Airframe

This is my first post but I have been reading this forum for a couple of years now and have found everyone's posts to be very useful so I thank you for that.

I am currently working on my IFR rating and have run into some difficulties shooting ILS/Localizer approaches. For some reason I just absolutely cannot put everything together. It seems as though I'm always a step behind and I'm always forgetting something during the process. Also, my scan almost always breaks down about a mile away from the approach end of the runway. I've taken several lessons already and I'm hoping that a few more might smooth everything out. Did anyone else have trouble getting their IFR ticket? Any input or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

atlmsl

Any time I had a student who struggled with their scan on approaches and with "keeping up" I would take them back to basic attitude instrument flying. Go do some slow flight under the hood. This is never an easy thing to do, even for somebody with an instrument rating already. You're trying to balance airspeed, altitude, and power. Then try some turns, climbs, and descents, and maybe even some VOR tracking all while maintaining minimum contrallable airspeed. You don't have a choice but to improve your scan. Practice working on your scan away from the approaches, then go back and try again. You need to tackle the problem, which is not the approach, but rather your scan. Just my technique, I'm sure there will be other good ones.

Krafty1

The instrument rating is one of the hardest checkrides short of the CFI ride. In instrument flight, the best thing you can do and what you train to do is stay ahead of the airplane. The good thing about flying approaches is everything is very structured and your checklists will get you through. Some things you can do to start getting ahead of the aircraft:

-Unless you live in a very congested area of airports you will probably find yourself flying the same approaches consistently during your instrument training, go home at night and brief those approaches 'til you are briefing them in your sleep

-Start setting up for the approach as soon as you know what approach you are flying, the sooner you get through the brief and checklists the sooner you can get back to flying the approach

-On that note, if your instructor/examiner does not mind, use the autopilot as much as possible during the setup.

-If your instructor hasn't already pointed this out, the glide slope becomes more sensitive as you get closer to the approach end of the runway so prepare for this don't use abrubt control movements to correct for this as you may see yourself overcorrecting the opposite direction. If a 500 FPM descent kept you on the glideslope before 1 mile from the runway keep it in as you pass that FAF

Hope this helps, there are more tips I can think of that I might post later but help yourself by reading the through the Instrument Flying Handbook and looking over those approaches. Don't worry about anything just yet, through repitition approaches will get to be the easy part. Learn and prepare for the instrument oral as soon as you can.

de727ups

One thing you could do is slow down, if that's an option. If you're doing ILS's at 100 knots, you'll find the needles move slower at 80 knots. The slower the pace, the easier it is to stay ahead of the airplane.

Another thing is to focus on small heading changes and small VSI changes to control the needles. If you put too much focus on the LOC and GS needles, you'll over correct and end up constantly going back and fourth. Again, make your heading and VSI control your primary focus, and not the ILS needles.

joepilot

Trim, trim, trim. Especially rudder trim. Remember that each power or airspeed change changes your need for rudder. If you are flying an aircraft without rudder trim, you will need to adjust rudder pressure with each power or trim change.

Joe

the King

Don't accept deviations. If the needle starts moving away from center, whether it is the LOC or GS, start correcting. Smaller, more frequent corrections are better than large corrections any day. That's what flying is. A smooth flight occurs when you notice trends before they develop into deviations.

Pitch and power go together. You need to do both, and like I said, the earlier you do it, the less you have to do. Once you have a correction, see what happens. If it is working, prepare to return to "normal". If it doesn't work, increase the correction incrementally. Repeat over and over.

DSflyer05

As others said you must first feel comfortable with basic instrument attitude flying. Learn to fly the airplane in all different configurations since you will find the airplane flys different (stability wise.) Practice your constant rate and constant airspeed climbs and descents, since this is basically all an ILS is. Have a full understanding how your instruments work. Remember your VSI is delayed as little so keep your scan up and crosscheck, crosscheck, crosscheck. Good luck, Keep us posted!

N0315

I felt the Instrument rating was the easiest check ride, but its also the one I studied for the most. Small corrections is what you've got to do. The scan probably breaks down a mile out because things get more sensitive, and you may panic. Get the GS and speed where you want it, and trim, trim, trim. And trim some more. This makes the small corrections you need to be making easier since you're not fighting the airplane. Like it was also said, slow it down if you can. I was taught to fly them at 90, but you could do it at 80, just make sure you figure the timing out right for the MAP. If the LOC is going left 5 miles out, give it a 5 degree correction, and see what happens. If it stops moving, I like to turn another 5 degrees, and turn back to the original course correction. When you trim and set the plane up 5 miles out or so, it will do most of the work for you. Just remember the 5T's. Time, turn, twist, throttle, talk. This is what I do, and I am sure many people here do it different:

FAF click the clock, throttle down to 1800 and put 10 degrees of flaps in, and start the decent. I already twisted the OBS in to the FA course WAY back on vectors. I already briefed the approach WAY back. So now at FAF, all I have to do is keep the speed and needles where I want them. Now just talk. Tell tower you're FAF inbound, accept landing clearance, and just concentrate on the scan, and make small corrections with trim.

Airframe

Thanks for the help. I'm definitely going to work on some basic instrument flying under the hood before I go back to any lessons. I just need the actual flying part to be more second nature so I'm not overwhelmed when setting up or shooting these approaches.

papatango269

Everything that everyone has said is good advice. I had an examiner say that the IFR ticket is that hardest whereas the CFI takes the most preparation.
Some things I would suggest is, (some of which were already stated). Stay ahead of the airplane. That means 4,5,6 steps ahead. Anticipate what is next.
Have a procedure for you approach set up and do it the same way everytime. Slow flight and basic attitude inst. flying is a great exercise. Small corrections. Something I incorporated from an article I read is to fly the approach visually, without the hood. That seems to really help some people.
Hope that helps.

Papa T