Instrument flying practice

I went up today with a student who is starting to learn how to fly on instruments.  It's an important part of learning to fly as often a pilot knows what his or her aircraft is doing only with reference to instruments; your body and its senses are useless in the air.  But instruments take a lot of processing, particularly when you are busy, hence the need to learn and to practise.

It was a lovely day today, so the student has a hood over his helmet to exclude his view of the outside world. If we had been flying in poor visibility it might not have been necessary.

The extra photos are of the instruments and of the aircraft on the line at sunset – pilots are talking to the engineer after shutting down, while the bowser waits to refuel the aircraft.