jim rosinski wrote:

Well, for those of us less studly than this, I'd still take an engine
failure over gyro failure in IMC under most conditions. Maybe given
the time/money to train "properly" gyro failure isn't such a major
emergency. But I don't have either the time or the money, so this
instrument-rated pilot isn't flying IFR till he gets a plane with
backup gyros or electric AI.

Yow! I hope that you mean an engine failure in fairly high IMC (i.e. the
ceiling well above terrain and obstacles). Compared to a forced landing
with, say, a 300 ft ceiling in an area with lots of hills and towers, flying
in IMC with the TC and mag compass sounds like a walk in the park.

The FAA report I quoted earlier in this thread stated an interesting fact --
all of the GA fatalities during their study period due to vacuum failure
were in high-performance planes with retractable gear. Nobody was spiraling
in a 182 or Cherokee Six after a vacuum failure in IMC, much less a Skyhawk
or Cherokee. I'm sure that they do happen, but they must not be so common.

That suggests to me that in the unlikely event I ever can afford a
high-performance retractable, the first action in event of lost gyros should
be to lower the gear, airspeed be damned.


All the best,


David