On Mar 31, 11:15 am, The Visitor
wrote:

When you entered IMC, why not do a 180 degree turn? Why would you
think/wait for "atc to save you? I think here in Canada PP's are still
taught to do the 180 on instruments to maintain vfr. Least they succumb
in 178 seconds....

John

US Student pilots are required to have 3 hours "under the hood" before
the PPL practical.

This is not meant to imply instrument proficiency, but rather to
provide the minimal expertise required to extricate from an
inadvertent encounter with IMC.

In the old Bonanza manuals, they recommended that a VFR pilot do a 180
using only rudder, using aileron to limit to no more than 15 degree
bank, to fly out of IMC.

The only problem with the current training requirement is that it
really doesn't prepare a VFR-only pilot for a real encounter with IMC.

Such conditions do more than all the preaching in the world to
convince them how absolutely disoriented they can get in a very short
time. The hood simply doesn't provide the disorienting cues that being
in the clouds does.

My strong recommendation is for every CFI to file IFR on a cruddy day
for one short XC and let his/her charge see what IMC is all about.

Hopefully you'll encourage him/her to continue on for the Instrument
rating, but at the very least the aspiring pilot will realize "this
ain't for me" at his/her current skill/knowledge level.

Dan Mc