The Best IFR Hood

ahkahn said:
We all have stories from other people, but my DPE made it very clear to me and all of the flight instructors that she will not allow foggles. Early on in her career she had an IFR applicant that had been trained using foggles. The story goes something to the effect of she was never comfortable that the foggles did a decent job at limiting view because you can still get visual cues from your peripheral vision. She allowed them at that point, but never felt comfortable with them. She had an applicant that passed, and then on his first IMC flight after he got his IR he got disoriented and pounded dirt. That really hit home with the DPE and she never again allowed foggles. Hoods only. Sad story, but a heads-up when it comes to foggles.
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Yes... Foggles suck. They're too close to your eyes, so when you look to the right, suddenly you can see out side on the left and vice versa. I didn't know how bad it was until I switched to them in IR training and then went back into actual and couldn't fly for crap. I never flew with them again, and never will. Worthless.
 
There are only two that I've found to be reasonably effective (no outside view even in peripheral vision) and not get in the way:

1) Viban. There is a spot on the left that may be visible out the left window with a Cessna, but you can tape a post-it note on the left to eliminate that.

2) Francis Hood. This one is kind of too good - You'll probably need to take a dremel to a couple parts of it to make it so that you can see engine gauges and such without having to turn your head.

I prefer the Viban most, but the Francis Hood is the most effective, as Brad has obviously found:

Brad Z said:
These things were designed back in the days of no headsets. They will give you tunnel vision, as it's like looking through two TP rolls. You have to move your head to look across the panel to the radio stack, inducing vertigo. It's awesome.

That said, if you can fly IFR with this torture device, actual IMC will be a real treat.
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Yep! LOL

AggieMike88 said:
I also have Vibans, but am looking for a low cost solution that's compatible with reading glasses (end of nose cheaters)
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I have Vibans, and I remember that they're supposed to be glasses-compatible - The nose piece pops out of the Vibans so that they can rest on your glasses.
 
EdFred said:
I was going to answer beef jerky because I swore that said food and not hood.
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Hmm now that you mention it, it just may be the perfect IFR food. Easy to eat without looking, not messy, nothing terribly difficult to open...
 
ahkahn said:
We all have stories from other people, but my DPE made it very clear to me and all of the flight instructors that she will not allow foggles. Early on in her career she had an IFR applicant that had been trained using foggles. The story goes something to the effect of she was never comfortable that the foggles did a decent job at limiting view because you can still get visual cues from your peripheral vision. She allowed them at that point, but never felt comfortable with them. She had an applicant that passed, and then on his first IMC flight after he got his IR he got disoriented and pounded dirt. That really hit home with the DPE and she never again allowed foggles. Hoods only. Sad story, but a heads-up when it comes to foggles.
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Does a DPE actually have that latitude, to unilaterally decide that a widely-accepted view limiting device may not be used?
 
BigBadLou said:
Don't tell me nobody here took regular safety goggles (got several pairs at home) and covered the top and sides with duct tape. Please don't tell me I'm the only one. :eek:

My CFI during my primary training said "No need to waste $20 on real foggles that you'll use only for a few hours. You got safety goggles and duct tape, no?"
When I showed up for my next lesson with said "duct-oggles" (I am going to coin this word!), he was laughing hard "You know I was just joking, right?" Umm, thanks, too late. :lol:
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+1 I did the same thing. I still hate foggles!
 
Brad Z said:
I bought one of these once. They're terrible for transitioning from simulated to visual, as the don't really fit over headsets. These things were designed back in the days of no headsets. They will give you tunnel vision, as it's like looking through two TP rolls. You have to move your head to look across the panel to the radio stack, inducing vertigo. It's awesome.

That said, if you can fly IFR with this torture device, actual IMC will be a real treat.
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It looks like it would be easy to put one of them plastic snaps on the strap that way you could easily get them off without removing you're headset.
 
MotoFlier said:
It looks like it would be easy to put one of them plastic snaps on the strap that way you could easily get them off without removing you're headset.
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That's still not as easy as a flip-up option, as you're trying to fish out the strap from under your headset and glasses while you're on short final.
 
bradg33 said:
I did something similar. A pair of $3 safety glasses from Home Depot and a sanding sponge. I taped-off the section I wanted to keep clear, sanded the rest to make it opaque like real foggles, and voila!
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I did something similar. Rather than tape off the section I wanted clear, I took a dremel and cut out the portions that I wanted to see through, leaving just the nose rest. I used sandpaper and acetone for the rest of the glasses to fog appropriately.
 
Brad Z said:
That's still not as easy as a flip-up option, as you're trying to fish out the strap from under your headset and glasses while you're on short final.
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I forgot glasses were also a concern.
 
bradg33 said:
I did something similar. A pair of $3 safety glasses from Home Depot and a sanding sponge. I taped-off the section I wanted to keep clear, sanded the rest to make it opaque like real foggles, and voila!
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That's what I did with a pair of more "streamlined" safety glasses.

I tried the "foggles" that look like the oversized "over the glasses sunglasses" commonly worn by 90 year old men driving Buick Roadmasters. Didn't like em and my headset didn't fit over them well.
 
Mention of "foggles competing with headset comfort" made me remember one of the reasons I like having a pair or QT halos around.... no headband or over the ear cups to deal with.

The "BEST IFR HOOD" arrived in the mail today. I'll try to get some photos put together.
 
Just got my Best Hood yesterday. Doing a 6 hour IFR flight next Friday will have a PIREP.
 
