Welcome to the second of a three part series on instrument flying with a home simulator. Instrument flying can be intimidating for many pilots, yet a simulator can build confidence as well as understanding when it comes to the IFR realm. Part two will cover useful tasks to practice in a simulator as well as helpful maneuvers that make use of those tasks. 

Instrument Flight Useful Scenarios / Maneuvers

Flight simulators today are leagues ahead of where they were just a decade ago. The computing power of an average PC paired with readily available graphics cards and simulator programs make it a great time to enjoy at-home training. One of the best categories of simulator that has enjoyed recent upgrades is the weather emulator. We can now control types of clouds, bases and ceilings of these clouds, wind speeds, direction and gust factors. We can control the barometric pressure setting and temperature at our airport (great for density A=altitude experiments) as well as visibility and precipitation. Never has there been such a detailed meteorological simulator for the general public, and we have the ability to critique our instrument flying habits in any situation we would like. Here are a few scenarios or tasks that we like to practice. 

Basic Tasks

• Instrument Scan – This may seem like a monotonous task but it’s the bedrock of a proficient instrument pilot’s flying. Having a steady technique and understanding what those instruments are indicating, as well as picking up on slight changes before they become significant differences is what keeps you safe. Try flying in the clouds without the autopilot and strengthen the instrument scan muscle. Reduce the workload with a transition to a glass panel from steam gauges. 

• Avionics Operations – Learning the ins and outs of a computer’s operating logic can be challenging in itself. Trying to learn an operating system while flying an airplane, that’s like reading a book while juggling. Get a better sense of what a GPS unit can do while using a simulator and watch how “Direct To” commands or “Nearest” selections change as your flight progresses. Move on to loading approaches and activating them at the appropriate time, just as you would in the aircraft. The many different aircraft available in today’s simulators provide a wide variety of avionics packages, so you’ll be hard pressed to not find something similar to your airplane. 
• Autopilot Operations – Proficiency with an autopilot allows a pilot to focus on other aspects of a flight and reduce our workload… but only if they are accustomed to autopilot operations. Better acquaint yourself with the features of an autopilot and how they can assist in flying approaches, entering holds, or assisting on climbs. Dust off the old pilot’s operating handbook supplements. How far into an approach can we use the autopilot? Can we use it on a go-around? Enjoy practicing those legal minimums in the simulator. 
• Approach Brief – An approach brief helps us to prepare and verify the important facets of a landing prior to descending towards terra firma. Repetition is our friend here and getting to the point where it’s fast and succinct is the goal. Your confidence will improve with a reduction in perspiration when you can quickly brief an approach into unique / new airports, as well as the aircraft’s performance and contingency plans. 

Maneuvers to Practice

• 0/0 Takeoff – Those previously mentioned rudder pedals will come in handy when you need to hold centerline on takeoff and can only see the next 20 feet of the centerline. This maneuver is not an everyday event, but it’s a great one to practice as a student. Speed control, heading control, and lack of reference to the ground is a high pucker factor maneuver when single pilot IFR. This is a good one to practice a few times before real life application. 

• Course Intercepts – Professional pilots need to be great navigators. Passengers may not notice it but fellow pilots will pick up on the full dot course deflection indication when rolling out on a new heading if you don’t know what you’re doing. Practice this maneuver in a slow flight configuration as well as a fast pace. Next try the maneuver with a paltry 10 degree intercept angle, then take it to the advised limit of a 45 degree intercept. Add another layer by intercepting a VOR radial 30 NMs away and then 3 NMs away. 

• Holding Entries – With improvements in the Air Traffic Control system, we hope to never enter a hold… But sometimes Mother Nature requires it if our fuel tanks allow it. Critique holding proficiency by entering the circuit with a direct entry, a teardrop entry, and a parallel entry. Once you have the entries down pat, connect ForeFlight or Garmin Pilot to your simulator and review your consistency in creating a symmetrical race track pattern when viewed from above. For a final challenge, throw a 20 knot wind perpendicular to the inbound leg and work on the wind correction technique.  

• Approach Down to Minimums – One of the greatest features of using a simulator for instrument flying is we can precisely set cloud profiles as well as flight visibility for our next mission. Fly a familiar approach with no clouds but the visibility down to the absolute minimum range. Next fly the same approach with unlimited visibility but take the overcast cloud layer down to the minimums for that approach. Lastly, layer both challenges into a single flight and see what it’s like to fly the approach on the worst advisable weather scenario for that airport. It’ll raise your heartbeat a little bit.  

• Missed Approach – When executing a missed approach in VFR conditions it is usually due to a bad approach, gusty wind, or a vehicle/animal that makes its way onto the runway. We have a view of the horizon and we’ll comfortably climb out while retracting flaps for either another lap in the pattern or another airport. When flying IFR it’s a little different: when reaching the missed approach point and having no reference to the airport outside the windscreen, we have to fly a go-around with reference only to instruments, while flying a missed approach route that usually concludes in a hold (hopefully you practiced those entry procedures), also while operating the radios and communicating your intentions. The Aviate, Navigate, Communicate hierarchy is important to remember in these scenarios. 

