Took the wife out to the high-desert of Texas last week for lunch (destination was a very poor choice on my part). On the way back we dropped in at Skalywag's ranch (that was a great choice). Couldn't stay long (cause we wasted time on lunch) so got the whirlwind tour. Very cool place.

Believe it or not I'm actually parked at the top of one of the main runways.


Supersonic Propellor Paradise
Came time to leave and the wife and I departed. (note to self: in the future lift the tail when taking off rocky strips. No damage this time but....)


I set the autopilot and kicked back. A short time later I noticed we were drifting off course and I saw the vacuum gauge needle pegged at the bottom. I had slaved the autopilot to the DG so as it was spooling down our course was changing. I shifted the autopilot to the GPS and we were back on track. I watched with interest as the Attitude Indicator slowly tilted as it spooled down.

This developing situation was of particular interest to me as someone undergoing IFR instruction. Certainly I've trained for partial panel IMC by covering gauges, but to see it actually occur was interesting, and disturbing. Everything was happening so gradually that it was clear if I were in actual IMC, and wasn't maintaining my instrument scan, things would get very interesting.

As it turns out my decision to move the vacuum gauge to the top center of the new instrument panel (from down low left where Cessna originally placed it) was a good one. Guaranteed I didn't miss the vacuum pump failure as the gauge is now part of VFR scans as well as IFR.

When I get my own plane...I will replace the turn coordinator with an electric second attitude indicator. Your story does speak to the absolute necessity of maintaining a constant scan, even when on autopilot. I always have instrument covers handy, so I can cover a failed instrument.

Littlewheelinback, needle (now the little airplane), ball, and airspeed are partial panel. With any number of attitude indicators or glass cockpit things, you still have no rate of turn (basic wings level) information. You can turn a great deal without seeing a slight bank on the attitude indicator. Walking the rudder just a bit will keep the needle (little airplane) centered and stay ahead of the airplane. The attitude indicator will not move during this dynamic, proactive rudder control. If you keep your hand off the stick, this rudder only technique will save you in inadvertant IMC. Dynamic, proactive rudder to keep the rate of turn slight will get you turned around. Just use dynamic, proactive rudder to keep one of the little airplane's wings just below the fixed line to the left (shallow left turn) or right (shallow right turn) to get the airplane turned around safely. Dynamic, reactive power can be used to maintain altitude, or not. You won't lose much altitude if you just want to keep it simple and only use rudder.