From: spenny@sw.stratus.com (Steve Pennypacker)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.piloting
Subject: Re: IMC/IFR: exactly why so difficult?
Date: 25 Jan 1993 20:05:01 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc.
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: wiley.ts.stratus.com

In article <1993Jan25.044915.21655@osf.org>, kenny@osf.org (Kenneth Crudup) writes:
> 
> Why exactly are instrument conditions so dangerous? I can understand how they

If you're an instrument-rated pilot, it's not "so dangerous".  If it were, 
insurance companies wouldn't give discounts for adding an instrument rating.
But for VFR pilots, which I assume is what your question is really about, 
yes it's dangerous.  Other people (mostly IFR types, I think) have already 
answered your question from an IFR pilot's perspective.  I can answer your 
question from a different perspective... as a non-instrument rated pilot who 
has flown in IMC.  (I've previously related this experience to the net, but 
I'll restate the disclaimer... this was done with an instrument-rated, 
current pilot in the right seat who was *explicitly* made PIC before we went 
IFR and who kept a spare eye on the instruments).  Sorry this is long, but
it's a question that comes up often, and it's deadly important.

Here's what I noticed, along with some conclusions drawn from the net.
First, it took absolutely undivided attention for me to just do a good job of 
flying the airplane safely.  Maybe it's psychological, but believe it when 
people tell you that true IMC is not like flying under the hood.  Maybe also
that's because even with a hood you occasionally catch a glimpse of outside,
and that can help keep your natural sense of balance more in sync with what
the instruments are telling you.  If that's
all there was to handle, then I can tell you I could have flown safely 
without the other pilot next to me.  But there's also communication with ATC.
He did that part.  If I had to do any significant part of that myself, my
chances for survival would have moved down two notches.  Now we can add
navigation, which I also delegated.  Try doing it myself?  Might as well add
another bullet to the chamber.  Then there was the VOR approach.  Uh-uh, I'm
not planning that (not that I would even know how to).  Oh yeah, we had 
perfectly smooth air with a reasonable amount of sunlight.  Add moderate 
turbulence and I seriously doubt I would have survived by myself.

As if all this isn't enough, there's always the possibility of in-flight
failures and emergencies.  Here's a small example with a big effect.  Before
we got into IMC, the plane was trimmed perfectly.  But as we kept flying, I
noticed I was holding left aileron just to keep the instruments level.  Very
strange, and it was really playing games with me mentally, as this is exactly
where you really have to believe the instruments and reject what your brain
is telling you.  I *knew* the airplane flew level without aileron earlier, 
so I couldn't help thinking I was going to put us into a left spiral by 
holding aileron, regardless of what the instruments wanted me to believe.  
That's exactly the kind of thinking you have to overcome, and let me tell you
I don't think I've ever had to concentrate that hard in my entire life.  No,
I wasn't afraid, because I knew I was doing the right thing and was winning 
the fight against my own brain.  But if I were on my own, I may not have been 
able to do that.  No way could I have ever done any nav, comm, or other work 
at that time.  I mentioned this trim problem to the other pilot a couple of
times, and he soon figured out that I simply hadn't switched tanks and one
wing was heavy.  Voila, instantly my own internal conflict was settled and I
had no more problem holding aileron.  But I would have probably run the tank 
dry myself, and I'm not sure if I would have been able to troubleshoot it
if the fan quit.  I was too busy concentrating to think of stuff like that.


Gee, you say, he sure doesn't have a lot of confidence in his piloting
abilities.  Wrong.  I don't consider myself to be a stupid or uncoordinated
person.  But, I haven't gone through instrument training beyond basic 
hood work with minimal nav and comm thrown in.  In fact, hood work always 
came easy to me.  If you're not rated, don't try it (by yourself, anyway).  
So, a couple of rules for VFR pilots to live (and keep living) by:

	1.  Don't fly into IMC
	2.  Don't fly into IMC
	3.  If 1 and 2 fail, see #1
	4.  If 1, 2, and 3 fail, get the hell out of the clouds *now*!
	5.  If 4 fails, please crash in a remote area far from TV cameras
	    so GA won't get another black eye.

Personally, I don't think the '178 seconds to live" that gets thrown around
a lot is accurate.  If there was a similar real-world figure, I think it
would be higher.  Maybe 5 minutes?  But so what- what's the difference?

Sorry for the long note.
-- 
     Steve Pennypacker		     PP-ASEL

     spenny@wiley.ts.stratus.com     Stephen_Pennypacker@vos.stratus.com