IFR IMC Flying

[Krallu]

Hi,

I am an IR rated pilot even on ME Single Pilot.
But I have mostly flown VFR conditions. Now when I think of flying in IMC I get nervous. I find myself looking for VMC weather still though I should be trained to cope with the weather for the day with IFR instead.

Any suggestions for training to become more calm with flying in IMC? Fly shorter flights with approaches and trying more worse weather gradually?

Thanks!

[nick14]

Try going for a few flights imc with an instructor if your not confident.

The thing I did was an IR flight without screens (as we didnt need them the weather was poor enough) and flew an route to ndb and diversion and ILS. Great for confidence building in real IMC.

The best way to build confidence is by doing it but with someone cofident next to you to.

Nick

[Pace]

Krallu

As you know IFR and VFR are purely rules so you can fly a complete IFR flight in perfect weather.

You can also fly an IFR trip where you may climb through layers of cloud and then sit in VMC conditions on top of cloud.

You can fly IFR where you enter cloud at 200 feet and dont pop out again until 200 feet at your destination.

It maybe that all your training has been with an instructor so that you are not confident on your own. In that case going with an instructor is not going to help. Try flying in IMC with a PPL who is less experienced than you so you feel in command and on a day with a high cloud base so that you can drop in and out of cloud at will.

You sould be as relaxed in cloud as out of it familiarity is the key.

Some people suffer with claustraphobia. A pilot friend of mine is very comfortable flying VFR in VMC but panics when out of sight of the ground either in cloud or on top.

Pace

[yawningdog]

Its all about currency.

I always get a bit nervous if I haven't flown IMC for a while. I would suggest that you (or any IFR pilot) should fly with an autopilot. You don't have to use it, but it helps to build that confidence back knowing that at the very least it will keep the wings level. Also, a pair of high quality headphones is very important for minimizing distraction, confusion and keeping the stress levels low. Also, practice you flight beforehand on a flight simulator.

[IO540]

I suggest doing some local flights and drilling holes in a few clouds (preferably horizontal holes :) ).

[Krallu]

Thanks guys for all your tips.
It is hard for you to tell exactly how I feel. But I guess you are right on point when you say that I need some experience telling me that I manage this on my own.

I need to get comfortable that I can manage it on my own and that it works.

So I think I will try doing more IFR flights starting with good weather then slowly worser and worser all the time getting comfortable at the level.

:)

[IO540]

The safe thing is to do flights where you intentionally encounter IMC but you can get out of it easily. So, e.g., fly into a cloud layer where you can stay as long as you want, but which you can exit vertically. That's the best way to do IFR / instrument flight practice.

Just picking a lousy day to fly could land you into some lousy conditions. If the base is OVC006 and the tops are FL200, and the 0C level is FL060 (say, a typical summer warm front situation) then you have a huge mass of muck which you won't get out of easily. If flying formally IFR, Eurocontrol flight plan, you have to do as ATC tell you and you thus have to have the escape route (from icing, embedded CBs etc) lined up all along the flight, and always keep it open as you go along so you don't get into a corner.

This in turn results in most real-world IFR GA flight being done in VMC; at least the enroute portion where one typically sits VMC on top in sunshine while the "VFR-ghetto" pilots are sweating it out scud running below the cloud.

It is a funny paradox that one does the absolutely ludicrously hardest possible training and collects the hardest bits of paper, just to do the easiest imaginable real flying, with ATC doing most of work, with seamless GPS RNAV navigation, with controlled airspace being irrelevant, with an implied IFR clearance for the whole route all the way to short final, with the safety of instrument approaches.... but that is how this old aviation business is set up. Plain old VFR is the hardest flying anyone can do - if one actually wants to go somewhere for real.

[scooter boy]

Personally I think it is normal to feel scared and have a heightened sense of arousal when in IMC, particularly when crossing through a frontal system or flying an approach in real IMC.

On Monday night I shot the ILS into Plymouth after a night/IFR flight back from Jersey. Overall the weather wasn't too bad but we were IMC in and out of cloud, out of sight of the surface and in constant rain/mod TRB (no ice at our level).

We broke out at about 600ft, but in that couple of mins before I was all eyes on the instruments watching over all aspects of the approach.
The GS wasn't picked up by the autopilot so I hand flew the approach (rather than sitting back and being a manager which is how I prefer to play things).
I got home at 10.15pm but couldn't get to sleep for a couple of hours - I was buzzing too much.

When I was very new to IMC this would have absolutely terrified me. It still frightens me but I am more used to it and sure that I can fly the go-around and divert if necessary.

