Lesson 37 PPL

22 Aug 2005

For this lesson, I did some more instrument flying. After we got to about 1000’ I put a mask on which essentially stops you looking out of the windows, then my instructor turned the plane left and right a bit and then got me to try and fly the plane straight and level with my eyes closed.

Once I felt we were, my instructor said I could open my eyes again, as we were in a spiral dive! When you can feel but not see the movement it messes with your mind up a bit, and though it completely feels like you are straight and level, you could be in any attitude, I can’t really explain what it is like, it’s really strange. The key takeaway there though is, when you can see out of the window, you must ignore your senses and trust the instruments completely as they won’t lie to you.

After that experience, he let me look at the instruments (only) for the rest of the flight, I was given headings and altitudes to fly, ignoring what my senses were telling me. I wasn’t allowed to take the mask off until we were on final approach, so I could land the plane normally. You get taught this so that if you somehow ended up in cloud accidentally, you have some basic skills to get yourself out back out again safely.

(I also took my meteorology exam and passed with 80%)

EGHD