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IPC conclusions

Dugaru

Well Known Member
Did an IPC yesterday after not flying for a while. Main takeaways:

1. I was really rusty with respect to the required hand-eye coordination. Hand flying an RV in IMC/under the hood is a really perishable skill.

2. I change throttle settings too often.

3. I always considered synthetic vision sort of video-game-ish, but it came "free" on my GRT Horizon EX upgrade so obviously I started using it. Turns out it's surprisingly useful for real world IFR work! For example, although obviously it's not the only thing to watch, the flight path marker is actually giving you a huge amount of useful info via a very simple representation.

4. When Job One is keeping the dirty side down, and the pointy end pointed in the right direction, an EFIS is better than a six-pack. Much easier to see and synthesize the required info once you get used to it.

5. I should be doing more IPCs.
 
Did an IPC yesterday after not flying for a while. Main takeaways:

3. … although obviously it's not the only thing to watch, the flight path marker is actually giving you a huge amount of useful info via a very simple representation.

5. I should be doing more IPCs.

3. +1. As you said, don’t fixate though.
5. Me too.
 
Did an IPC yesterday after not flying for a while. Main takeaways:

1. I was really rusty with respect to the required hand-eye coordination. Hand flying an RV in IMC/under the hood is a really perishable skill.

2. I change throttle settings too often.

3. I always considered synthetic vision sort of video-game-ish, but it came "free" on my GRT Horizon EX upgrade so obviously I started using it. Turns out it's surprisingly useful for real world IFR work! For example, although obviously it's not the only thing to watch, the flight path marker is actually giving you a huge amount of useful info via a very simple representation.

4. When Job One is keeping the dirty side down, and the pointy end pointed in the right direction, an EFIS is better than a six-pack. Much easier to see and synthesize the required info once you get used to it.

5. I should be doing more IPCs.
Synthetic vision is almost as big of a step forward as was GPS over VOR/ADF for me.
 
Synthetic vision and flight path marker don't necessarily have to go hand in hand. For example, on the B747, you could turn the flight path marker on/off with a button on the glareshield, IIRC.

I agree that a flight path marker is a great way to provide guidance information. On the other hand, when you fly mostly over level ground and synthetic vision shows the level flight line and the horizon line differently, not sure I care for that at all.

Sometimes I do like synthetic vision showing the runway, though.

I just wish it was real easy to turn each of them on and off, and independently.
 
Horizon lines

I agree that a flight path marker is a great way to provide guidance information. On the other hand, when you fly mostly over level ground and synthetic vision shows the level flight line and the horizon line differently, not sure I care for that at all.

I know exactly what you mean, and my brain was occasionally bumping up against this during my IPC. It's certainly a different experience. After watching a six-pack attitude indicator for years (where the horizon was the line between the brown and the blue), it did take a while for my brain to remember that the synthetic vision on the EX extends 10 miles, while the horizon line is (appropriately) at infinity. So as you say, the sky/ground color distinction on the screen generally isn't showing the horizon. I read that in the manual of course but it took a while to "click."

Sometimes I do like synthetic vision showing the runway, though.

This is one of my favorite things. Seeing the flight path marker on the end of the runway (or thereabouts in turburlence....) is a great addition to the scan. Very intuitive. Also, I think the representation of surrounding terrain is priceless, and that alone might be worth the price of admission. I fly in and out of KXLL regularly, and synthetic vision drastically reduces the drama of flying in the proximity of nearby hills and towers in IMC or at night.
 
Just finished an IPC with a friend this afternoon in a steam gauge aircraft, and during the debrief we were discussing this exact thing: how instrument skills are not only quite perishable, but also the difficulty in ascertaining just how far one's abilities have atrophied. Most of the people I fly with underestimate the degradation in their skills.

The glass panels definitely help. My student sold his turbo Saratoga and lost all the fancy stuff, now flying a steam gauge panel with no autopilot. Throw in the busy nature of the Socal airspace, and single pilot IFR becomes a lot of work.

--Ron
 
There's another aspect...

I tend not to fly much actual IFR -- the RV-9A rides "like a buckboard" in turbulence, I don't have the courage of my convections, I don't like to fly above ceilings less than 1,000 feet so that in case of engine failure, I'll have a screamin' chance of finding a soft place to land, etc.

BUT... Yesterday, I took a low time pilot on a short flight to get BBQ. On the way back, we had a 17 knot headwind down low, twice the wind we had going down, and and there was a broken layer at maybe 2,000 feet. Flying in a long patch of clear air, I first thought we could get above it at 3,500, then 5,500, but no. What to do? Ask approach for IFR at 5,000, and we were skimming the cloud tops and passing between clouds, all pretty cool stuff that I'd seen before.

On the descent, we were in and out of clouds before breaking out 20 miles from the airport. As far as "instrument practice" went, this IMC practice was about useless. But my young pilot friend put it into perspective -- he'd never skimmed cloud tops before, nor been in a cloud.

This got me to thinking. One necessary aspect of being comfortable in actual IMC is having been there before, and an IPC in VFR doesn't do that. However, popping in and out of clouds is better than nothing, even if it isn't the same as IMC for a prolonged period. But it is worth doing on an IPC.

