On Mar 4, 2:20*pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
a writes:
I suspect many of the rated pilots here have experienced what I have:
vertigo as bad as it gets in a long flight while in the clouds.

Maybe, although I've read that a great deal of IFR flight actually takes place
in IMC, so even rated pilots might not get that much experience flying through
clouds. *Flying through clouds has other hazards besides a lack of visibility.

JFK Jr is a well known example
of someone who could not unlink primal fear from primal but incorrect
action.

JFK had issues, apparently.
You simply have no real life data to support your statements. There
are requirements for recency of experience for IFR flight. I have had
quite a lot with no outside reference -- that is different than IMC --
and assert vertigo is quite real, and unless one is trained and
current, it can be life threatening.

JFK Jr had issues, he was also unrated for instruments, had plenty of
training that did not seem to help which is why he was still unrated.
It took him, it's been estimated, about 30 seconds from disconnecting
his auto pilot at something like 5,500 feet to impact. Ego greater
than skill has killed a number of pilots.