Practice Instrument Approaches at Stockton, July 20, 2009

I helped out as the "safety pilot" for Dave Goodin on July 20, 2009. Instrument-rated pilots often help each other this way to maintain currency.

Yes, we were in the air at the time-of-day moment of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Maybe only a pilot might understand that being in the air is certainly an acceptable way to mark such a moment in the history of flight.

Anyway, the practice instrument approaches on this flight are a recurring event for instrument rated pilots, at least for those who maintain their instrument proficiency. One pilot who needs to do some required practice approaches and holding patterns asks another pilot to be safety pilot. So I was the safety pilot on this flight. Dave put on a view-limiting device (a.k.a the "hood") so that he couldn't see outside while flying the instruments, which accurately-enough simulates flying in clouds. My job was to look outside to make sure we were flying safely, such as watching for other aircraft and making sure we were right-side up and not too low or slow. If needed, the safety pilot can say "my airplane" and take the controls - but it wasn't needed.

Quite often, the tradition is that this routine is followed soon by another flight where the pilots change places. Then both are instrument-current for another 6 months. Of course, you have to judge your own flying each time to determine if you've really gotten enough practice. If not, you could elect to fly more until you're satisfied.

There aren't very many pictures from during the parts of the flight when Dave had the hood on. The reason is because I needed to be looking outside, and only on rare moments got a chance to take a picture.

On this practice flight the instrument approach procedures Dave chose were...

• Stockton VOR Runway 29R
• Stockton NDB Runway 29R
• Stockton ILS Runway 29R

The minimum requirement for this kind of practice is that the safety pilot has to be at least a Private Pilot, not even necessarily instrument rated. Both Dave and I are instrument rated Commercial Pilots.

Update 8/6: The practice turned out useful. Dave did need to do some instrument flying on the trip. Check out his tailcam video of the departure from Reid-Hillview Airport through the coastal stratus layer that commonly sits over the Bay Area on Summer mornings.