On Sunday, November 8, 2015 at 1:54:00 PM UTC-5, george wrote:
On 11/8/2015 3:03 PM, Dudley Henriques wrote:

I would only add to what Larry has already said that once a pilot has developed a good instrument scan what actually happens while scanning is that the flying of the aircraft as that relates to subtle corrections actually takes place BETWEEN the time the eye scans the instrument and is in route to the next instrument in the cross check.
In other words, you see what the instrument is asking you to do as you scan it then as you move to the next instrument in your scan you DO what that last instrument told you needed to be done.
So on and so on as your never ending scan progresses.
It takes time and even more importantly CURRENCY to maintain competent scan proficiency.
I liken it very much to a major league baseball hitter reading the stitches on a fastball. Leave the venue for a while and you start losing your ability to read that fastball.
For this exact reason I always encourage pilots with instrument ratings to USE THE RATING !!!!!!!!

Dudley Henriques

True.
An old instructor who flew in WW2 always referred to 'The Graveyard
Spiral' and demonstrated just how quickly a situation could and would
develop.
I seem to recall 90 seconds was the average time it took me to unnail
the needles
I did a few hours 'under the hood' and a few hours night flying around
the circuit but never had the compulsion to go any further.
An IR should be part of the pre CPL requirement

What makes the "graveyard spiral" so deadly is that in most cases it's coordinated (ball centered). Pilots seeing the airspeed rising react to a pitch change neglecting the bank. The applied positive pitch simply tightens the spiral doing nothing to decrease the airspeed.
The solution to ANY nose down increasing airspeed situation is to FIRST check and correct the BANK......THEN correct the pitch!
This is so basic it's almost unbelievable that a pilot can pass even a PPL check ride without knowing this and demonstrating that it's known.
Doing it wrong usually ends VERY badly!
Dudley Henriques