Some good general advice here but there's no substitute for actually experiencing it, illusions.
I agree 'boof',the VSI to me is a low or of a lower priority to me at first.

For me the speedo is No 1. Get to the pitch attitude you want at lift off then straight back to the speedo for that first check & then VSI ('cause it's going up anyway as you have just rotated a few seconds earlier) & a quick scan of the DG to see I am within an acceptable tolerance of req'd track it's up up & away!:) Repeat the above process & survival is guaranteed:ok: The speedo is a poor mans VSI anyway:-)
Having flown a couple of hrs flying out of black hole dromes in the middle of the night when yr dog tired & less than alert means the above for me was my salvation:-)



Wmk2

Can you explain what you mean by that Chimbu, not quite sure I understand what you are trying to impart.:)

A VSI will respond to an altitude change before an altimeter.

Especially an IVSI.

An IVSI/VSI will be displaying a rate of change for some seconds before a meaningful change in altitude occurs - keep it on 0 rate and altitude cannot change.

Ahhh...then how come, in the wind shear avoidance manouver do they tell you (after aggressively firewalling the thrust levers, rolling wings level and pitching up to the PLIs, ensuring speed break retracted etc etc) to monitor the IVSI?

What instrument will indicate you're flying out of the microburst/not going to hit the ground first - the AI, ASI or the IVSI?

IVSI/VSI were described as trend instruments when I were a lad.

IFR suggestions
 

VSI and IVSI:

Both served me well during my career, I always used the VSI as a trend instrument and the actual IVSI as a real time reflection of what the aircraft was doing.

Tmb

The VSI is brilliant because it is the only instrument which requires no mental processing to interpret it. Needle pointing up - you're going up. Needle pointing down - you're going down. :ok:

That's very important when you are experiencing confusion in the cockpit, however that is brought about (the leans, high workload, somatogravic or black hole illusions etc) :uhoh:

The AH needs you to interpret pitch attitude to the background picture and relate that to speed/adjustment, the ASI needs you to read the speed and relate that to the performance, the altimeter needle goes down on the right and up on the left of the instrument etc etc.

I agree Wally,

I think the ASI is very important when it comes to night departures.

By the way people, somotogravic illusion doesn't only affect high performance aircraft, I distinctly remember a night I experienced it in a C152! I remember looking at the ASI thinking, the ASI is broken, it's over-reading, the AH is reading 7 degrees nose up correctly, then once I checked the VSI, I worked out I was descending. The AH was a little lazy though...(by the way, not the first 'distinctly rememberable' event of mine from a lazy AH!)

I have a fair whack of hours in the C310. They will climb at about 500 fpm at Vy and MTOW. But if they're taking off light, they'll initially get over 2000 fpm. This means big attitude differences depending on weight.

So a C310's climb attitude departing with a heap of fuel and a few footy players on board will be very different after you've burnt some fuel and unloaded your pax.

So how do you know what attitude you need for your night departure? Initially reference it to the ASI. You need to absolutely nail your nominated climb speed. Check the ASI, work out if you need to pitch up or down, then stare at your AH and pitch up or down as required. Then quickly look at the ASI, to see if the attitude is working to provide you with your nominated climb speed. Of course as part of this scan you need to check the DG and VSI.

I'm not trying to tell people how to suck eggs here, but I would hate to see somebody read all of these posts, then take-off at night, staring at the VSI and thinking this will stop them spearing in.

The EVS technology is simple and can be a life saver. As prices come down, it should be considered for all all-weather aircraft, from singles up to jets. I certainly will try to get one installed when I get my "real" (as in final) travel plane..