I came along with Dave Goodin on a flight in his Piper Comanche 250.
Originally the idea was that I would act as "safety pilot" while he did
some practice instrument approaches at Stockton.
A safety pilot is a second pilot required for simulated instrument flight.
In other words, if the pilot puts a "view limiting device" like a hood on
so that he can only see the instruments, there has to be another pilot to
look outside for other aircraft.
And as soon as the view limiting device goes on, the aircraft now has two
required crew members - so the safety pilot can log the flight time.
Though the sky had cleared in San Jose, the Central
Valley still had low clouds.
So we knew, depending on where the clouds were,
it was possible that we'd end up doing the practice in
actual instrument conditions, not simulated.
And that turned out to be what happened.
The difference is, of course, the pilot doesn't put a hood on.
And the safety pilot (me) becomes his assistant.
Though I couldn't log the time since the second crew member isn't required
for that, it's always good practice anyway.
Before we were in actual instrument conditions, I put the camera down and
focused on the flight.
But I got some pictures while we were outside the clouds.
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