Tinstaafl, is that why all the pilot shops over there sell those silly holding pattern wheels? Seriously, I get it now. When I saw them I thought it was maybe a training aid but then they seemed a bit too popular for that and I thought that somebody had come up with another useless pilot distractor to sell.

Technically in Oz we're meant to be able to do the same but I've never received such an instruction and I'd probably have to think really hard if I did (then I'd f*ck it up and just ask to orbit thereby making my passengers sick and having to clean up :yuk: bags).

FRQ CB

Staring at an instrument
 

One of the secrets of instrument flying is definitely not to stare at any one instrument.
All the instruments should make up a scene, just like the actors in a movie or play or even a photograph of a group.

Tmb

I suppose that's correct wrt the holding pattern computers. Off the cuff holds are one of those things that usually occur during a flight test or Instrument Proficiency Check - rather than day-to-day ops - for the occasional times when ATC choose to use it. Vectoring & speed control are more commonly used. Charted holds are used a lot though. Still have to calculate your own sectors.

Curiously, the US doesn't require instrument renewals/IPCs as long as you meet recency requirements - which includes holds.

At 90 deg remaining to turn the ADF needle should be about 10 deg ahead the abeam position ie 80 deg L or R of the nose. If it's less than that you need to stop the turn & wait for the needle to fall to the '10 ahead' position before continuing the turn inbound. If more than 80 deg then you need to increase turn rate &/or expect to re-intercept from the other side.

At 45 deg remaining to turn the needle should be about 5 deg ahead the 45 deg marks ie about 40 deg L or R of the nose. Same deal about what to do if the needle isn't in position.

If using a VOR then the equivalent to the '10 deg ahead' position is when the CDI becomes alive. '5 deg ahead' equivalent is when the CDI is at half scale deflection.

Some aircraft have a fair bit of needle error during bank. You will have to adjust the ADF needle's expected positions to compensate.

Also, if you have a RMI, make sure the needles are selected for either ADF or VOR according to the approach you are flying. Get rid of any indication to an unwanted aid, as even a few degrees difference may confuse you.
When tracking the ADF/VOR needles on RMI, once you roll onto heading approximating track and you see that the needle is not aligned, don't just sit there doing nothing in the hope that it will come good, and don't just point the heading bug at the needle if it is still off track. Turn TO and THROUGH the needle for a proper intercept. Until you are within 5 degrees of the inbound track, you can't descend on final and it just makes life difficult if you end up high on profile as a result.
If you are flying an ILS and there is no other azimuth aid actually associated with the approach, you may find one (usually a locater) on the centerline of the reciprocal approach. Use it to help with judging the turn to final. Relying on the localizer to come alive to start the turn often results in overshooting, especially from large intercept angles.
And if you have an older analogue HSI, one day the localizer indicator WILL stick off scale, yet no failure flag will appear. As you get close to the intercept, a gentle tap on the side of the case - not the glass - can do no harm in reminding the indicator that it has work to do.

If it is the same accident then I think you will find it was a B747 with the Collins FD system. From Wik:
The departure was from Bombay's Santacruz Airport, (now called Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport). The plane's destination was Dubai International Airport in Dubai, with Captain Madan L. Kukar as the Commander.

Approximately one minute after takeoff from runway 27 the pilot made a scheduled right turn while over the Arabian Sea, after which the aircraft briefly returned to a normal level position. Soon the plane began rolling to the left, and never regained level flight.

The cockpit voice recorder recovered from the wreckage revealed the Captain made a verbal comment about his Attitude Indicator (AI) having "toppled", meaning that it was still showing the aircraft in a right bank. The First Officer, whose presumably functional AI was now showing a left bank, said that his AI was also toppled, but there is some belief that the Captain mistakenly took this to mean that both primary AIs were indicating a right bank. It was after sunset and the aircraft was flying over a dark Arabian Sea, leaving the aircrew unable to visually cross-check their AI instrument readings with the actual horizon outside the cockpit windows.

The 747 had a third backup AI in the center instrument panel between the two pilots, and the transcripts of the cockpit conversation show that the Flight Engineer may have been attempting to direct the Captain's attention to that third AI, or perhaps to another instrument called the Turn and Bank Indicator, just five seconds before the plane impacted the sea.

The Captain's mistaken perception of the aircraft situation resulted in his using the flight controls to add more left bank and left rudder, causing the aircraft to rapidly lose altitude. Just 101 seconds after leaving the runway the jet hit the Arabian Sea at an estimated 35 degree nose-down angle. There were no survivors among the 190 passengers and 23 crew members.

[edit] Probable cause
The partially recovered wreckage revealed no evidence of explosion, fire, or any electrical or mechanical failure, and an initial theory of sabotage was ruled out.

The investigation concluded that the probable cause was "due to the irrational control inputs by the captain following complete unawareness of the attitude as his AI had malfunctioned. The crew failed to gain control based on the other flight instruments."