"Flying too High" by Steven Pomper

"Skylune" wrote in message
lkaboutaviation.com...
The author's main point was that a moron like JFK Jr. can fly legally
(LEGALLY, that is the point!) with VFR at night in hazy conditions,
unsupervised.

Yes, and that's perfectly appropriate. What the author fails to understand
is that the primary purpose of flying IFR is to have ATC take responsibility
for aircraft separation if visibility isn't good enough to see and avoid
visually. The conditions during JFK Jr.'s flight were entirely adequate for
visual separation.

Flying IFR does not help you use instruments to keep the plane upright in
the absence of a visible horizon. Contrary to naive opinion, that's a *VFR*
skill, and it's taught (in the US anyway) as part of the basic private-pilot
curriculum. The bulk of instrument-rating training takes for granted the
basic ability to fly by instruments, and concentrates on the details of en
route and approach procedures.

As with any other aspect of flying, it's possible for a pilot who hasn't
done it enough (and recently enough) to be less than adequately proficient
at it. Pilots have a responsibility is to assess the recency of their
experience and their current proficiency at various tasks, including the
task of flying at night with marginal visibility.

--Gary