... into IFR basics.

As from now, with the PPL licence in my pocket, for the remainder of my training I will mainly be focussing on instrument flying aka IFR ("Instrument Flight Rules"). While during a VFR flight a pilot keeps a visual reference to terrain, during IFR one should be able to fly the plane safely and correctly solely based upon instrument input. So, suppose that weather conditions are as such that a large part of flight takes place in dense clouds, an IFR rated pilot should be able to steer the plane from A to B in a safe way & complying with ATC instructions.

When talking about flight instruments, 4 categories can be distinguished between which the pilot in command has to divide his/her scan flow...

The most important category are the control instruments. They consist of the engine load indicator and the attitude indicator, part of the display unit which we refer to as the AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference System) on our Garmin1000 Glass Cockpit (check the inset, a view on the PFD of Garmin 1000). In case of AHRS-failure there is the artificial horizon backup we could still use.
It says that "power + attitude = performance", meaning that the input from engine and controls determines the plane's behaviour in climb, descent, level flight & bank or a combination of these. During the eye scan of the instrumentation, not less than 70%!!! of total time is devoted to the performance indicators!

A second group of instruments are the performance indicators, which consist of the speed tape, vertical speed indicator (VSI), turn & bank indicator, directional gyro component of the HSI & magnetic compass. These instruments are used to determine how the plane reacts on performance input and whether a change of performance input is needed to cope with the requested or desired manoeuver. For example: suppose a plane is required to descend at a rate of 500fpm to remain on the 3° glideslope of an ILS approach, the VSI would indicate if the plane performs well under the negative pitch angle visible on the attitude indicator.

Off course it would be difficult to get from A to B in dense clouds without directives on where to go. That is what the third category of instruments is meant for: the navigation instruments. They consist of the ADF, SSR, VOR-LOC, DME, GPS, ...

A fourth group are the engine instruments: fuel & oil indicators, temperature gauges, ... These are only checked let's say once every 10 minutes. They get very little attention and in case something abnormal happens, a pilot performing a correct instrument scan, keeping a close look at the control & performance instruments, would very quickly notice any abnormality... By the way, in a modern glass cockpit plane, the engine control unit would immediately display an appropriate warning or caution.

This week I have been and will be flying a handfull of basic IFR missions on the FNPT II simulator. No "real" flights but nevertheless very interesting sessions to learn to manage and master the correct scanflow technique while flying timed patterns and simulated radar-instructions. At the end of my second session today we even did a GCA ("Ground Controlled Approach"), where my instructor vectored me down untill I had a visual on final below the cloudbase at 300ft after a 60 minute flight in IMC. Amazing IFR!