Takeoff under the hood?

[Tarheelpilot]

I can only think of a handful of times I have taken off with the weather below approach minimums. It just doesn’t happen that often.

A side effect of my transition into larger turbine aircraft is my willingness to be in hard IFR flying a single engine piston has vanished. So you’ll never see me taking off below approach minimum in a GA airplane.

 

[flyingron]

But approach minima can be down at 200-1/4 and frankly other than directional control on the runway that's pretty close to 0-0. I'm going to be in the soup in about 10 seconds. I'm still likely getting the gear up at that point.

 

[snglecoil]

OP here. Talk about blast from the past…and it wasn’t really all that long ago. Now as a CFII, I understand what my instructor at the time was trying to accomplish. Also, sometimes an instructor will have you do things purely for their amusement.

 

[Tools]

Nooooooo.... NOT TRUE...

Telling for a friend.

Anon

 

[TW IFR]

It's a good exercise in situational awareness, and it's also good in that it increases your scan. It also teaches how minute changes such as control inputs affect the scan and corrections.

Find a very experienced CFII and get them to train you in under the hood landings..this really hones skills

 

[Gilbert Buettner]

We did have to do zero-zero takeoffs in the T-38 in Air Force UPT. There was a curtain you pulled that enclosed the cockpit, so you were not wearing a hood or Foggles. But we also had a flight director system that was extremely sensitive.

When I lived in Duluth, Minnesota I made a takeoff in fog where I could only see two centerline stripes ahead of the airplane (Bonanza). My "out" in case of engine problems was the two airports eight hundred feet lower just a few miles off the end of the runway.

 

[Maxnr]

All RW students at "Mother Rucker" (The USA flight school, now renamed Ft Novosel) had to get signed off on zero-zero take offs to get their wings. Now actually doing one was another thing. First, one needed to have a Special Instrument Rating and have orders cut to use this rating. Other privileges followed. One had "Clearance authority" for himself and his flight. Lesser Aviators with only a standard ticket only had the authority for only themselves. Clearance authority is pretty much like "Dispatch Authority" as defined by the FAA for commercial operators. I recall the DD form 175 had a signature block for this.

This privilege was to be used sparingly and with good justification. Get-home-itis did not qualify. Never single pilot. I had this qualification for most of my 12 years as a Med-Evac pilot and only used it twice. The last time was a request from CSG Approach to launch and intercept a NORDO caught on top. My copilot was also qualified too. Vis was yards and request was successfully completed.

Later, as a commercial pilot upgrading to ATP, the examiner wanted to see a zero-zero departure under the hood. He was FAA. No sweat. I have never considered doing one in an airplane because usually single pilot.

 

[Maxnr]

0/0 landing on a ILS is a similar exercise. It is technically illegal, but has arguably more utility than a 0/0 takeoff in case of an emergency. The argument was that if the aircraft is out of fuel, or some other emergency, as long as you hold the needles perfectly centered, you will hit the pavement somewhere near the 1000 ft markers.

Right on. There are autopilots that will take you down to fifty feet RADALT,70 kts and track the localizer until you decide to land (or go Missed)

 

[Velocity173]

We did have to do zero-zero takeoffs in the T-38 in Air Force UPT. There was a curtain you pulled that enclosed the cockpit, so you were not wearing a hood or Foggles. But we also had a flight director system that was extremely sensitive.

When I lived in Duluth, Minnesota I made a takeoff in fog where I could only see two centerline stripes ahead of the airplane (Bonanza). My "out" in case of engine problems was the two airports eight hundred feet lower just a few miles off the end of the runway.

Just watching YT today and reminded me of this thread. At 10+00 a bag take off. I’d be zig zagging all over that runway.

 

[Gilbert Buettner]

Just watching YT today and reminded me of this thread. At 10+00 a bag take off. I’d be zig zagging all over that runway.

Thanks for posting the video... lots of memories of when I was young and bulletproof.

One of our duties as students was to log takeoff and landing times in "Rag Top," a small structure at the side of the runway with an instructor acting as the controller for training flights using that runway. It was not that uncommon to see a student pilot in the back seat on a zero-zero takeoff lifting the curtain with his left hand so he could see the runway edge instead of relying on the flight director.

One day we had a T-38 depart the runway on takeoff and both pilots bailed out safely. One of the canopies must have hit the vertical stabilizer, because part of that was missing. They put it on a flat bed and brought it to the maintenance hangar, so a lot of us went over to look at it. A senior NCO came over and said, "Don't worry, gentlemen. We'll have it all fixed, put a new tail number on it, and you'll be flying it again in two or three days."

 

[Pinecone]

We did have to do zero-zero takeoffs in the T-38 in Air Force UPT. There was a curtain you pulled that enclosed the cockpit, so you were not wearing a hood or Foggles. But we also had a flight director system that was extremely sensitive.

When I lived in Duluth, Minnesota I made a takeoff in fog where I could only see two centerline stripes ahead of the airplane (Bonanza). My "out" in case of engine problems was the two airports eight hundred feet lower just a few miles off the end of the runway.

I don't remember doing that in UPT.

I did have a sort of had to do one. Light misting rain. Grumman Cougar. Hmm, in a single, when you push up the power, the windshield is cleared by the prop wash. Not so much in a twin.