor asks you to fly a variety of headings to fly and altitudes to maintain during straight and level flight or any combination of turns, climbs and descents. Each instrument provides different information in different situations and it requires a lot of discipline to trust what they are telling you when your entire body is telling you something else. As my instructor says, “If humans were meant to fly, you wouldn’t need me to teach you.”
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