And here an old style coffee grinder ADF…
It does look old, yes, almost old enough for an open air country life museum.
Where does the coffee go?
…and whiskey compass – called as such because it had alcohol or kerosene for damping and anti freeze reasons – or because it was a Wet compass, and W in NATO parlance is Whiskey – or because you broke into it to turn your espresso from the coffee grinder ADF into a cafe correcto (admittedly not made with grappa)…
Broad smile at that, Robert, and thank you for not taking offence. Still, if you’ll excuse me: this being and wanting to be a pan-European forum. some of your very colloquial terminology might not have been evident to the full audience. Which was of course all my point.
And to support my appreciation, I’ll not even whine about the spelling of caffe corretto grappa – if only because I prefer the grappa separata 
A slight effort to remain on topic: even my minimalist craft carries a whiskey compass – it is a compulsary piece of equipment, here, for a microlight – there was none though when I bought the bird, and the powers that be agreed to register her without ever realising the compass wasn’t there…
These stories are useful, BUT should this guy be flying at all, even with an instrument rating? 1000 hour VFR pilot? Did he learn nothing in those 1000 hours? I just don’t get it. 120 knots 20-50 meters above the ground? I admire his courage in speaking about it so frankly, but still….
I may auger in some day. I’m not judgmental. Usually, my reaction to these stories is, “I can imagine myself getting into that situation,” and I can maybe imagine this scenario beginning, but his handling of it was pure panic. I’m not sure someone who panics after 1000 hours of flight time belongs in a plane.
There have been two situations in which I could have been in serious trouble. In both cases I was uncannily calm and absolutely furious with myself for being such an idiot. (Strange that the two emotions can exist at the same time.). Losing it like this guy did is no way to fly. If he were a 100 hour pilot, I would be more forgiving, but reacting like this after 1000 hours suggests to me he should give it up.
What do the experienced guys think?
WhiskeyPapa wrote:
I admire his courage in speaking about it so frankly, but still….
That are my thoughts as well, but under a different angle. I find it admirable that in the US, they let him speak out to everyone and make an instructional video out of it. In Europe (well, most countries), people would be too afraid to even come forward anonymously on a forum with such an experience for fear of the “regulations police”. Not that I would have one exactly as scary as his to tell…
The main factor involved here seems to be “peer pressure”. I doubt he would’ve gathered 1000 VFR hours in his plane not equipped for instrument flight if he had flown the rest of them like on that day. More likely, he had someone more experienced and better equipped in the other plane pushing him to depart into conditions which were well beyond his own and his aircraft’s capabilities. I frankly thought that other pilot to be an a**hole for getting him into such trouble, but also for talking him out of his precautionary landing which would have almost killed him. Of course, he alone is the PIC and he made this mistake, so he should take the blame. But part of that blame should be for listening to his “friend” and not speaking his own mind and not making his own decisions when experiencing peer pressure. It also doesn’t tell us about other pressures that may have induced “get-there-itis”. I think that is actually the strongest learning point from that video, to not let someone talk you into things that you feel are unsafe, be it in another plane or on another seat.
Rwy20 wrote:
More likely, he had someone more experienced and better equipped in the other plane pushing him to depart into conditions which were well beyond his own and his aircraft’s capabilities.
One must make one’s own decision. Back when I flew in aeroclubs I refused to depart on a weekend club trip to Guernsey because the weather for the next day seemed to preclude a safe return. I do not want to put myself in a situation that I am uncomfortable with, and in this case it would be getthereitis and pressing on in poor weather and low ceiling vs to make it back.
They ended up at 500 feet above the Seine river, diverting to Rouen. Not my idea of fun.
Aviathor wrote:
One must make one’s own decision.
Exactly. But one can almost sense how this may have played out; the more experienced pilot convincing his friend to “just follow him” and “it’s gonna be fine” until it wasn’t. That is the moment when such talk becomes very cheap, when you are inside a cloud in a plane with no adequate equipment and training. And it is how we come to such statements, which he most likely subscribed to himself after this experience:
BUT should this guy be flying at all, even with an instrument rating? 1000 hour VFR pilot? Did he learn nothing in those 1000 hours? I just don’t get it. 120 knots 20-50 meters above the ground?
why people carry on flying for hundreds or more hours without getting any instrument proficiency.
I got an IMCR in 1989. I let it lapse as I wasn’t keeping it safety-current as opposed to CAA current.
Since 1999 I’ve been flying an aircraft with no DI nor AH, and this year the Group decided by a majority against fitting them, although there’s money in the kitty. We have fitted Mode S and 8.33, though.
That pilot may have flown his 1000 hours in the mid west or Great Basin, and flying over the sea in poor visibility was completely new to him.
