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Instrument rating · ACS IR.IV.A · Instructor lesson plan

Instrument Flight

Student pack: Train: Instrument Flight · Full lesson: Prepare guide

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1 · Objective

By the end of this lesson your student can explain instrument flight in their own words, apply it in a realistic situation, and fly it to the ACS standard for IR.IV.A.

Why it matters for safety: Spatial disorientation is a leading cause of fatal accidents in instrument conditions. The body’s balance sense was built for walking, not for banked turns in cloud, and it gives convincing but false signals. A steady scan and a habit of believing the instruments over your feelings is what keeps the airplane right side up.

2 · Assign before the lesson

Pre-work: the free Train pack, Instrument Flight. Attitude instrument flying: the scan, the corrections, and keeping your body from fooling you.

Anyone can open this link, no account needed. To see who trained it on your roster, use a free instructor account.

Pack: pilotprep.pro/train/ifr/instrument-flight · Full lesson: pilotprep.pro/prepare/ifr/instrument-flight

3 · Teach sequence

Key points to land

  • Attitude plus power equals performance: set the attitude and power, check the performance instruments, then make small corrections.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Attitude Instrument Flying)
  • The attitude indicator is the center of the scan. Look away to one instrument and back to it, again and again.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Attitude Instrument Flying)
  • Scan errors: fixation (staring at one instrument), omission (leaving one out), and emphasis (trusting one too much).(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Attitude Instrument Flying)
  • A standard-rate turn is 3° per second. Bank for standard rate is about 15% of true airspeed.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Basic Flight Maneuvers)
  • Your inner ear lies in cloud. The leans: a slow roll goes unsensed, and the abrupt correction feels like a bank the other way; hold wings level on the instruments, don't roll back. A graveyard spiral: power to idle, roll wings level on the attitude indicator, ease the nose to level, then add power.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Human Factors)
  • Establish, trim, cross-check, adjust: set the attitude and power, trim off the pressure, cross-check the performance instruments, and make small corrections. Trim holds an attitude and airspeed, not an altitude.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Attitude Instrument Flying)
  • Checkride standard: altitude ±100 feet, heading ±10°, airspeed ±10 knots, bank ±5° in turns.(Instrument Rating ACS (FAA-S-ACS-8C), IR.IV.A.S1)

The scan and the corrections

  • Control and performance method: control instruments (the attitude indicator and the power instruments, such as the tachometer and manifold pressure) set what the airplane does; performance instruments (altimeter, airspeed, heading, VSI, turn coordinator) show the result; navigation instruments (CDI, GPS, DME) show where you are.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Attitude Instrument Flying)
  • Primary and supporting method: for each maneuver, one instrument is primary for pitch, bank and power (for example altimeter, heading indicator and airspeed in straight and level cruise) and the others support it. Both methods lead to the same scan.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Attitude Instrument Flying)
  • Climbs and descents: at a constant airspeed, pitch controls airspeed and power sets the rate; at a constant rate, pitch controls the rate on the VSI and power holds the airspeed. Each change ends with trim and a cross-check.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Basic Flight Maneuvers)
  • Roll out of a turn about half the bank angle before the heading: about 8° early from a 15° bank.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Basic Flight Maneuvers)
  • Make changes with the attitude indicator in small amounts: a bar width or half a bar of pitch, a few degrees of bank.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Attitude Instrument Flying)
  • Straight and level, climbs, descents and turns each have a standard attitude and power for your airplane. Learn them.(Your airplane's POH/AFM)
  • Lead the level-off: about 10% of the vertical speed in feet before the target altitude.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Basic Flight Maneuvers)
  • Know each instrument’s limits: the VSI lags; the attitude indicator shows small errors after turns and speed changes that correct themselves, and older ones tumble past their limits (often about 100-110° of bank or 60-70° of pitch); the heading indicator precesses, so realign it with the compass in straight, level, unaccelerated flight; the compass errs in turns (UNOS) and speed changes (ANDS).(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Attitude Instrument Flying)

When an instrument is wrong

  • If instruments disagree, find the odd one out by checking what else should agree with it. Then cover the bad one.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Attitude Instrument Flying)
  • Abnormal indications by source. Vacuum: the attitude and heading indicators drift together while the electric turn coordinator disagrees, with low suction. Pitot blocked: the airspeed drops to zero, or acts like an altimeter if the drain is blocked too. Static blocked: the altimeter freezes, the VSI reads zero. Normal heading-indicator precession is slow and steady and the attitude indicator agrees; a failure doesn't match the others.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Attitude Instrument Flying)
  • Once you've found the failed instrument, cover it and fly on the others.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Airplane Attitude Instrument Flying)

