Flying In the Clouds - Instruments

UH60M Above the Clouds

In Primary, you learn how to fly while referencing the horizon and other cues outside the aircraft.  Right when you think you're starting to get a feel for how to fly the aircraft, they throw you into instruments!  Instruments is where you learn to fly the aircraft solely by reference to the instruments, without any outside reference.  They accomplish this in 2 ways.  First, they make you sit in the simulators with a gray screen on (simulating clouds) and fly like that.  Second, when you get to the aircraft, they put a vision restrictor on your clear visor of your helmet and curtains on the windows of the aircraft to simulate instrument conditions.

For Instruments, you spend the first 5 weeks in a simulator, and the final 2 weeks and a few days at the flight line.  The schedule is pretty much the same as it was during Primary, except that for the final week or two of simulators you can drive yourself instead of taking the bus.

"Flight Line"
Most of your time in instruments is going to be in the simulator.  Some people really hate it and some people just put up with it.  I don't know anybody who actually likes it.  One thing to remember is that it is primarily to help you learn instrument maneuvers, it is not to teach you how to fly the aircraft.  It reacts differently than the actual aircraft does, and you don't have your full field of vision that you normally rely on in the aircraft.  However, it is a great simulator.  The simulator I used on the civilian side was a toy compared to these ones.

ILS 6 at Cairns AAF

The first 1.5 weeks are called BI (which I think stands for Basic Instruments).  You won't do any instrument procedures, you will only learn how to fly by reference to the instruments.  They'll grade you on being able to hold airspeed, altitude and heading (or track).  It's pretty weird at first.  At the end of BI you'll have a check ride and then go to AI (Advanced Instruments).  The biggest advice I have is to use the instruments as they tell you to.  I used the VSI as my primary altitude instrument, but once we actually started flying, the VSI was unreliable.  You may not know what this means yet, but remember this...use your attitude indicator as your primary instrument!

Once you get to AI, you get into real instrument flying.  You'll learn all about regulations and publications for instruments, how to read charts and approach plates, how to talk to ATC, and how to get from flying 5000' to 200' above the ground at the approach end of a runway all while in the clouds.  There's a lot that goes into this portion.  I'm not going to go into all of it, but just know that you'll probably learn something new every single day.  It's a very challenging mode of flight to learn, but once you learn it, it's actually very easy.

Your last 2 weeks or so is putting it all together in the actual aircraft.  There's a little bit of a learning curve going to the helicopter but it's all the same as in the simulator.  The biggest thing that will cause a problem is probably the weather and wind.  In the simulator the wind is constant, but in reality it's actually always changing; especially when you are descending on an approach.  And then there are updrafts and downdrafts that make it pretty difficult to hold altitude.  Once you figure that out, you'll take your final check ride and be on to BWS.

During flight line you will still have daily questions everyday, but it is different than primary.  You'll get a packet at the beginning of instruments that has the questions for the entire course.  They are much more in depth than primary (which was mostly 5s and 9s), and they really help in studying for the oral portion of the check ride.  They will be asked during the daily brief, and you'll have to stand up and answer them from memory.  Also, don't forget 5s and 9s.  They will be tested on the check ride.


Academics
You'll have academics every day in instruments just like in primary.  The only difference is that in instruments the tests are cumulative.  Meaning that information from day 1 of instrument academics will be on the last test of instrument academics.  If you do all of the practical exercises (PEs), you will be able to get 100% on the test.  The tests are open book, but keep in mind there are about 10 books that you can get your information out of!


The biggest thing I underestimated going into instruments was the amount of new knowledge that there was to learn, and the amount of planning that goes into preparing for an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) flight.  I spent more time studying than I did in primary, and I also spent a lot more time planning (since there is nothing to plan in primary!)  The more in depth planning you do, the easier your flight will be.  Other than trying to hold airspeed and altitude, knowing what to do next is the hardest part of instruments.  If you get behind it becomes very difficult to catch up and that's usually what causes problems on checkrides and on IFR flights in general.

I like to chair fly every flight before I actually do it.  What I mean by that is to go through the entire flight and what I'm going to do at each portion before actually getting in the aircraft.  I get all of my frequencies written down in the order that I'm going to use them (both COM and NAV freqs), and I make a plan of how I'm going to set up the GPS if it's going to be used.  Then, I run through what I'm going to to do and the radio calls I'm going to make at each stage of the flight.  If you've run through it once or twice before you actually get in the aircraft with your IP (or check pilot), it makes it much, much easier and relaxed.

Of course though, this is flight school and you won't always have the luxury of planning every flight in advance.  Often times my IP would give us our route in the morning when we arrived, making it that much more difficult.  Still, I would ensure that I knew generally what I was going to do on each leg of the flight, and I would still plan out my frequencies before going to the aircraft.

Well, that's about it for instruments.  8 more weeks of flight school down and only 1 more course before you get to select your aircraft.  By this point, most of your OML points have been accounted for.  All that's left is BWS and your PT test.  Also, this is the last time you'll fly the TH67 (until the Army transitions to the LUH-72).  You should have a few days to a week off before you start BWS....and you're going to need it.  I'll tell you why in the next post!