On the recent trip from Georgia to Oshkosh and back, half the flight was IFR, most of that skimming cloud tops and popping in and out. But the last half hour was solid IMC, and the stress level in actual was low because of all the incidental IMC.

On another note, I regularly practice IFR procedures, even solo in VFR. This keeps me proficient with the glass cockpit, and with the autopilot flying, I can still watch for birds and traffic that doesn't show up on the ADS-B, like the C172 yesterday.

Practice, practice, practice. And practice the things you're not good at and don't like, or rarely do. I now regularly practice go arounds at minimums.
 
Hand flying

Hand flying in IMC while managing required information single pilot seems like the most challenging for pilots who are rated, but still dependent on the autopilot in the RV series of aircraft.

Bring someone you trust. Hand fly the whole IPC list of required maneuvers under Blockalls or some other real vision restricting device, and have your safety pilot take notes on all the mistakes.

Plan for at least two hours in the air to get it all done, probably more like 2.5 hours.

Chairfly. Plan ahead. Update checklists to make them useful. Then use them.

Let me know if you want to come down with your RV to SC and do an IPC with me, I'd be glad to be your safety pilot or even help with all the above if needed. Get that LODA for your plane so you can legally do continuation training in your own aircraft. I'm finding that there are few instructors out there that are proficient flying instruments enough to fly a safe IPC in an RV themselves, let alone supervise another pilot doing one. :cool:
 
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These are great observations.

I also like to practice instrument procedures solo in VFR (and without a hood obviously!). Doing that helps make the buttonology second nature, and that's a big big help in IMC. Plus it's just sort of fun.

Agree completely that real IMC is THE training environment you want. My instrument instructor was adamant that we fly in actual as much as humanly possible.

I basically treat my -9A as an en route IFR machine, and set my destination and en route minimums accordingly. Flying only "gentleman's IFR" nevertheless adds a TON of utility to the aircraft as a traveling machine, and also just simplifies and destresses a lot of travel. But the challenge when flying that way is to stay capable of hand flying it right to minimums if the forecast and autopilot go to ****. So on an IPC or when practicing with a safety pilot I usually do one approach using automation, and then hand fly everything else.

Good idea, I'm going to practice go arounds.

I tend not to fly much actual IFR -- the RV-9A rides "like a buckboard" in turbulence, I don't have the courage of my convections, I don't like to fly above ceilings less than 1,000 feet so that in case of engine failure, I'll have a screamin' chance of finding a soft place to land, etc.

BUT... Yesterday, I took a low time pilot on a short flight to get BBQ. On the way back, we had a 17 knot headwind down low, twice the wind we had going down, and and there was a broken layer at maybe 2,000 feet. Flying in a long patch of clear air, I first thought we could get above it at 3,500, then 5,500, but no. What to do? Ask approach for IFR at 5,000, and we were skimming the cloud tops and passing between clouds, all pretty cool stuff that I'd seen before.

On the descent, we were in and out of clouds before breaking out 20 miles from the airport. As far as "instrument practice" went, this IMC practice was about useless. But my young pilot friend put it into perspective -- he'd never skimmed cloud tops before, nor been in a cloud.

This got me to thinking. One necessary aspect of being comfortable in actual IMC is having been there before, and an IPC in VFR doesn't do that. However, popping in and out of clouds is better than nothing, even if it isn't the same as IMC for a prolonged period. But it is worth doing on an IPC.

On the recent trip from Georgia to Oshkosh and back, half the flight was IFR, most of that skimming cloud tops and popping in and out. But the last half hour was solid IMC, and the stress level in actual was low because of all the incidental IMC.

On another note, I regularly practice IFR procedures, even solo in VFR. This keeps me proficient with the glass cockpit, and with the autopilot flying, I can still watch for birds and traffic that doesn't show up on the ADS-B, like the C172 yesterday.

Practice, practice, practice. And practice the things you're not good at and don't like, or rarely do. I now regularly practice go arounds at minimums.
 
Going to grab a safety pilot and fly a roll-my-own IPC as you suggest. I need to get down to SC, sounds like fun!

A friend who is a CFII and quite current in a Baron, TBM, etc., had a hard time hand flying the -9A in turbulence. Doing that while copying and inputting an amended clearance? Fuhgetaboutit.

Hand flying in IMC while managing required information single pilot seems like the most challenging for pilots who are rated, but still dependent on the autopilot in the RV series of aircraft.

Bring someone you trust. Hand fly the whole IPC list of required maneuvers under Blockalls or some other real vision restricting device, and have your safety pilot take notes on all the mistakes.

Plan for at least two hours in the air to get it all done, probably more like 2.5 hours.

Chairfly. Plan ahead. Update checklists to make them useful. Then use them.

Let me know if you want to come down with your RV to SC and do an IPC with me, I'd be glad to be your safety pilot or even help with all the above if needed. Get that LODA for your plane so you can legally do continuation training in your own aircraft. I'm finding that there are few instructors out there that are proficient flying instruments enough to fly a safe IPC in an RV themselves, let alone supervise another pilot doing one. :cool:
 
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