PLT185: Instrument Flying Fundamentals
What code PLT185 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Instrument Flying Fundamentals before your checkride.
Recall basic instrument flying - fundamental skills
What this means for your checkride
The fundamental skills of instrument flying are the instrument cross-check (scanning the instruments), instrument interpretation (knowing what each shows for the maneuver), and aircraft control (making smooth, small corrections). Together they replace the outside horizon with the panel.
These skills underlie all attitude instrument flying, so the FAA tests the cross-check, interpretation, and control that keep an airplane upright without outside references.
Pilots fixate on one instrument. A breakdown of the cross-check, staring at one gauge, is a classic error that lets other parameters drift; the scan must keep moving.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.