Peter Duniho writes:

If that happens, you trust what you see out the window.

I don't.

Statistically speaking, it's likely that about half of the people
participating in this newsgroup do not have instrument ratings.

I believe it.

However, it's also likely that about half of the people DO have instrument
ratings. Your "impression" (such as it is, based on your own highly flawed
"understanding" of aviation and piloting) is unlikely to be anywhere close
to correct.

You just speculated that half the people here are not instrument
rated, therefore I'm pretty close to correct.

And what "mindset" is that?

The mindset that is willing to believe optical illusions and
misleading sensations over instruments. Why bother with instruments
at all, if one is magically endowed with the ability to perceive
reality perfectly with eyes and semicircular canals?

I am instrument rated. You seem to think that my mindset is inappropriate
for instrument flight.

Yes, but as long as I'm not your passenger, and not anywhere near you
in the sky (or beneath you on the ground), it's not my problem.

I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean.

If they have no clue about the use of their instruments, then they are
going to be helpless if the weather deteriorates. If they are
convinced that instruments are less reliable than their perceptions,
then they'll be in even deeper trouble.

A pilot not trained for
instrument flight is unlikely to do well is instrument conditions, just as
you are unlikely to do well flying an actual airplane. So what?

Well, apparently the non-IFR pilots don't hesitate to talk about IFR,
but they don't like it when non-pilots talk about piloting. Hmm.

Some minimal training is required, yes. But so what? The training is
intended for when the pilot encounters INSTRUMENT conditions. When in
VISUAL conditions, there is no need to use any instruments in the airplane
at all.

You see it as a need; I see it as a convenience.

No, they are not. In visual conditions, the likelihood of the external view
becoming compromised in a way that affects the safety of the flight is
practically nil.

And what is the probability that the instruments will fail?

Yes, they are. There's no magic switch in a full-motion simulator that
disables your sensation of acceleration.

Simulators trick your sensations, and your imagination fills in the
rest.

I'm starting to think that not only have you never sat at the controls of an
actual aircraft, you have not even ever set foot inside a real full-motion
simulator. You have absolutely no understanding of how full-motion
simulators work.

I do indeed know how they work, and the tricks they play to make
pilots think they are actually moving.

As I have already pointed out, full-motion simulators take advantage of the
acceleration of gravity, combined with misleading visual information, to
fool the body into thinking they are under a state of constant acceleration.

It's much more complicated than that.

If visual cues were sufficient, you'd get the same sensation of acceleration
at your PC.

Sometimes you do, especially with multiple screens. That's why many
people get motion sickness playing Doom. They aren't moving, but the
effect of the visual input they see is strong enough to convince their
brains that they are.

The visual cues are only part of the picture in the full-motion
simulator. They work in conjunction with real acceleration (momentary
movement of the simulator, combined with a change in attitude resulting in
redirection of the perceived acceleration of gravity) to produce that
impression of continuous acceleration, and it works only because of the
body's accurate and sensitive sensation of acceleration.

If the body were so accurate, it would notice the simulator returning
to a neutral position, and it would notice the rotation of the
simulator when the net acceleration vector shifts. But that doesn't
happen.

No, it's not. If you'd ever seen a full-motion simulator in operation,
you'd never even think of saying such a silly thing.

I have seen them in operation.

Heck, you don't have to be a pilot to ride in one ... just take a ride
like Star Tours at Disneyland, which uses full-motion simulators.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.