Basic Instrument Flight

CASA Recreational Pilot License (Aeroplane) — CASA Sample Syllabus Lesson 26, Pre-flight Briefing Notes

These notes help you plan and run an interactive whiteboard briefing immediately before the flight — they are components to draw from, not a script to read.

All text and presenter notes in this briefing are licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0. More info

My whiteboard and running order

Before the lesson, read the sections that follow, then come back here: note your running order and approximate timings, and sketch the whiteboard you'll draw — today's training area and weather, the instrument panel grouped by power source, the nominated headings you'll use, and the unusual-attitude recovery sequence. Have the daily inspection already done, unhurried, before you reach this page. For inspiration, see the NZ CAA Flight Instructor Guide whiteboards for Instrument flying introduction and Unusual attitudes.

Using these notes

By the time of the pre-flight brief the theory (and the pre-lesson workbook) is done and the student is keen to fly — keep this to about 15 minutes (the syllabus allows 0.3 hr), at the whiteboard, working interactively: ask, draw, and listen rather than present. Build the picture together using your plan.

The components (choose your own order on the planning page):

Component ~ time
The aim of the flight 1–2 min
Today's flight — whiteboard walk-through 5–6 min
Threats and how we'll manage them 3 min
Airmanship emphasis — trust the instruments, rehearsal 4–5 min
Questions, then fly 1–2 min

The aim of the flight

Ask — "From the theory: what are we setting out to do today?"

Expect — in the student's own words, something close to:

  • fly accurately by sole reference to the full instrument panel — straight and level, climbing, descending, and turning onto nominated headings
  • recognise what an instrument failure looks like, and know what to fall back on
  • recognise and recover from unusual attitudes on instruments
  • keep working through the foundational skills we assess every flight: radio and transponder use, pre-flight and post-flight actions, taxiing, and pre-take-off checks

Write the aim briefly on the board — it anchors everything else.

Today's flight — whiteboard walk-through

Draw — the flight as a path: taxi → take-off → climb to the training area → instrument work (under the hood or foggles) → return → landing. Fill in local detail as you go:

  • Runway: ______    Training area: ______    Height for instrument work: ______
  • Who flies the transit legs visually, and who's on the hood/foggles and when: ______
  • CTAF / frequencies: ______    Transponder code as briefed: ______
  • Nominated headings we'll turn onto today: ______ · ______ · ______ · ______ · ______ · ______

Draw — the panel twice, grouped two different ways. First by function: the Attitude Indicator and power gauge in one colour ("control"), the ASI, altimeter, VSI, Direction Indicator and Turn Coordinator in another ("performance"). Then by power source: suction (AI, DI), electrical (Turn Coordinator), pitot-static (ASI, altimeter, VSI), and the compass on its own. Both are from the theory brief — have the student redraw them from memory if they can.

Ask — "Which instruments fail together, and why does that matter?"

Expect — the AI and DI both run off engine suction, so a suction failure takes both; the Turn Coordinator is electric on purpose. Follow with: "and what would you fall back on?" — Turn Coordinator for bank, ASI/altimeter/VSI for pitch, compass for heading.

Ask — "What's the recovery sequence for a nose-high attitude? A nose-low attitude?"

Expect — power, then wings level, then pitch, for either case (full power / ease forward for nose-high; throttle closed / ease back for nose-low). If this doesn't come back cleanly, walk through it again now — it's the one thing that must be automatic before we go flying it.

Ask — "If we end up in cloud by mistake, what do we do, in order?"

Expect — maintain control, a level 180° turn back the way we came, tell someone — descending only if it's known to be safe.

Threats and how we'll manage them

I'M SAFE and PAVE are standing checks before every flight — by now the student walks through them, not is taught them.

Ask — "Run me through your I'M SAFE — any flags today?" This lesson can be disorienting under the hood; watch for fatigue, a heavy meal, or anything that raises motion-sickness risk.

Ask — "PAVE for today's flight?" — Pilot, Aircraft, enVironment, External pressures — applied to this flight: today's actual weather (does it comfortably support VMC training, with a safe margin above any cloud we might have to avoid?) ______, the aircraft's instrument serviceability (from your workbook — what would you check?) ______, and any pressure to press on.

Draw — the genuine threats you and the student identify for this flight:

Likely candidates to draw out: spatial disorientation under the hood, over-reliance on sensation instead of the instruments, inadvertent real IMC if weather is marginal, traffic (the safety pilot's lookout responsibility is critical while the student is under the hood/foggles), and the radio/transponder/pre-flight/post-flight items assessed today.

Ask — apply TEAM to each: Transfer · Eliminate · Accept · Mitigate. For most, the mitigation is the same: a vigilant safety-pilot lookout, a genuine VMC margin, and trusting the instruments.

Ask / Draw — what's our Plan B? "If the weather doesn't hold, what do we do, and what will we see that tells us it's time?" Write both on the board: the plan, and its trigger. ______

Expect — a named alternative, not a vague intention: which way we turn, where we'd land, and the specific cue (cloud base, visibility, a landmark) that triggers it. A Plan B without a trigger tends to get postponed indefinitely — which is how VFR-into-IMC accidents actually happen.

Airmanship emphasis — trust the instruments, and a rehearsal

This is the student's first exposure to sole reference to instruments — the emphasis:

Ask / Draw — "While you're under the hood, whose job is the lookout?" Expect — the instructor's, entirely. Make this explicit: the student's entire attention is inside; yours is outside.

Every procedure gets briefed before we fly it — say this explicitly, so the student expects it: "before each new exercise I'll name it and we'll say the procedure through, then we'll fly it." It is also the student's licence to stop you: if we start something they haven't heard the procedure for, they should say so.

Rehearse the procedures on the ground — hands moving, say it aloud, before we ever fly them:

  • Nose-high: "Power — roll wings level — ease forward."
  • Nose-low: "Power off — roll wings level — ease back."
  • Instrument failure: "Turn Coordinator for bank — ASI, altimeter, VSI for pitch — compass for heading."
  • Inadvertent IMC: "Maintain control — level 180° turn — tell someone."

Normalise the surprise — say it plainly: under the hood, your senses will very likely disagree with what the instruments show. That is normal, and it is exactly what today's lesson is about. The skill is choosing to believe the instruments anyway.

A vigilant lookout from the safety pilot, and trusting the instruments over your senses — the two things that keep today's lesson safe.

Questions, then fly

Ask — "Any questions before we head out?"

Quick recap as you pack up the whiteboard:

  • I'M SAFE — already checked; speak up early if you feel unwell under the hood
  • Lookout is the instructor's job while the student is on instruments
  • The AI is your primary instrument — and the T-scan is how we confirm it
  • Every turn comes with a heading, not just a direction
  • Suction failure → AI and DI go together; fall back on Turn Coordinator, ASI/altimeter/VSI, compass
  • Nose-high → power, wings level, ease forward. Nose-low → power off, wings level, ease back
  • In cloud by mistake → maintain control, level 180° turn, tell someone — and our Plan B is ______

Confirm who handles the taxi and the radio, and go flying.

This is the risk-elevated airmanship section. The recovery rehearsal and the "normalise surprise" framing are the point of it — do them as a spoken, hands-moving drill, not a read-through.