In wave, in blue hole at cloud level, hole closes, in IMC, then what?

Let me preface my statements with some background. I have hundreds of hours of actual instrument time in military and light and medium civil aircraft. Almost all of it was hand flown - no autopilot. A lot in the monsoons of Vietnam. I also have some hours of actual instrument in my glider where I've been doing some experiments. I do not have any wave experience.

A "benign spiral" is only benign if everything remains in equilibrium. You can practice it all day in fairly smooth air. All that goes out the window when you enter turbulence.

In the military, I was a standardization and instrument instructor, similar to an FAA examiner. On every flight, we always played the "what if" game. What if this or that were to happen. As gilder pilots, everyone always plays the "what if I loss lift game" and plan for places to land. We should be considering any and all situations and failures. By the way, you don't need to be in the aircraft to do that. You can do almost as well by flying a chair and planning alternatives.

One of the things I always did with an instrument student was covering all gyros, airspeed, and altimeter, and then told them I wanted them to maintain control of the aircraft and descend 2,000. They still had a compass and outside air temp. Most gliders have a compass and a few have air temp.

With only those two instruments you can accomplish the task in actual instrument conditions. Think back to our training about compass lead and lag. Remember what happens if you are heading north or south and bank the aircraft?

Just in case you don't, if you are heading north and bank the aircraft, the compass will lag the turn. Actually, if you bank to the right, it will show a turn to the west. If heading south and you bank the aircraft, the compass will lead your turn. As soon as you bank to the right, the compass will swing to the right, even if you don't turn.

Now you know the secret - head SOUTH and try to keep the compass pointing south. As soon as you bank to the right, the compass will start a swing right. Correct to level and it will return to south, Bank left and it will swing left. It doesn't take much practice to get it down.

As for descending 2,000. all you need do is watch the outside air temp. The standard lapse rate is 2 degrees centigrade or 3 1/2 degrees Fahrenheit per 1,000 feet. A temp increase of 4C is approximately 2,000.

If we see clouds closing in on us, the normal first thought is to speed up to get away from the clouds. That's exactly the opposite of what you should be considering. First, at high altitudes, it would be easy to exceed VNE. Next, we don't want to over stress the aircraft in turbulence.

On most gliders, I would drop my gear to increase drag until I could get below flap speed. Then I would extend all the drag flaps you can. Then when slow, I'd extend spoilers or speed brakes. Your best friend in this case is not speed, but controlled rate of descent.

FYI, my plan for the instrument flying experiments I have been doing is to complete all three legs of the diamond badge in Georgia. That would be a first. All the IFR flying is on an instrument clearance with block altitudes. I haven't figured out yet how to maintain an assigned altitude in a glider!

Charlie