51 LB. Blind Flying Kit

[canav8]

Can anyone of you old timers ( I mean enthusiasts) tell me what a blind flying kit is? 51lbs? I am picturing 51 lbs of rope teathered to the left wing much like my old cox gas airplanes. I would love to see Cessna drawing No. 05000006 if someone has a pdf of it. Doug

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

From the pictures in the IPC it looks like aluminum panels that insert and cover the windows and if that is not enough a pair of goggles to wear.

BlindFlyingKit.jpg

[SteveF]

In the 50's I saw a made for C170 kit for blind flying and rode in the plane while it was being used. It was a set of polarized yellow or amber panels for the windows and a set of goggles that were polarized in the opposite direction. Looked just like the drawing in Bruce's messge. The instructor / safety pilot could see out, not real well though, and the student saw black. I know the stuff was thick but am hard pressed to think it weighed more than 25-30 lbs.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Well there you go Steve.

Your explanation answers a lot of questions. I could never believe someone would actually put opaque panels of any kind in a plane. How would you ever break out at the end of the approach? How would the safety pilot see out?

Polarized panels, very ingenious.

[Larry Holtz]

I did my checkride in the 50's with that setup in a champ. Maybe they got the decimal point in the wrong place. 5.1 pounds would be close.

Larry

[Brad Brady]

I have never heard of such an animal.....But would certainly preclude cheating....Brad

[cessna170bdriver]

In the 50's I saw a made for C170 kit for blind flying and rode in the plane while it was being used. It was a set of polarized yellow or amber panels for the windows and a set of goggles that were polarized in the opposite direction. Looked just like the drawing in Bruce's messge. The instructor / safety pilot could see out, not real well though, and the student saw black. I know the stuff was thick but am hard pressed to think it weighed more than 25-30 lbs.

Might a 51 lb "kit" also include the gyros, gauge, and venturi system for a Cessna dealer to install?

Miles

[blueldr]

Back in the days of yore (yore was an intrument flying instrucor in the Big War) we used green plastic panels and red goggles, or, sometimes, orange panels and blue goggles. Same effect.

[johneeb]

Back in the days of yore (yore was an intrument flying instrucor in the Big War) we used green plastic panels and red goggles, or, sometimes, orange panels and blue goggles. Same effect.

Back in the days of Yore (not quite so Yore as Blue Leader) we used the orange panels with blue goggles and that in itself might explain the 51 pounds, as quite a bit of the weight could have been the stomach contents of the victims of this awful system.

[canav8]

Thanks to all that responded. I new it would stir up some kind of discussion. I did my instrument in a link trainer. Last checkride done in that box. I wasnt fortunate to have the instructor blow smoke into the tube so I passed only marginally. I think it must be a typo in the TCDS though. It has got to be 5.1 lbs. Thanks, Doug

[SteveF]

Thanks BL - You have sharpened a failing memory.

I thought there was some blue involved with this setup but could remember how. It was not polarization but color difference that made this work.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Oh, JUST a color difference. Nothing as nifty as polarized lenses. How boring.

Still glad you asked the question otherwise I'd have gone much longer believing Cessna sold solid panels for an IFR kit.

(Perhaps the solid panel versions I thought about were for HARD IFR training )