Is it just me....

[dtuuri]

Here is my latest irritant: the questions on the primary and supporting instruments. These questions are stupid for multiple reasons. The one reason I will gripe about is the verb "establishing" used by the FAA in their questions. When using this word, are they asking about transitioning from one flight mode to another, or while in a specific flight mode. For example: "Which instruments are considered primary and supporting for bank, respectively, when establishing a level standard rate turn?" I know they want you to know that AI is primary when you first want to go bank from level flight to initiate the turn, and that the turn coordinator is primary when you are making your standard rate turn. But "establishing" is such a sloppy word it's not evident which one they want. To answer my own question, "establishing" is apparently used by them in this question in contrast to the word "established", meaning they want you to answer as if you are "transitioning" to the turn from straight and level flight.

However, in the question: "What is the primary pitch instrument when establishing a constant altitude standard-rate turn," the word "establishing" doesn't seem to mean that you are "transitioning" to level flight. The correct answer assumes instead that you are already established in level flight.

Having just recovered from a dual-hard drive flameout (internal AND external) I need a break before starting to put Humpty Dumpty together again from imperfect backups. Please let me opine:

It would be a shame to blame the 'primary and supporting' system of attitude flying for a disagreement with FAA test authors, not that you are btw. It's such an intuitive way to teach, it literally needs no explanation more than, "Look at the instrument that gives the best information at the moment for whether or not to make an adjustment: best one for pitch, best one for bank, best one for power." The trouble starts when trying to memorize all the textbook examples for a test. In this case, the answer appears to be in Figure 7-33 on page 7-20 of The Instrument Flying Handbook: A callout pointing to the attitude indicator states, "Primary bank initially supporting pitch." So, the attitude indicator initially is primary bank and it's supporting pitch too. Another callout indicates the altimeter is "Primary pitch".

I can disagree, though, without rejecting the teaching method. I've flown several full-motion simulators which were set up to be so sensitive in pitch that rolling into a steep turn would cause me to consider the attitude indicator to be primary. Once established, some pilots consider the VSI to be primary pitch in those steep turns although Figure 7-33 says 'supporting'.

It begs the question, "In the instant you use a supporting instrument, is it 'primary'?" In real life, I'd say yes. On a written test I'd try to remember what the FAA said, but wouldn't stress out if I didn't.

dtuuri

 

[Jaybird180]

A lucid response Dave

 

[Merf]

I took the instrument test 2 weeks ago. Been fooling around for 6-7 years with the Sporty's package. I must have seen each question 5-6 times they had on their online practice tests. Nobody told me the questions would not be the same.

But the real questions were similar (for the most part) and I passed it. Next.