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Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 3)

February 17, 2023/in Tips and technique/by Chris McGonegle

Welcome to the last 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 three will cover challenging emergencies to practice in a simulator as well as […]

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 2)

February 15, 2023/in Tips and technique/by Chris McGonegle

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 […]

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 3)

February 17, 2023/in Tips and technique/by Chris McGonegle

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 2)

February 15, 2023/in Tips and technique/by Chris McGonegle

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 3)

February 17, 2023/in Tips and technique/by Chris McGonegle

Emergencies to Practice

Partial Panel – You’re finishing up a long cross country in instrument flight conditions and before you start descending from your enroute altitude, your attitude indicator goes lopsided and a warning flag pops up… Would you declare an emergency? Request assistance from ATC? Or would you continue the flight as planned and divy up the extra bandwidth to the other instruments? With practice you can get to that last option and get to the point where you can accurately control vertical speed as well as heading and roll rate without an attitude indicator. Take the “this is really bad” mindset to “darn.”
Unusual Attitude Recoveries – A common first link in the error chain when a VFR pilot accidentally flies into Instrument Meteorological Conditions is a subtle entry into an unusual attitude. It’s very easy to recognize we’re in a bank when we can see the horizon in front of us, but in instrument conditions with spatial disorientation working against our senses, we have to put a lot of faith into understanding and reacting to our instruments. Try recovering from a 15 degree nose down and 10 degree left bank with full power in IMC. Next, trim your plane out for enroute flight, close your eyes and apply a few pounds of back pressure on your yoke for five seconds and give half right rudder for three seconds. Open your eyes and recover before losing control.

Electrical Failure at Night – Instrument night flying is difficult enough but what would you do if your electrical system failed? Brush up on FAR 91.185(c) to review the legal designations for route, altitude, and when you can leave your clearance limit without a working radio in instrument conditions. Next see if you can land the aircraft with the remaining flight indications left after your aircraft’s electronics go dark. (X-Plane has an “aviation light” option for illuminating the flight deck in this scenario).

Flying into a Thunderstorm – Unless you’re Bob Buck in a B-17, you’ll never fly into a thunderstorm intentionally. I remember associating the leading anvil edge of a thunderstorm with the big red X. In a simulator, we can dip our toe into the dangerous waters of flying through or around a thunderstorm and gain a new appreciation for maneuvering speed. Try to keep your altitude and heading in a Cessna 172 while flying through a thunderstorm. This will be the proverbial touching of the hot stove, and hopefully instill a healthy respect for wide clearance of these weather buildups in real life flying.

Conclusion and Best Practices

The FAA has made it clear that they recognize Instrument flying as a diminishing skill per the recency requirements outlined in FAR 61.57(c). Home-built flight simulators offer great value to IFR pilots, even if we can’t log time or approaches in our logbook while using them. We’ll be able to keep all the micro tasks efficient and fluid, which in turn leads to positive execution of the macro flight commands. If a student pilot wants to reduce hours spent earning their instrument rating, an active pilot is on the verge of accruing instrument flying rust, or any aviator wants to better understand how to fly without reference to the ground, today’s home flight simulators offer immense value.

We hope you enjoyed this three part series on using an at home simulator for instrument flying. For more instrument content, check out Sporty’s IFR month landing page. Best of luck on keeping the blue side up and have fun digitally flying.

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 2)

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 3)

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 2)

February 15, 2023/in Tips and technique/by Chris McGonegle

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)

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 3)

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 2)

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 3)

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 2)

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 3)

Emergencies to Practice

Using Flight Simulators for IFR Training (Part 2)

Instrument Flight Useful Scenarios / Maneuvers

Basic Tasks

Maneuvers to Practice

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