Update on Minden tradegy

Bruce Hoult wrote:

It's amazing how hard it is to get *true* no-visual-reference conditions
in IMC.

I've done some flying with a commercial pilot friend doing night freight
runs in small turboprops. Even in the clouds in the middle of nowhere
in NZ you can almost always see some speck of light out of the corner of
your eye, whether a farmhouse or a star, and that gives you roll
information even when you're not looking at the AH. You don't realize
how much this helps until the first time there really *is* nothing out
there.

There have been an amazing number of Navy pilots that have flown into
the water as they mistaked boat lights for either stars or an aircraft
they were joining on. I know, not pertinent to gliders, but the optical
illusions of sort of IMC/VMC can be intense and almost more disorienting.

nafod40 wrote:

There have been an amazing number of Navy pilots that have flown into
the water as they mistaked boat lights for either stars or an aircraft

There are libraries full of books about wrong visual clues: Houses on a
hill taken for stars, a street taken for a shore line, wrong
perspectives, wrong distances, wrong altitude, etc. etc. etc. I'm always
amazed that there would still be pilots who believe they are smarter
than those who contributed to this knowledge with their blood.

If in IMC or at night, believe your instruments and nothing else. If
your aircraft (glider) is not adequately equipped, avoid clouds. This
can be done! There is no such thing as "trapped" by a layer if you act
as you should. If you feel like cloud flying, equip your glider
accordingly and learn how to use the gauges.

Stefan