Flight by Reference to Instruments
Control and performance
Split the panel into control instruments (attitude indicator, turn coordinator, power) and performance instruments (airspeed, altimeter, VSI, heading indicator). Set the attitude, cross-check the performance, then correct: attitude, power, performance, in that order. A disciplined scan, attitude first then a pattern across the performance instruments, beats staring at any single gauge.
Instrument errors to know cold
Attitude indicator: acceleration error shows a climb during acceleration and a descent during deceleration. Heading indicator: real precession plus turning and acceleration errors, most visible passing 90 degrees of turn; accelerating on an east or west heading shows a turn to the north. Magnetic compass: ANDS (accelerate north, decelerate south) and turning error, where the compass undershoots a turn through north and overshoots through south.
Turns and unusual attitudes
A standard-rate turn is 3 degrees per second, 360 degrees in two minutes. Rule of thumb: bank angle is roughly 10 percent of TAS plus 5, so 120 KTAS needs about 17 degrees. For a nose-low unusual attitude, reduce power, level the wings, then raise the nose; rushing the pull invites overstress or a graveyard spiral. On partial panel, take pitch from airspeed and altimeter and bank from the turn coordinator.
Traps
Questions test fixation, omission, and chasing, not physics. Be suspicious of any claim that the attitude indicator is dependable in a prolonged skid or that a compass turning error can be ignored in a steep turn.