"Tom S." wrote in message ...

And that has absolutely nothing to do with fixed-gear vs retractable. Quite
frankly, anyone with significant time in a retractable is used to the
differences and more attuned to the subtleties/situation than fixed gear
types.

In fact, a correlation between retract vs. fixed gear and loss of
control in simulated IMC has been shown to exist.

There are two recent ASF/FAA studies on vacuum failures which speak to
the contrary., one in a simulator one in actual airplanes specially
modified to allow the observer to randomly fail the vacuum system.
The pilots varied in experience, some had quite extensive time
in make and model.

Here is a link:
http://www.cami.jccbi.gov/aam-400A/A...0TEXT/0219.pdf

There was a striking difference in how many of the retract pilots
lost control vs. how many of the fixed gear pilots. In the study
which took place in an airplane, all of the Piper Archer pilots
maintained control. 1/4 of the Bonanza pilots lost control.

There was no correlation between loss of control and overall
experience or time in type. In fact, IIRC in one of the studies
time in type was a *negative* corellator, possibly because pilots
with high time in type may feel more confident and go longer between
recurrent training.

Just to inject some facts.

Cheers,
Sydney