Just push the blue button!

"James Robinson" wrote in message
.. .
Bob Noel wrote:

Mike wrote:

"Bob Noel" wrote:

Mike wrote:

Diamond already has this on some of their aircraft. I don't know
that it has ever made a difference, however there are a large number
of fatalities caused by VFR to IMC (just like John-John).

John-John was VFR to IMC?

Yep.

hmmm, all the wx reports I saw were legal VMC (not smart VMC, but still
legal). Do you have reference to reports that the conditions were not
VMC?

Conditions were reported at above VFR minimums. The FAA manager at the
airport said that conditions were likely better than the official reports
at the time of the accident.

The NTSB report simply said that there can be illusions when flying over
sparcely-populated areas or over water in hazy conditions. In this case,
the loss of horizon:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...12X19354&key=1

He didn't crash at the airport. Also any conditions reported by automated
wx stations only report conditions on the ground. Nantucket was reporting 4
miles visibility with mist in the area at the time. So even going by the
ground stations, clearly there were conditions in the general area that were
damn close to IMC. He didn't loose it near the ground either, he lost it at
altitude and probably around 2-3,000'.

One pilot reported visibilities as low as 2 miles in the area. Another flew
over Martha's Vinyard and thought there was a power outage because he saw no
lights. Most pilots in the area reported conditions much lower than was
forcast. Furthermore no pilot operating under VFR is going to tell the NTSB
they were in IMC.

At the time of the accident, John-John was training to get his instrument
ticket and he had flown in IMC with an instructor at night. Although he
wasn't ready for his checkride, he also wasn't completely ignorant of IFR.
Clearly he was a victim of spatial disorientation, which certainly can
happen at night, but that particular night he had at least some moonlight.
That's why I think he probably got into a bit of IMC and lost it before the
crash. I think it would have taken more than just a bit of haze to trip him
up.