View Limiting Device- What do you use?

smccray · February 22, 2012

I did my first 2 hrs for my instrument rating last night. It was a great flight, but I need to do something else with a view limiting device. I have some blockalls (worked great in a 172) and my co-owner had a pair of foggles but neither one worked for me. The foggles didn't cutoff enough on the left so I could see the ground which was disorienting. The cutoff at the top where it goes from clear to blocked was dissimilar between my eyes which was also disorienting.

Flying the plane was enough of a challenge- I don't need the view limiting device to add to that challenge. I'm considering buying one of the big hood styles, but I"m not sure how well it will fit in the Mooney. Any recommendations from those who have been down this path before?

Cruiser · February 22, 2012

one of the first and most important lessons you should learn during IFR is concentration. Overcoming the distraction of the foggles may be a good lesson to learn. It will make you a better IFR pilot.

**MooneyMitch** · February 22, 2012

We use The Best IFR Hood! http://www.billweder.com/hood/

It does a great job limiting our view, very lightweight and easy to store.

MATTS875 · February 22, 2012

I remember training for my Private pilot and the instructor made me wear the foggles while demonstrating unusual attitudes...needed a dramamine

**MooneyMitch** · February 22, 2012

Quote: MATTS875

I remember training for my Private pilot and the instructor made me wear the foggles while demonstrating unusual attitudes...needed a dramamine

John Pleisse · February 22, 2012

Way to go on the instrument rating!!! Hope you knock it out quick. All view limiting devices stink...this, IMHO is the best (and I have tried several):

http://www.airportpilotshop.com/Jeppesen-View-Limiting-Devices-Hoods-s/112.htm

You can wear it with glasses/sunglasses, put it on before you take off as the face flips up and it is not cumbersome. Well designed and light weight.

**Hank** · February 22, 2012

Go to a hardware store, Sears or any industrial supply house. Buy the cheapest visitor safety glasses they have. [Mine were $1.75] They are designed to fit over glasses, if you wear them. [i do. Be careful who you say that to! ] This also makes them fit over sunglasses for use on sunny days.

Sit in the plane with the seat pulled up to where you fly. Draw a line on the outside of the lens where the panel goes--use a magic marker.

Put masking tape over the inside of the lens below the line you drew. Then sandblast the inside of the glasses, including the side shields. If you don't have access to a sand blaster, and don't know anyone who does, you can cut sandpaper into strips about an inch wide, wrap it around the end of your finger, and apply texture manually. It is surprising how little 'clouding' of the lens will prevent vision wearing them.

When I bought the Mooney, I gave my old pair to my CFI, since they were for the 172. Now I have a vintage Mooney set of foggles that live in the plane [in an old Crown Royal bag for protection].

Quick, cheap, and won't cause problems with side vision or panel cut-off, etc. Store-bought foggles have the texture on the outside, meaning when they eventually get scratched, there is a blinding starburst effect wearing them. Textured insides are protected from this effect.

smccray · February 22, 2012

Quote: Mitch

We use The Best IFR Hood! http://www.billweder.com/hood/

It does a great job limiting our view, very lightweight and easy to store.

smccray · February 22, 2012

Quote: Hank

Go to a hardware store, Sears or any industrial supply house. Buy the cheapest visitor safety glasses they have. [Mine were $1.75] They are designed to fit over glasses, if you wear them. [i do. Be careful who you say that to! ] This also makes them fit over sunglasses for use on sunny days.

Sit in the plane with the seat pulled up to where you fly. Draw a line on the outside of the lens where the panel goes--use a magic marker.

Put masking tape over the inside of the lens below the line you drew. Then sandblast the inside of the glasses, including the side shields. If you don't have access to a sand blaster, and don't know anyone who does, you can cut sandpaper into strips about an inch wide, wrap it around the end of your finger, and apply texture manually. It is surprising how little 'clouding' of the lens will prevent vision wearing them.

When I bought the Mooney, I gave my old pair to my CFI, since they were for the 172. Now I have a vintage Mooney set of foggles that live in the plane [in an old Crown Royal bag for protection].

Quick, cheap, and won't cause problems with side vision or panel cut-off, etc. Store-bought foggles have the texture on the outside, meaning when they eventually get scratched, there is a blinding starburst effect wearing them. Textured insides are protected from this effect.