Fear keeps you alive. It is a positive Darwinian trait.

SB

[Pace]

Krallu

It is not just flying IMC but doing anything new on your own which gets the nerves going but which gives the greatest satisfaction when you achieve it.

Having an instructor in the right seat gives a security that if all goes wrong he will sort it.

On your own if all goes wrong there is only you to sort it.

I can remember soon after getting my PPL many moons ago flying longer trips with a more experienced PPL friend.

I was happy in the local area on my own.

We planned a trip taking two non flying friends to france for the day. I drove to the airport excited at the prospect and met the two non pilot passengers.

My experienced PPL friend had not yet arrived so i busied myself preparing the aircraft.
Then came the call! My PPL friend had crashed his car on the way to the airport. He was fine but would not be able to come. he happily told me to go on my own as I was perfectly capable.

Without him my confidence went and I nearly cancelled. My non pilot passengers pleaded with me to go and in the end I said ok. It was the best thing I had done as the successful trip lifted my confidence no end while to have backed out would have ruined it.

Moral to this is there are times when we have to fly the nest on our own without the watchful eye of Mother bird.

Start flying IMC on your own or with a less experienced PPL so that you can build the confidence in yourself doing what you have been taught to do.

Fly in conditions where you can get out if you have to ie high cloudbases or broken cloud or through thin cloud. Then work up as you become more confident.

Pace

[Krallu]

Sure will do. :)

Thanks again. Actually reading your posts gets me excited to go out flying IFR.

[spikeair]

I can understand your aprehension. I've 'only' got a IMC rating but do enjoy using it.
My training as it worked out ended being in VMC conditions with a hood so by the time I passed by IMC exam, I hadn't actually flown in real IMC at all.
So when the oppotunity came to fly for real in IMC, I took alon my instructor just as a safety pilot. It all worked out ok and improved my confidence.
the next flight was again a deliberate IFR one with the cloud base at about 3000feet. however whilst in that cloud , it was incredibly bumpy and I was struggling to maintain my altitude clibimg 200 feet and then descending 200 feet in a few seconds or so. Felt like a fairground ride. I thought that I had perhaps bitten off more thna I could chew and after a while requested a descent to become VMC. Quite frightening at the time but glad I did it.
I think as otehrs have said the key is building up gradually, starting off with high cloud bases so have an optionto get out or perhaps days where you are in an out of the clouds so you're not IMC for too long at a time.
I now really love IMC flying m I find it so much more rewarding .

[tmmorris]

Set yourself minima and stick to them. Mine is 1000ft cloudbase, because I have only an IMCR and limited time/money to fly, so I can't keep as current as I'd like.

1000ft means that on approach, you'll be visual at 3 miles.

But, where you get the typical stratus at 1200ft with tops at 2000ft which England seems to create virtually daily, fly on top of it. Or fly in and out of the tops - some of my favourite flights have been around the tops of fair-weather cumuli, in and out of cloud tops, in the gaps, &c., all bathed in sunlight. Magical.

I have, though, taken a vow not to do single pilot IFR in IMC with only a 5-year old for company. I had a moment when I was talking to Shawbury on box 1, Gloucester on box 2, and my son was asking lots of questions, when I realised I was overloaded. (Easily solved by turning off the intercom...)

Tim

[scooter boy]

"whilst in that cloud , it was incredibly bumpy and I was struggling to maintain my altitude clibimg 200 feet and then descending 200 feet in a few seconds or so. Felt like a fairground ride. I thought that I had perhaps bitten off more than I could chew and after a while requested a descent to become VMC. Quite frightening at the time but glad I did it."

Spike, this was a cumulus cloud. Penetrating cumulus clouds can make you feel like the wings are going to snap off. Reduce speed to Va, pop the gear down if necesary to increase inertia and hang on. Being chucked around whilst in IMC is a worrying feeling, particularly at night. CBs also have the added rain factor and heavy rain associated with them can also be disconcerting, best to let George the autopilot fly and try to avoid banging your head on the cockpit roof. I never set out to fly through a CB, when you are IMC in an airway embeddeds can find you, especially around active frontal systems. I would agree with IO that above is better - in his scenario I would be at FL200 with O2 on watching the ice melt in the sunshine. Or even better reschedule the flight to avoid the muck completely and have an easy ride.

Stratus are smoother affairs altogether, slow insidious icing can occur and vis beneath can be awful but they are steady eddies.

I'd far rather have 1000 miles in stratus than 5 in cumulonimbus.

Incidentally - a little bird told me that WX:XM weather will be available soon in Europe. This will help with CB avoidance far more so than the stormscope.

SB