"bumper" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Please remember the accident statistics for instrument rated power
pilots who lose their vacuum system--not a pretty picture. In order to
obtain the instrument rating you must demonstrate the ability to fly
without an attitude indicator (read using either turn and bank or turn
coordinator). History has shown that a high percentage of these cases
result in a fatal crash.

Please do not think that a solid state gyro, or any other instrument,
will eliminate the problem. It takes a lot of training and continuing
proficiency to be able to fly an aircraft solely by reference to
instruments. This situation is even more serious when you add
significant turbulence.

Fly Safe--

Skip Guimond


All true, Skip.

I think that any pilot who hasn't done partial panel instrument flying,
either under the hood or actual, cannot have a true appreciation for the
difficulties involved in staying upright in the clag. Both of the two
recent
accidents (on fatal, one not) involving gliders in IMC were flown by very
experienced ATP rated pilots with lots of instrument time. In each case
they just had no functioning instruments available to them and thus had
little more chance of getting out of it clean than if you put the average
Joe in the cockpit, with no license at all, in the same fix.

So I guess we are talking two things here, both equally important. Make
sure
the glider you fly near harms way has the appropriate instruments to carry
you safely through it. Make sure you have the current skills to use those
instruments.

At the least, I recommend renting an instructor and power plane for a good
dose of under the hood time followed by some"unusual attitude" recovery on
partial panel. If you're not willing to do that, and have no death wish,
then do yourself and family a favor and stay the heck away from any chance
of inadvertent or intentional IMC.

bumper
Minden



This is very true. I would add that once acquired, partial panel skills
seem to have a longer 'shelf life' than full panel attitude instrument
flying. The thing is that today, few instrument pilots ever really learn
partial panel - being taught instead to rely on the attitude indicator.

I originally learned 'needle-ball-airspeed + wet compass & clock' instrument
flying. Later with full gyro panels, I still relied heavily on the old
style of flying. The AI and DG were just 'fancy extras' that added a little
precision. Recently, after a long absence, I donned a 'hood' and tried my
hand at instrument flying. The old NBA skills still worked but the newer
stuff felt strange. I could fly partial panel NDB holds and approaches but
a full-panel ILS made me sweat.

Unusual attitude recovery with NBA is simple and it always works. Just
center the needle with coordinated controls, step on the 'ball' and get the
desired airspeed. Too bad those damned 'turn coordinators' took over the
world. Give me an old needle and ball any day - they never lie.

Partial panel skills saved my bacon several times when the vacuum driven AI
and DG went belly up in the soup.

Bill Daniels