Emergencies in Instrument Flight – Simulated Practice

Last night I had my simulated emergencies flight in which I had to fly a series of instrument approaches and landings with one of our engines in a simulated engine-out condition and a few more instrument approaches and landings with simulated failed primary instruments including the attitude indicator and the horizontal situation indicator (HSI). However, because I had extensively trained for the engine-out condition for my multi-engine license, I found that I was quickly able to adapt to the situation and handled the approaches and even holding procedures very well – however, my legs did get a fair bit fatigued with the strong rudder input required to maintain straight and level flight. We did our flight last night just in the training area using the ILS into Casa Grande which significantly shortened up the flight time vs. a cross country which forced a much quicker transition between approaches requiring very efficient approach briefings – which thankfully I am now getting quite comfortable with.

With three solid approaches, landings, and missed procedures performed at Casa Grande, we then returned to the Standfield VOR and started a 30 mile approach into the Cooldige Airport and no sooner had I setup on the approach that my instructor failed both my attitude and HSI indicators forcing me to use the supporting instruments of the Altimeter, the Airspeed Indicator, the Turn Coordinator and even the GPS to continue flying the approach and landing. Again, because this was covered in simulator sessions on the ground, this wasn’t a new experience for me and I was able to quickly adapt and flew the plane very comfortably. Its really quite amazing how the training is really starting to come together and that even in potentially very stressful situations, the training and practice kicks in and as the pilot in command, my primary responsibility is to fly the plane (aviate , navigate, communicate).

This week should be another exciting week of training, with a long-distance cross country flight to Long Beach, CA cued up for Wednesday and a 2-hr night flight on Thursday to master night landings – which I am now quite well versed in. I am really looking forward to the flight to Long Beach to practice long flight training and ultimately to end the day with sights of the ocean and to take in a nice meal on the beach.