It may be an underestimated challenge to abruptly toggle from visual to instrument flying after having gotten into IMC. If you don’t react very quickly and decidedly, you might have messed up already too badly.
Yes especially is the pilot tries to sneak VFR between clouds with changes of power & attitude, entering clouds while trying to avoid with +/-45deg bank or +/-20deg pitch is disorientating to anyone !
There are various reasons why an IR pilot may en up in that situation in Golf, not planning to fly in clouds and not turning back on time, but there are others: one being afraid of doing something illegal? or getting fined by ATC or NAA for flying in clouds without flight plan in Golf? or some need to be on radar with clearance & separation to switch VFR/IFR in Golf? not getting pop-up IFR in CAS by climb?
However, entering clouds wing level in stable cruise with positive intent to fly in clouds is walk in the park for current IR pilot, let’s not exaggerate this: especially if wings are level on altitude & heading, even 10000 more easier with an auto-pilot…
In 1987 I had cloud form around me at the West end of the Great Glen. In a C152, a few solo hours after regaining my PPL. I did a good enough 180 to get back to visual at Loch Lochy. My pax, almost completed PPL course, monitored me and broadcast to other aircraft following us. Well below the hills on either side.
In 1993, in a Jodel DR1050, SW Ireland, over the sea, I thought there were a few cumulus with showers. They were deep fog cells forming. I was unable to climb on top, as my clear area was shrinking. I straightened out, went on instruments, called ATC with a PanPan, as although I now had an IMC Rating, it was not valid in Ireland. As I spoke, I noticed the AH and T&S differed. My voice rose several octaves. But they came together and I climbed on top, with permission to enter controlled airspace. (The DI was unreliable.)
I’ve managed to avoid cloud since then. The Bolkow has reliable instruments.
The “Max # minutes” is rubbish if you keep cool, as have an AH.
Yup, the uncertainty about what’s going on tends to use up 80% of your braincells. I got that t-shirt too for a different matter.
IN my case, the thing that helped was making an inventory of what you do have certainty on (QA32-style ) and working from there. That alone immediately freed up most of those hijacked braincells for me…the RV10 pilot obviously had such a hijack too.
As an observation, some of the prior attitude excursions (not the one after the ASI loss) look like he was not using the A/P. To me that is one of the most useful tools available for SP IFR, especially when the workload gets high. That alone takes care of a big part of the “aviating” so you can think of “navigating”
Antonio wrote:
As an observation, some of the prior attitude excursions (not the one after the ASI loss) look like he was not using the A/P. To me that is one of the most useful tools available for SP IFR, especially when the workload gets high. That alone takes care of a big part of the “aviating” so you can think of “navigating”
I dunno, when I see what he is doing before the loss of airspeed, he was using the autopilot, indeed, in the video he mentions that “the noise you hear is my autopilot kicking off”. If you look at the control unit – looks like a Garmin 307 – before the upset, the bottom right LED is lit up, meaning the aircraft is in altitude hold mode, the middle two are lit, indicating autopilot and flight director is active.
After the airspeed becomes invalid, the autopilot kicks off, the top centre LED is extinguished, the autopilot switches to standby HDG mode (LED bottom left lights up)…
Thanks for pointing that out. I am not familiar with the Garmin 307 but now that you point it out it does seem to be on for some portions of the flight, but not others (even prior to the icing event). Weird!
