An instructor and student received a powerful reminder of the dangers of carburetor ice. Carburetor ice occurs due to the effect of fuel vaporization and the decrease in air pressure which causes a sharp temperature drop.

During your instrument training, you routinely fly instrument approach procedures to “minimums” under simulated conditions. The more likely scenario when flying under instrument flight rules (IFR) is the option to complete the flight under visual flight rules (VFR), flying a visual approach procedure, or flying an instrument procedure in which you acquire the runway visually well above the charted “minimums.”

When the airplane is properly trimmed, the control pressures needed for these small pitch changes are very light. The most common error in both pitch and bank control is over controlling.  Just as an excessive climb or descent will cause you to overshoot altitude, an excessive rate of turn results in overshooting the target heading.