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A really scary VMC into IMC video (why don't pilots get some basic instrument skills?)



The comments below it are mostly banal but that’s normal for Youtube.

Maybe the UK-weather pilot with the much more accessible IMCR has a different perspective on this but I find it hard to understand why people carry on flying for hundreds or more hours without getting any instrument proficiency. It makes you a much more accurate VFR pilot too…

The video is of an RV. A flew in an RV (twin tandem one) a few years ago. I had the controls and had a good view of the TC in the front, and headed for a tiny cloud, just for fun. The pilot got really nervous. He has 3000hrs but cannot read tafs/metars; he uses the BBC. But a lot of homebuilts are very obviously IFR equipped and it doesn’t cost much over the (substantial – comparable to IFR certified) price tag of a good homebuilt like an RV to put the extra stuff in.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

His self analysis is very good. Interesting point re IFR equipment and even autopilots: the incremental cost of basic IFR kit in a homebuilt is on the order of 100s of pounds, and a basic (but accurate) 2-axis digital autopilot can be had for £1k and about 20 hours of work.

The all-singing all-dancing Garmin G3X touch system will cost about £20k – but that can do just about everything the full G1000-based systems can do and is overkill for someone who just wants the extra level of safety in an otherwise VFR machine.

EGEO

He was very lucky to survive.

Forever learning
EGTB

Well put together narrative and scary – someone out there was looking out for him.

The IMCR while peculiar to UK airspace is a great safety rating, but this Vans only seemed to have a Turn Coordinator and whiskey compass, so would have required good limited panel skills. Suggesting all PPLs work on their IR is not a panacea, only a small proportion do so, even smaller in EASA, and of that population a further minority may actually maintain reasonable currency. What is needed is an IMCR or safety pinch hitter course which is easily accessible to most pilots for a modest investment, and which develops good, reliable, get you out of an accidental IMC encounter safely. Actually with GPS the IMCR could be simplified with greater emphasis on modern GPS and limited panel work, and less time spent on the coffee grinder ADF.

The US PPL requires (-ed?) a couple of hours of instrument time, but this is not sufficient to develop a good scan. The EASA requirement to execute a 180 degree turn on instruments is not much better, arguably even less useful. Neither teach limited panel or unusual attitude recovery under the hood.

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

RobertL18C wrote:

What is needed is an IMCR or safety pinch hitter course which is easily accessible to most pilots for a modest investment, and which develops good, reliable, get you out of an accidental IMC encounter safely.

I suggest that “what is needed’”is a frontal lobe realignment such that pilots don’t ‘find themselves’ at 50-75ft over water in to maintain VMC.

Fly safely
Various UK. Operate throughout Europe and Middle East, United Kingdom

A good reason not to press on when ceilings drop below 1000-1500 feet and use 2000 feet ceiling as planning minima for anything else than local flights, especially in mountainous areas.

LFPT, LFPN

A good reason not to press on when ceilings drop below 1000-1500 feet and use 2000 feet ceiling as planning minima for anything else than local flights, especially in mountainous areas.

I just saw a conversation about the BIR on another (French) forum where the VFR community basically expressed that IFR is for the pros any most PPLs will not have the required currency to use such a rating. Well, maybe most VFR pilots do not have the required currency to even handle a 10 kts crosswind, but in that case that is what their limit is. Instead of getting an IR they prefer to drop down to 100’ above the deck. Yikes.

One may criciticise the BIR, but making some kind of IR accessible to the PPL community, even with raised minima, something like the EIR but with departure, arrival and approach privileges would be a big step forward as long as it is not used as a pretext to close the CB-IR route.

Last Edited by Aviathor at 20 Nov 15:31
LFPT, LFPN

why don’t pilots get some basic instrument skills?

Because it only makes sense when the instruments are there?

coffee grinder ADF

% % % emoticon_wanted: “what kind of nonsense is this?” % % %

whiskey compass

% % % emoticon_wanted: “what kind of nonsense is this?” % % %

Coffee grinders belong in country museums, whisky is for night clubs or perhaps for the cosy home – what have either to do with an aircraft cockpit???

I suggest that “what is needed’”is a frontal lobe realignment such that pilots don’t ‘find themselves’ at 50-75ft over water in to maintain VMC

I couldn’t agree more – knowing how to get out of the sh*t may be useful, but knowing how to avoid getting in is easier, less expensive, more reliable. Has served me well, up till now – if ever I fail you are welcome to laugh at my funeral.

[ four letter word edited; see previous discussions ]

Last Edited by at 20 Nov 15:39
EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

I just saw a conversation about the BIR on another (French) forum where the VFR community basically expressed that IFR is for the pros any most PPLs will not have the required currency to use such a rating

That is the standard French forum reaction to instrument flight, it would appear. Years ago I asked a French pilot friend if he would ask some questions on French forums about the then “FCL008 IR” (what became the CB IR, sort of, kind of, years later) on behalf of some research that was being done for a proposal to the CAA or some such, and he got a mostly hostile reaction. This is unsurprising given the club “mission profile” and the deferential climate where the Club President decides who is good enough to fly an extremely demanding navex like LFDI DCT LFCS

% % % emoticon_wanted: “what kind of nonsense is this?” % % %

Need more sleep, Jan?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Do you have a problem

Several, in fact, but none aviation-related; bar the one most will know to a certain degree, budget limitations.

EBZH Kiewit, Belgium
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