IFR FLIGHT DEBRIEF

Date: 05/25/2014
Jim,
Nice job flying the airplane. It is apparent you have solid flying skills and are a skilled pilot. A few things I think you
do a great job on:
Checklist usage before takeoff after the run-up. Try to start incorporating the checklist VFR before landing
and during other phases of flight. That will create a habit which will ease the transition of doing it while
IFR.
Staying slightly high on final is a great way to save yourself from headaches if you have engine trouble.
Youd be surprised to see how many people drag the airplane in low with the nose up, slow and high power.
We are creatures of habit, and the idea in the long run is to get you into an IFR routine you feel comfortable with.
Not only will it be useful for flying IFR, but it will also become your normal routine during VFR flights.
A few things to think about for next time:
430/530: PROC and ENTR. Those are the only two buttons you need to load, activate and fly an approach
in those boxes once the destination airport is loaded. Activate vectors to final for radar vectors onto the
final approach course (99% of the time), or activate approach for the full approach. We will get to fly
them both ways. Keep in mind that if you are flying a conventional approach, you want the CDI button to be
selected to VLOC, so that your OBS feeds itself data from the ground based station. If you are flying an
RNAV approach, CDI should be selected to GPS.
Outer knob on GPS selector controls the big fields while the outer one either scrolls down a menu or
simply changes the individual letters. Thats essentially what you would use to input individual fixes of an
IFR FP into the FPL page of the GPS.
When on final for a non-precision approach, configured for landing and before landing checklist complete
2NM prior to the FAF. Remember this configuration as you start watching IFR videos, reading plates and
playing these scenarios in your mind as we will build on that.
Flying raw data is great, but being able to incorporate the flight director is better, IF, and only IF the
information fed to the FD bars is correct. Following it blindly is dangerous. We will build this skill so that
you find efficient ways to use it, and when to stay away from it.
Remember that when you trim, you trim for a combination of airspeed and power setting. The airplane will
require minimal inputs and will fly itself afterwards. Feet the control the plane. The more you touch the
yoke, the more you will unconsciously input movements and destabilize the aircraft (remember
disconnecting the autopilot and naturally grabbing the yoke afterwards?). Precise IFR hand flying comes
from precise aircraft trimming and thinking of aircraft control inputs as pressures rather that commands
which result in jerkier movements. Smaller deviations are easier to correct when the aircraft is always
trimmed.

I feel today was a very beneficial flight. The idea is to slowly make you comfortable with the IFR environment,
plugging all required IFR data into the airplanes systems and essentially becoming a sharp instrument pilot
(which will make you a better VFR pilot). I am going to look for some good material for you to remember
important concepts. Next time well do some maneuvers under a hood to build a strong instrument scan and
practice a few ILS approaches.