"Bob F." wrote in message
. ..
"Mike" nospam@ microsoft.com wrote in message
news
"Tman" x@x wrote in message
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Bob Noel wrote:

hmmm, all the wx reports I saw were legal VMC (not smart VMC, but still
\
I think you're confusing VMC and VFR.
It may have been legal VFR.
legal). Do you have reference to reports that the conditions were not
VMC?
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable
cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent
over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation.
Factors in the accident were haze, and the dark night.

That's IMC buddy. Could be a clear VACU night over water with no
moonlight, and if you can't maintain a horizon due to those factors,
thats IMC even though it is also very much legal VFR.

No, that's not necessarily IMC. IMC means less than legal VFR.

I believe he WAS in IMC, however there's little doubt he was at least in
instrument conditions, which is not the same as IMC.


As they say, looks like he flew into Cumulo-Granite.

--
Regards, Bob F.
Loks like you are combining multiple accidents:

1. J.F.Kennedy Jr. was asserted to be VFR in VMC sans horizon with
horizontal visiblility well above minimum. He was generally regarded as a
novice pilot and may have shown poor decision making and instrument skills.

2. Some have recently speculated that Steve Fossett may have encountered a
mountain while in or exiting a brief period of IMC; but that has certainly
not been established. He was regarded as an excellent pilot with, so far as
I know, no detractors.

Somehow, the parallel is not obvious.