I've used it through commercial, CFII, and multi addon training, and have my students use it as well. A lot of guys call it the Chinese takeout box, but it's earned its fair share of fans, especially compared to the scratched up Foggles. I can tell when taking up a student in actual for the first few times who trained with the Foggles vs. the hood: the students who didn't train with a hood end up flying like trash the moment we enter the clouds. And at $5, they can't be beat! Mine is about 3.5 years old, so it's showing some wear: I've had to restaple the band through years of students stretching it over their headsets, and have had to reinforce the side panel joints with tape after someone ripped it.
 
Just did flight number one with it. Loved that I could stow it in my flight bag. Every now and then a little peek of the ground occurred off to my left, but cocking it a bit to the side solved that. I can see where it might not be the most comfortable thing for extended wearing, but what hood really is?

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk
 
During my extremely limited hood time for my PPL, the foggles were always missing from the plane. I always wear a baseball cap, so I just rounded the brim a little more and pulled it down low. It's surprisingly effective.
 
Foggles don't fit over my glasses and I use the cheap ASA jiffy hood that I have left over from private and works for me since its adjustable.
 
Any updates Mike? I was thinking of putting in for a couple of these on my Christmas list.
 
I have a "Best" hood, and it's very easy to carry in my flight bag and works great as a view-limiting device...but I don't like it and don't use it.

In a car or plane, I really need air blowing at my face to stay comfortable (read: "not puke"). Even at 8000' in the winter with the heater on full, flying straight and level in smooth air, I have some flow from the eyeball vent in my face. The Best hood completely blocks the airflow from the overhead eyeball vent, and I quickly get queasy after donning it, even in straight-and-level flight. (The same is true for other large hood-style devices, though.)

I read the comments above about being able to "cheat" with Foggles, and the DPE who won't allow them. If you're going to draw a line, where do you draw it? You can still see sunlight and shadows moving across the panel even with a hood on, so if you're going to "cheat", there's no way to completely prevent it. If you can't get actual or high overcast days to train, then do some training in twilight and darkness to confirm your student isn't cheating.

The solution I ended up with were homemade foggles. I took a giveaway pair of safety glasses with oversize, wraparound lenses, and applied frosted Scotch tape to the lenses similar to how Foggles(TM) look, leaving just a small area at the bottom clear. They worked well for me, and I still use them for practice approaches. I would think that you could do the same with a $10 pair of readers from the drug store, too.
 
jsstevens said:
I just ordered one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VSCBSM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=nav_timeline_asin



View attachment 44652
I picked them because I already wear glasses so the flip up seems easy. Also it's doesn't interfere with my headset.

I've got my first (resumed) instrument lesson Thursday morning. We'll see how it goes. PIREP after...

John
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A PIREP. I did 1.3 hours under the "hood" today. I liked how the overcasters worked. The best part os I can just flip them up when I "break out" of the overcast.

I will say they are easily bent so I'm looking for a box to put them in in my flight bag. They got bent in shipping (in a padded envelope) but were easy to straighten.

John
 
The very best arrangement I ever had was while doing my inital IFR training in a 182. The instructor had me buy a small section of bubble wrap. I cut it to a size a bit larger than the glass from the forward door frame to the middle of the windscreen and from the top to bottom of the windscreen. Then we folded the edges to make it keep its shape. To use it we had a big bulldog clip to attach it to the sun visor. VOILA! Simulated IMC. No need for special glasses or hoods over my glasses. And it really looked like flying in cloud. Once at mins, the instructor pulled it away and we were "VMC" again. Worked like a charm. When I finally had an IMC run, it was not foreign to me at all. Marc
 
James331 said:
Lol. Yeah reminds me of one of these
0810-classic_cone_on.jpg


I'd just get some foggles if you must.

Better to just fly in IMC or the sim IMO. Going from VMC to IMC to VMC to IMC is much more of a challenge than just flying a panel with the outside world blocked off.
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This had me rolling on the floor. This is exactly how I feel with the traditional "hoods". I bought a pair of Foggles years ago. I put them on over my glasses (no-line progressives) and I'm so busy I never bother looking up, unless the safety pilot says something.
 
Marc CYBW said:
The very best arrangement I ever had was while doing my inital IFR training in a 182. The instructor had me buy a small section of bubble wrap. I cut it to a size a bit larger than the glass from the forward door frame to the middle of the windscreen and from the top to bottom of the windscreen. Then we folded the edges to make it keep its shape. To use it we had a big bulldog clip to attach it to the sun visor. VOILA! Simulated IMC. No need for special glasses or hoods over my glasses. And it really looked like flying in cloud. Once at mins, the instructor pulled it away and we were "VMC" again. Worked like a charm. When I finally had an IMC run, it was not foreign to me at all. Marc
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Were you operating on an IFR clearance? If not, how was he able to ensure separation from other VFR traffic?
 
jason said:
Were you operating on an IFR clearance? If not, how was he able to ensure separation from other VFR traffic?
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He said "to the middle of the windscreen", so I assume it covered only the pilot's side. The CFII would still have been able to look out for traffic. I'm not sure that's any better at simulating IMC than most hoods though, since your right peripheral vision would be fairly unobstructed.

In fact the only hood I know of that doesn't have this problem is the Francis, and that's IMO actually harder than actual if one has a GPS in the center console since you need to turn your head to see it when wearing the hood, which is likely to induce vertigo.
 
I asked to borrow a pair of foggles (since mine were in Sacramento ... Oops), and got handed one of those paper hoods. "Keep it." Ok.

I haven't used it in a plane yet, but it restricts view VERY well. The only gripe I see is that the headset has to come off to remove it, not something I really want to mess with at 200 AGL.
 
Since this thread has been brought back to life, I will reiterate my recommendation of the gray ASA hood. It's very inexpensive and while it seems bulky, I find it has been easy to bend it and squeeze it into a small flight bag or even a headset case. It will (mostly) return to its original shape when removed.
 
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