The Building-Block Approach to Instrument Training

Instrument flying is built from a small number of fundamentals that combine into complex procedures. The building-block approach means you do not teach an ILS until the underlying blocks are solid.

1. Instrument scan / cross-check — the engine of all instrument flight.
2. Aircraft control by reference to instruments — pitch, bank, power, trim.
3. Basic instrument maneuvers — straight-and-level, constant-rate climbs/descents, standard-rate turns, timed turns.
4. Navigation — intercepting and tracking VOR radials, GPS courses, and bearings.
5. Holding — applies scan + control + navigation + timing.
6. Approaches — the integration of every prior block under workload.

A student who busts holds usually does not have a holding problem; they have a scan or wind-correction problem that was never solidified at the lower block. When a higher-order maneuver falls apart, regress to the block beneath it. This is the single most important diagnostic habit a CFII develops.

• Control/Performance method: Set a known attitude and power (control instruments — AI and tach/MP), then verify the result on the performance instruments (ASI, altimeter, VSI, heading). Best for teaching precise, repeatable targets.
• Primary/Supporting (Integrated) method: For any given flight condition, certain instruments are primary (the one that directly shows whether you are achieving the goal) and others are supporting. In straight-and-level cruise, the altimeter is primary for pitch, the heading indicator primary for bank, and the airspeed indicator primary for power.

Teach both. Control/performance gives the student repeatable numbers; primary/supporting teaches them which instrument to trust when chasing an error.

State the tolerance before the maneuver: "Hold altitude within 100 feet, heading within 10 degrees, airspeed within 10 knots." Students rise to defined standards and flounder against vague ones.