Turn coordinator? How dare they!

On Sunday, February 24, 2013 5:06:33 PM UTC-5, wrote:

US gliders do not frequently put themselves in a position where they might need to descend through clouds! The first lesson you learn when wave flying is absolutely not to let this happen.

How does a pilot gain the power to "absolutely not let this happen"? Knowledge and experience do not control the weather.

And of course it all depends on how you define the word "frequently". I've heard pilots recall the blue hole closing up and then "luckily" reopening somewhere else within reach. My impression is that every time people fly wave on the east coast, it is a roll of the dice whether they will get stuck above the cloud deck. Maybe it works out most of the time, but wave flying pilots put themselves in the position where they "might" have to descend through clouds. I have no idea how frequently that happens. But it certainly happens. I've flown in wave. I've not been caught above deck. Good luck so far I guess.

The other FAR conflict I notices with wave flying is that that pilots routinely violate the stipulated horizontal offset from the rotor cloud. Why not equip gliders (with a turn and bank indicator) and pilots (with training) to safely handle a few minutes of cloud flying if it is a non-zero possibility?