"Judah" wrote in message
. ..
I don't disagree that pilots *should* not be ignorant of
weather, and *should* not depend on forecasts alone, and
*should* be taught to recognize CBs and TCUs and to stay
away from them.

However, the IFR training syllabus fails to make this a
prerequisite for certification to fly a plane in IFR conditions,
and as such many pilots *are* ignorant of weather, and *do*
depend on forecasts alone, and *don't* recognize TCUs or CBs,
because they have not flown near them during their training.

A better example than your grizzly bear might be swimming and
snorkeling. When you learn to swim, you don't learn much about
the fish in the ocean - heck you may never even swim in the ocean
during your training.

So now you know how to swim, and you go snorkeling. Someone
tells you that it is OK to pet most fish because even the sharks
don't bite if they are not agitated. One day you find yourself
petting a baracuda, because no told you how to recognize it,
or to stay away from it, and just last week you pet a nurse shark
without any problems and sharks are much scarier, right?

I think too many IFR pilots are in that same boat - they don't
even know how to recognize a CB or TCU because they've
never been shown one (the instructor probably scrubbed the
lesson because the forecast called for them) and they passed
through the clouds just fine last time...

What *is* and what *should* be are two very different things...

I've heard this plaintive refrain several times in this thread
- "No one taught me not to ", "It's not part of the training
syllabus", "its not required for certification" ...

It doesn't wash. It's a question of airmanship. Its a matter
of responsibility. It's the difference between being a Pilot,
or an airplane driver. The standards are minimums. The
standard curriculum is only a starting point.

And where your specific knowledge and training is not
sufficient, sufficient intelligence, and 'common' sense
should apply; you'll never be taught all the permutations
and combinations, but you should be able to reasonably
extrapolate from what you have already learned or
experienced.

(You should critically assess what you're told to do or
not do in any event, and see if it make sense. And even
then, if you've never seen a barracuda, or never been
told to avoid them, seeing an unfamiliar fish where a
quarter of its length consists of razor sharp teeth should
reasonably give you pause (you do know about razor sharp
teeth, don't you?). If you've been told not to fly into CBs,
you ought to recognize that a big, dark, TCU might be
just about as dangerous, and maybe you ought to avoid it, too.)

As pilot you are responsible for having all the information
reasonably available pertinent to your flight. This includes
*basic* knowledge of meteorology. Your life depends upon
it. The lives of your passengers depend upon it.

CBs are the sharks and barracudas of the sky. You might
get away with playing with them once or twice, but you
can't expect it. What you can expect is that they'll chew
you up and spit you out like so much bubble gum. A big,
dark, TCU may well be on the verge of being a CB; the
closer it gets to being a CB, the closer it gets to being as
dangerous as a CB, but even if it's not as dangerous as a
CB, it can still be dangerous.

None of us know it all, and All of us make mistakes.
We live (hopefully) and learn (hopefully). But in general
it is no argument nor excuse that "No one told me!" As
pilot , *you* are responsible.