Your body and your equipment

  • Fatigue, stress, hypoxia, alcohol and medications slow the scan. Use IMSAFE before flying into cloud.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Human Factors)
  • The leans: after a slow roll you feel level while banked. The graveyard spiral: a descending turn feels level, and pulling back tightens it.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Human Factors)
  • Head movement in a prolonged turn can cause the Coriolis illusion: a strong tumbling sensation. Keep your head still and use your eyes; do head-down tasks with the wings level.(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Human Factors)
  • Other illusions: somatogyral (a long turn stops feeling like a turn; stopping it feels like a turn the other way); somatogravic (acceleration feels like a climb, so you push over; deceleration feels like a descent); inversion (an abrupt level-off feels like tumbling backward); elevator (an updraft feels like a climb). Visual: false horizons from sloping clouds or ground lights, and autokinesis (a stationary light seems to move).(Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Human Factors)
  • An unfamiliar airplane or avionics display slows your scan. Get training in it before flying it in IMC.(Advanced Avionics Handbook (FAA-H-8083-6))

Watch for in the airplane: Your instructor watches for a steady scan that keeps returning to the attitude indicator, small corrections, trim after every change, and no fixation.

4 · Ask your student

In order: recall, then understanding, then applying it. Move up only when the answer shows it.

  1. Recall · What bank gives a standard-rate turn at 100 knots true?

    A strong answer: About 15 degrees: 15% of the true airspeed.

  2. Understand · Why is the attitude indicator the center of the scan?

    A strong answer: It’s the only instrument that shows pitch and bank directly and instantly. Everything I change starts there, and the others confirm it.

  3. Apply · In cloud you feel sure you’re in a left turn, but the instruments show wings level. What do you do?

    A strong answer: Believe the instruments and keep the wings level. It’s probably the leans. Keep scanning, keep head movements slow, and use the autopilot if it helps.

Scenarios to talk through

  • You keep busting altitude by 150 feet while copying a clearance. What’s the fix?

    Sound decision: Trim properly before writing, and glance at the attitude indicator between words.

  • The heading is slowly drifting and the airplane feels level. What do you check?

    Sound decision: The attitude indicator for a small unwanted bank; level the wings and re-trim. If the wings are level and the ball is centered, suspect heading-indicator precession and realign it with the compass.

  • You’re flying a different airplane type with a new glass display tomorrow, in IMC. Is that a good plan?

    Sound decision: Not without training in that display first. Fly it in VMC with an instructor until the scan is natural.

5 · Common student errors

  • Fixating on one instrument.

    Why it matters: Everything else drifts.

    How to correct it: Keep the scan moving and return to the attitude indicator.

  • Big corrections.

    Why it matters: You chase the needles.

    How to correct it: Small attitude changes, then wait.

  • Not trimming.

    Why it matters: Every distraction becomes an altitude change.

    How to correct it: Trim after every change.

6 · Completion standard

  • Maintain altitude ±100 feet during level flight, selected headings ±10°, airspeed ±10 knots, and bank angles ±5° during turns.
  • Use proper instrument cross-check and interpretation, and apply the appropriate pitch, bank, power and trim corrections.
  • Your student answers each "Ask your student" question in their own words, up to the Apply level, without prompting.
  • They talk through the scenarios and reach a safe, legal decision, explaining why.
  • They complete the pack’s quick check and can say what they flagged.

Area trained? Close out with a practice oral focused on IR.IV.A: pilotprep.pro/exam?exam=IFR&focus=IR.IV.A

7 · References

  • Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B), Human factors; attitude instrument flying; basic maneuvers; emergency operations
  • Advanced Avionics Handbook (FAA-H-8083-6), Automation
  • Instrument Rating ACS (FAA-S-ACS-8C), Areas IV and VII
  • Airman Certification Standards, task IR.IV.A

PilotPrep instructor lesson plan, from the Instrument Flight lesson (checked against current FAA sources 2026-11-13). A study and teaching aid, not FAA guidance; teach to your own judgment and the current ACS.