On Thursday, November 5, 2015 at 11:54:33 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
On 11/4/2015 6:16 PM, Christopher
Giacomo wrote:



While I have zero time under the hood, i have no doubt that an ARHS would have significantly changed my plan for the flight



How would an AHRS change your plan?* I'm not trying to add fuel to
the fire, but please consider that nothing you can practice on a
computer can prepare you for actual IMC flight.* Take a look at this
and understand that the sensations generated by your vestibular
system will likely be too powerful to resist without proper training
and experience.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensor...ns_in_aviation



And here's a youtube video showing two trained and experienced
military pilots who suffer spatial disorientation.* One of them
doesn't survive...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAaeBE7uSzY



There seems to be too many people who think that simply having an
instrument will save their bacon when the chips are down.* You might
get lucky if you make a controlled entry into IMC, but don't bet
your life on it.* Being suddenly enveloped when a hole closes around
you is another story.* Once you were in the soup you made the right
choice to jump.* My only critique of your decision to jump was that
I thought you waited too long.


--

Dan, 5J

Dan,
I think you misinterpreted what i meant by "changing my plan." While i intend to put an AHRS in my next ship and was planning on installing one in the HP, the purpose was to ensure i was at least wings level while doing some sort of benign spiral over more level terrain, and not to get myself out of the sort of situation i found myself in. If i had an AHRS at my disposal, i believe that i probably would have foolishly attempted to use it in order to fly down the valley, rather than tell myself that i cannot trust my senses and eventually bail out.

I am in no way comfortable in any form of IMC, whether it be in a single Cu or in a solid deck. While an AHRS can be a very valuable tool to have in the cockpit, like any other tool, you need to understand both its limitations and your own abilities to effectively utilize it. I plan to work towards developing a far lower cost option for "Get-down" ARHS units, but in no way take the notion of inadvertent flight in IMC lightly... my training told me to jump when that happens, and that's why i did exactly that.
Chris