Definition
A condition during instrument cross-check in which one or more flight instruments are blocked from view, obscured, or otherwise unavailable, requiring the pilot to interpret aircraft attitude and performance from the remaining instruments. The term also refers to the deliberate covering of selected instruments during partial-panel training to simulate instrument failure.
Plain English
It means an instrument is hidden or unusable, so the pilot has to figure out what the airplane is doing using whatever instruments are still visible. In training, an instructor sometimes covers an instrument on purpose to practice flying without it.
Context Anchor
Used when learning instrument cross-check and scan patterns during attitude instrument flying with analog instruments.
Derivation
‘Coverage’ here keeps its plain English sense — something is covered up. In instrument flying, the word is used both ways: an instrument that is covered (hidden) and the act of covering it.
Why Pilots Care
Incomplete coverage leaves gaps that can cause loss of situational awareness or spatial disorientation in instrument meteorological conditions.
Intuition Check
Instrument coverage does not mean radio coverage, radar coverage, or weather coverage. Here, it means which cockpit instruments are included in your scan and whether you check them often enough.
Example Sentence 1
During the lesson the instructor used instrument coverage on the attitude indicator so the student had to fly the approach using only the remaining instruments.
Example Sentence 2
Analog cockpit layouts require careful attention to instrument coverage because fewer backup displays are available.