**Hank** · February 22, 2012

Cheap and easy.

Txbyker · February 22, 2012

I went through just about all of them. I ended up using overcasters http://www.pilotshop.com/ifr-training-overcasters-p-7072.html?cPath=55_77&osCsid=5a8035fc89bca0a81f5496c0126f3790 But you need to clip them to sunglasses or glasses if you wear them.

Very easy when the instructor says "now look up and land". With a hood and strapped foggles it is difficult to remove when you need to.

smccray · February 22, 2012

Quote: Hank

I may be easy, but I pride myself on not being cheap. The word I like is "frugal"!

[so why do we call it 'the cheap b@st@rd club? I dunno, I didn't name it, I'm just a member.]

Be careful disparaging us Appalachian Americans! I'm not from WV, work brought me North . . . . .

**MooneyMitch** · February 22, 2012

Quote: smccray

Wow- I couldn't reproduce that hood for $5. Question- does the hood use the headset to help provide support on the sides? If so I'm not sure it will work with my Halo and I'm not willing to go back to my bose X.

**DonMuncy** · February 22, 2012

Use Hank's idea, but if you don't want to sandblast, one layer of scotch tape over the lens gives the same effect at virtually zero effort and cost. Because I wear reading glasses for seeing the instruments, I bought a cheap pair of big reading glasses and used scotch tape. But I did have to build plastic side shields for mine.

**Hank** · February 22, 2012

Quote: txbyker

With a hood and strapped foggles it is difficult to remove when you need to.

Cruiser · February 22, 2012

yep, get the safety glasses that fit over normal eyeglasses. Big and wide on the sides. Put masking tape over the small area you need to see the panel then use steel wool to diffuse the areas not taped over. It does not take much effort to scuff up the rest of the glass so you cannot see out of them.

**MooneyMitch** · February 22, 2012

Hey Hank, that sounds great too! I'll give that a try too.

**Jeff_S** · February 23, 2012

Someone above brought up the topic of concentration, which reminds me of a trick that I've used a time or two when flying really "in the soup" as opposed to training with my foggles. Since (like most people) a huge percentage of my IMC time is simulated, I'm very used to wearing the foggles and concentrating on the panel. But when you get in the real clouds, and all of a sudden you can see outside but really you're just looking at the inside of a milk bottle, THAT can be the most disorienting and scary thing there is. So when that first happened to me, I just put on the foggles, and that brought all my training back and allowed me to calm down and just fly the instruments like I was trained.

And of course, since the foggles are never perfect, you always have enough peripheral vision to sense when light levels change, and you can see that cloud breakup out of the corner of your eye, so you know when to take them off because you're back out of the clouds. Just an idea for those folks who are getting into IFR for the first time and concerned about what it's really like to be in a cloud.

jwilkins · February 23, 2012

I have a pair of clip on flip up view limiters whcih I really like as they clip on my glassses so there is no interference with head sets and they can be flipped up adn down quickly and easily. Kinda like clip on flip up sunglasses, except opaque and with side shields.

I made several pairs of the safety glasses with mylar drafting film to block the outside area. I like the effect but not pulling off and re-installiing the glassees with my headset. If I had any suggestion for the flip up ones it woudl be to make the visor out of a fogged mylar film instead of opaque. I think the transition is better with the film.

I got mine from pilotjunk.com for about $20.

http://www.pilotjunk.com/PilotShop/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=62

Jim

Txbyker · February 23, 2012

This is helpful...

http://pilotbrian.blogspot.com/2009/02/ifr-hood-reviews.html

kris_adams · February 23, 2012

I guess if I had access to a sand blaster I may try to make my own too. I don't so I went with these. Comes with a nice little case too. I leave them in the seatback so it is always easy to find when I want to practice.

http://www.pilotstore.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=2167&DEPARTMENT_ID=78

Sign In

View Limiting Device- What do you use?

Recommended Posts

smccray

Cruiser

MooneyMitch

MATTS875

MooneyMitch

John Pleisse

Hank

smccray

smccray

Hank

Txbyker

smccray

MooneyMitch

DonMuncy

Hank

Cruiser

MooneyMitch

Jeff_S

jwilkins

Txbyker

kris_adams

Join the conversation

Members Online

Browse

Activity

Important Information