User Guide

Flight Simulator

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Microsoft

Tutorial 11: Radial Scanning the

Primary Instruments

(Step Two of the Three-Step Instrument Scan)

Step one, Step two, Step three: doesn’t this sound like a Fred Astaire introductory dance lesson? Well,

instrument scan is best taught in a similar way, by easily managed steps. In this sense, your partner is

the instrument panel and your eyes dance from instrument to instrument in an organized way. You’ve

learned Step one of the three-step scan, now on to Step two.

Step one allowed you to place the airplane in any attitude by sole reference to the attitude indicator

(AI). But using the AI as your only means of attitude control is like using a thermonuclear weapon to

kill fleas in your apartment. It works, but lacks the precision your neighbors have come to expect in a

bug bomb. As an instrument flyer, you need precise control of headings, altitudes, and airspeeds. So,

once you’ve selected a new attitude in Step one, you’ll proceed to Step two where you’ll radial scan

the primary instruments and fine-tune the attitude selected in Step one.

Here are the three steps for your review. Remember, all three steps are done, in sequence, every time

you make a major attitude change. In total, all three steps take from 15 to 20 seconds to complete.

Step 1: Select attitude, power, and trim.

Step 2: Radial scan the primary instruments.

Step 3: Trim using the VSI and monitor scan the Big-6 instruments.

The purpose of Step two is to look at one or more flight instruments and then make any necessary

changes in pitch, bank, or power to obtain the

flight attitude desired. This allows you to get the

precise heading, airspeed, and altitude desired.

The term radial scan signifies that your scan

starts at the AI, goes to a primary instrument on

the panel, then returns to the AI. The scan

pattern is out and in along the same path. Think

of the path your eyes make as they start from the

center of a bicycle’s wheel and follow a spoke

radiating outward and inward, as shown in Figure

Figure 1