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Old April 20th 05, 12:02 AM
Icebound
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"Ron McKinnon" wrote in message
news:Hfb9e.1074608$8l.983385@pd7tw1no...

Some degree of weather knowledge is
in most places a requirement for the Private licence/certificate,
and, considering what's at stake, I'd think a pilot'd would have
acquired more than the bare minimum knowledge by the time
they've got an IR. Apparently not.


You would think so, wouldn't you.

I find it rather amazing that a certain number of IR pilots seem to look at
their rating as a wand that magically makes IMC something benign... to be
relished and welcomed.

IMC is to be treated like the plague. It contains icing, turbulence,
disorientation. It forces your dependence on electrical and mechanical
devices which, reliable as they may be, are never completely infallible.
The forecaster's ability to predict the precise conditions within the IMC is
way less than that for VMC situations, and especially so for the most
dangerous conditions.

With all that going for it, flight into IMC should always be initiated only
with the greatest of care. Part of that care, you would think, is a rather
complete knowledge of the processes that produce it and that suppress it.
And at least a passing knowledge as to how to recognize them on a weather
chart as part of pre-flight planning....