Michael wrote:

True but I would assume that they thought that they had given the subject
adequate consideration. It is arogant to believe that everyone else is a
fool and you are not. My fovorite ezample are those pilots who are
confident that they could handle an IMC gyro failure when the record shows
that many (most?) cannot.

Yeah, I've heard that song before. Even believed it. Then I had my
AI tumble. At night. In IMC. On the climbout. While being
rerouted. In spite of what everyone told me, it was a complete
non-event.

Thanks for the narrative -- it's useful information.

I'm curious where the statistics are that show that most pilots cannot
handle an AI failure in IMC. This FAA report

http://www1.faa.gov/fsdo/orl/files/advcir/P874052.TXT

states that vacuum failures are a factor in an average of 2 accidents per
year, and that there is an average of one vacuum-related accident for every
40,000 to 50,000 GA IFR flight plans filed. That doesn't tell us much,
though, since we don't know how many non-fatal vacuum failures occurred
during those flights.


All the best,


David