• Challenging Approaches! – When factoring in approach fixes and terrain, I feel confident saying that no two instrument approaches are the same. Each one will require different briefings, missed approach procedures, comm frequencies, etc. Additionally when transitioning to the approach from the south at altitude X, then flying the same approach from the north at altitude X+2000’, it’s a different start to the procedure. Whether pulling from Flying Magazine’s Chart Wise category or online articles highlighting challenging approaches, there is no lack of challenges for the digital instrument pilot. 

For more instrument content, check out Sporty’s IFR month landing page. Part three of this series will focus on emergencies to practice in a simulator.

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 1)

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 3)

Editor’s note: We are pleased to welcome a guest writer for this week’s flight sim update article. Jason Rosewell is a private pilot and owner of a PA-28. Jason works in Digital Marketing for Infinite Flight and is based just north of Toronto, Canada. 

When it comes to instrument flying, pilots have many modern tools at their disposal to learn, practice, and stay proficient. For many weekend warriors, using tools outside the cockpit is a must if they want to keep their heads in the game. Flight simulators are an invaluable tool for instrument-rated pilots and students, but they can be bulky, and the cost can sometimes be prohibitive. This is where a mobile flight simulator like Infinite Flight on your phone or tablet can come in very handy. 

Infinite Flight is an all-in-one flight simulator that uses your phone or tablet’s gyroscope and accelerometer to control pitch and roll movements. Worldwide terrain imagery and procedure data are streamed to the device, allowing you to become familiar with procedures before turning the prop.

EFB Connection

Something that will help you right out of the gate is connecting Infinite Flight to your EFB, and it works with ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot. As long as Infinite Flight is on the same local wifi network as the EFB device, you can enable the link in settings and make sure your EFB is ready. ForeFlight will show the simulator as a Device as soon as you start a flight session. To use Garmin Pilot, some flight simulator settings need to be enabled in the Garmin Pilot app. After that, you’re good to go. 

While Infinite Flight won’t allow you to practice the ins and outs of your aircraft’s GPS, it will allow you to stay proficient with your EFB. You can now load flight plans with instrument procedures into the simulator or into your EFB and share them back and forth. For example, if the goal is to fly the RNAV 34 GPS approach into Teterboro, you can load it up in ForeFlight as part of your flight plan, brief the flight, and fire up a session in Infinite Flight. Share the flight plan from ForeFlight to the simulator and fly the approach.

ForeFlight iOS app screenshot illustrating a flight plan with a hold and GPS approach with data being sent from Infinite Flight

Infinite Flight iOS app screenshot of a Cessna 172 flying a published hold and sending data to ForeFlight

Holds, navigation, and experiments

Holds can be a tricky concept for IFR students, and something instrument-rated pilots may not encounter on a regular basis. Staying proficient is a must, and practice (inside or outside the cockpit) makes the proficiency check that much easier. With Infinite Flight, you can choose to hand-fly a hold or build it into your flight plan using your EFB. Practice makes permanent! Use the simulator to practice those hold entries and gain valuable experience, even on the ground.

Depending on your location, knowing how to fly an NDB or VOR approach may be a requirement. Since this isn’t something we do every day, turning to the sim for practice can save you a lot of time and money. Navigating using VORs is equally beneficial in the simulator. With Infinite Flight’s global navigation database, mastering this skill can be done from the comfort of your living room.

Trying a new feature in your EFB can sometimes be a bit of a daunting task, especially in high-workload environments. At the time of writing, ForeFlight has a new feature in Labs called Taxi Routes, which allows you to tap prompts to create a taxi route in real-time on the diagram. It’s an awesome feature that’s expanding to more and more airports. I fly at an untowered field in central Ontario, Canada, so using this feature on the fly while talking to ATC isn’t appealing in the learning stages. Thanks to my ForeFlight connection with Infinite Flight, and with a little help from LiveATC.net, I can practice using this great feature from the safety of my office.

Infinite Flight iOS app screenshot of a Cessna 172 taxiing at White Plains, NY sending data to ForeFlight

ForeFlight iOS app screenshot showing taxi routes and receiving GPS and attitude information from Infinite Flight 

The price is right

Unlike many things in aviation, Infinite Flight won’t break the bank. It’s a free download in the App Store and Google Play and comes with a selection of aircraft and regions in which to practice. When you’re hooked, a USD$9.99/month subscription to Infinite Flight Pro will unlock all aircraft and global flight. If you want to take advantage of Infinite Flight’s multiplayer and ATC options, this same subscription provides unlimited access to those as well. 

To try Infinite Flight, head to the App Store or Google Play on your mobile device and download the app for free. A comprehensive user guide and YouTube training videos are available, as well as an active community forum to engage with other users. To learn more about Infinite Flight, visit us at infiniteflight.com. We hope to see you in the Infinite Flight skies soon! ✈

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About the author

Jason Rosewell is a private pilot and owns a PA-28. Jason works in Digital Marketing for Infinite Flight and is based just north of Toronto, Canada.