"Peter Duniho"
"Jose" wrote in message
But the guy woke up from an unexplained blackout (later found to
be from a brain tumor) to find his plane diving to the ground above Vne
and with weakness in one of his legs
But he recovered first. Then he pulled the chute.
Had he pulled it before recovery, I wouldn't have the same questions.

Why not? Assume for a moment that you wake up, find yourself in an
airplane that's diving at above Vne. What's your VERY first reaction? Do
your piloting instincts kick in and cause you to try to recover from the
dive? Or do you sit there and think, "oh, right...I've got a BRS...I'll
deploy that". Assuming the latter, do you also pause to recall at what
speed the BRS can be deployed safely?

As you're aware, recovery from LOC is not a binary event like switching on a
light. The first order is to control the aircraft and get some time to
think. I've been out cold twice and nearly there a few other times. I had
company so there wasn't a safety issue. I was deliberately trying to
witness, first hand, the effects of LOC and near-LOC. The spooky part is
the confusion when waking up. There was a period of a few seconds where I
couldn't tell if I was flying or dreaming. But, after a few tries, it was
pretty easy to quickly focus on the instruments and act accordingly. (That
included a turn toward the nearest field.) But, even if one manages to get
really good at it, there's was still another fifteen or twenty seconds of
fogginess before complete situational awareness is possible. Recognition of
that fact wasn't so easy. I would be concerned about any decision making
during that period. I am more concerned about my ability to resist making
any decision until I know what's going on (and I consider a conclusion that
I don't know what's going on sort of knowing what's going on) than my
ability to quickly get the thing flying safely again. Odd stuff, LOC.

moo