IFR "War Stories"

I wonder what you are looking for, Timothy.

Maybe I am misunderstanding the “war stories” phrase but, to state the obvious, IFR flying isn’t a “war”, and writing about unplanned and possibly dangerous events is basically writing about pilot errors and that can just make the IFR GA community look like a lot of incompetent pilots.

Mistakes need to be re-told for the educational purpose but if one is doing it openly it needs to be done carefully and it needs to show that the pilot (a) didn’t do something completely stupid (or illegal) and (b) he/she learnt something from it.

And since most of the light IFR GA community (basically almost everybody who acquired the capability in the last 20 years) is N-reg, that just plays into the hands of the rather predictable N-reg slagging off group – both on some pilot forums and in places like the CAA or NATS. They already have enough material falling in their lap from certain quarters… when e.g. somebody pulls an N-reg SR22 chute because he got confused flying an IAP to Gloucester (not Kathmandu). It is great news that he survived, and the SR22 community makes the best of that, but it makes me want to cry for the damage he did to IFR GA.

when e.g. somebody pulls an N-reg SR22 chute because he got confused flying an IAP to Gloucester (not Kathmandu). It is great news that he survived, and the SR22 community makes the best of that, but it makes me want to cry for the damage he did to IFR GA.

Quite right! It would have done far less damage to IFR GA if he hadn’t pulled the chute and just died like a real pilot….

Quite right! It would have done far less damage to IFR GA if he hadn’t pulled the chute and just died like a real pilot….

I never suggested that, Jonzarno. I don’t like the “skygod” culture either and have often expressed my dislike of that point of view which is not exactly uncommon!

But would you use that one in a book on private IFR? That’s the question in this case. I’ve done plenty of cockups but there are some which would be best not written about.

The inference I drew from your post was that he damaged IFR GA by pulling the chute more than because he screwed up the approach. If I made that mistake, it’s possible that others will as well.

War stories don’t have to be that extreme. I have a couple that I will probably share neither of which should damage IFR GA.

Although I trust Peter that it was not his intention (we) know the implied attitude pretty well. I think that a survivor is better for GA than a dead pilot, be it in a SR22 – or in a TB20. The deadly accidents are much worse for the image of GA.

I don’t think Timothy is looking for horror stories or tales of reckless flying. I think he just wants interesting stories about IFR flying. You don’t have to make a mistake for something to be interesting or educational.

For me, my very first taste of IFR was on my sixth (PPL) flying lesson. We were due to do slow flight and stalling exercises. The cloud base was far too low for that, but I wanted to fly, so we went anyway. I levelled off at 2,000 feet whilst the instructor got on the radio to negotiate a RAS from a nearby RAF station. He then suggested a further climb. What about the cloud? It’ll be fine… just fly straight. So up we went.

I distinctly remember tensing up immediately prior to entering the cloud. A large knot grew deep in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t quite know what to expect, but climbing toward the cloud seemed a very unnatural act.

Both hands gripped the yoke tightly as the first milky wisps enveloped the aircraft. My eyes were glued to the attitude indicator and my hands began to sweat. Which way was up? Without the instruments I really couldn’t tell. Although I felt uncomfortable, our attitude remained rock solid. Gradually the cloud seemed to get lighter and suddenly, without any real warning, we broke out into the most spectacularly clear sky with only a cotton-wool blanket of cloud beneath us as far as the eye could see. In that very instant I was hooked.

That’s a great story.

1
I arrived at the airport for my first IFR lesson in the C-172 RG I would fly for the whole training. We planned to do some basic attitude flying first in the clouds and some airwork. The weather was quite lousy. Overcast 500 ft, raining. We took off on a IFR flight plan and only only seconds after entering the clouds the instructor yelled “okay, my control”. I had no idea what was going on but realized something was wrong. Seconds later he told me that the AI indicator had failed. It was tilted to the left, 45 degrees and when I checked that there was no vacuum indication. The instructor flew the plane back to the airport by the Turn Coordinator and landed.

2
One week later I came back for the next try. Rain, low overcast … Took off into the clouds, climbed to 3 or 4000 feet in the pouring rain, when all of a sudden the whole panel went black. No radio, no lights, no GPS. The instructor reset some Circuit Breakers, electricity went back on, but only for some second, the all went out again. We found a hole in the clouds, descended below the solid layer and flew back, No radio approach and landing …

…. Those wewre my FIRST TWO IFR sessions. I almost quit! The next time I came back I asked: “So, what will it be today? The engine, maybe?” That RG was actually a nice and well mainatined plane, it still flies, just saw it today. Has close to 20.000 hours.

Here are some from my files.

Departing early winter from San Sebastian, IFR to Madrid, should have requested a non SID departure to climb away from the Pyrenees to FL140, and join airways already on top. The 1950’s de icing technology had to work overtime as I climbed through icing enhanced by orographic lift – a phenomenon nicely spelt out in Met textbooks! Descent not an option due to the mountains.

I have become more compartmentalised in either operating IFR or VFR and not mixing the two. My IMC rating privileges OCAS being kept in reserve as a safety option. I have had two close ups operating on a Z flight plan. On one I was cleared to join and in the climb direct DVR – as I climbed on top a Twinkie was below in my twelve opposite direction – Thames never mentioned the traffic.

A similar close up was of a Cirrus as I turned at Compton, although this was in VFR conditions, but still OCAS.

On another occasion on a Z plan from the Rome area to Milano Linate, I had a particularly unhelpful Rome who were not giving me a join. Rising terrain, lowering ceilings reminded me of Russell’s observation on universals – a more sophisticated planning of a safe MSA track would have been useful to the pilot! I now have very conservative VFR limits if on a Z plan. Y plans give you the option to divert IFR if you do not encounter the VFR conditions you planned for.

Will dig up the Russell quote and edit the post.

Ecco from Chapter VI, on Induction, Problems of Philosophy 1912

We know that all these rather crude expectations of uniformity are liable to be misleading. The man who has fed the chicken every day throughout its life at last wrings its neck instead, showing that more refined views as to the uniformity of nature would have been useful to the chicken.