On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 10:48:43 -0000, Dylan Smith
wrote:

On 2005-12-29, Ron Rosenfeld wrote:
No question but that pitch changes may be greater on takeoff than enroute.
But I've not noted any equilibrium problems while flying IMC. Maybe that's
from practice relying on the instruments and ignoring body cues?

Ignoring them isn't the problem, but you can still feel them

For whatever reason, I just don't feel the equilibrium problems that you
and others have described. Perhaps "ignore" is the wrong word to use, but
it has not ever been an issue for me, even during training.


and it adds
yet another thing on top of an already busy time. Added to this that it
is winter, it is night, there's a possibility of winds generating
turbulence off the terrain, and being winter - icing. I can hardly blame
a CFII for making a no-go decision in such conditions. It's nothing to
do with proficiency or 'being uncomfortable in night IMC'. It's a matter
of adding up the risk factors and finding the risk factors are too high
for a likely successful flight.

I did mention the possibility of icing in another post. But I still have
not seen any note from Hilton as to why, as a CFII (he pointed out), *HE*
would not have made that trip in the reported weather conditions.

Clearly one should not have gone VFR!


I'm not entirely sure where these events took place, but even with our
mild climate here, I wouldn't launch in day IMC here in a light plane
because the freezing level is often below 2000 feet - even if I had
20,000 hours experience. From my 1000 hours or so experience of flying
in the United States, much of it outside the gulf coast seems to have
fairly low icing conditions in the winter.

I agree that you have to assess your equipment and experience before
launching into any type of conditions. But this morning in eastern ME, the
freezing level was well above the MEA. I would have no hesitation about
flying under those circumstances.
Ron (EPM) (N5843Q, Mooney M20E) (CP, ASEL, ASES, IA)