Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC)

If a pilot were to focus his or her training and self-development on that aspect of aviation that contributes to more fatalities than any other . . . he or she would master weather factors! 

According to AOPA's Air Safety Foundation's 2004 Nall Report, more than seven out of 10 pilot-induced fatal accidents are attributed to weather.  And the worst of these weather-caused fatal accidents, by an overwhelming margin of 87.5 percent, is continued VFR flight into IFR conditions!

For the VFR-only pilot, this means sticking his or her nose into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC).  If he does, there is an overwhelming chance he (and his passengers) will not come out alive.  That is, of course, unless he had the training, proficiency, and presence of mind to simply reverse course and come right back out.

Many VFR-only pilots do not have either the training, proficiency, or presence of mind to safely escape from IMC conditions!

Actual Case History:  I was having breakfast several weeks ago with a young man who recently completed his private pilot certificate at a neighboring airport.  We were talking about the relative risks of poor weather flying.  In a tone of frustration, he mentioned to me that he had no poor weather flying experience.  I responded saying, "You must have received at least three hours or more of instrument training in your private pilot course." 

"No," he said.  "My instructor told me that it was useless to train if I couldn't see the ground!  I received my required instrument training all under a hood!" 

How sad, I thought.  Buffalo, NY has more cloudy, low weather days than nearly any other place in the nation, and this poor soul was relegated to a "view limiting device" for instrument training!  What is he going to do if he's caught in unforecasted, worsening weather conditions?  Sadly, he'll likely become another aviation statistic.

Biggest fault with the way we train pilots!!!
 

If 70 percent of all pilot-induced GA accidents are attributable to weather factors and 87.5 percent of these accidents are caused by continued VFR flight into IMC conditions, shouldn't we be providing primary flight students with more than three hours of hood work?

No matter how you cut it, no pilot with just three hours of simulated IFR training has the skills to safely perform a 180 degree, standard rate turn out of the clouds and back into VFR conditions! 

In reality, continued VFR flight into IMC conditions doesn't happen the way we think it does.  Instead, the typical VFR to IFR scenario occurs when either haze or lowering ceilings create sudden widespread instrument meteorological conditions.   The only escape is to maneuver, by instruments, to distant VFR conditions and land.  When this occurs, the pilot - having never seen ACTUAL IFR conditions, begins to panic.  Even if he had good "simulated" instrument skills, his mind shuts down in fear brought about by a totally unfamiliar environment.

"Well . . . he shouldn't have been flying that day, anyway!"

Okay, it's time we wake up and take of whiff of the coffee.  It's time that we understand that VFR-only pilots take cross-country trips.  That's why many of them obtained their private pilot certificate in the first place.  Hey . . . even the FARs require a VFR pilot to have at least 50 hours of cross country flight before he can qualify for an instrument ticket!

So what happens on many cross country flights? 

Answer:  STUFF!  That's right!  Stuff happens.  Haze thickens, ceilings lower, rains fall, whatever.  Could it possibly be true that the weather forecasts were incorrect?

So we have a hapless private pilot who paid $9,000 to his flight school for a private pilot's certificate who is now caught in STUFF.  The first thing he does is reach in his flight bag for his foggles . . . because that was how he was trained to fly on instruments!

In its own defense, the flight school or flight instructor says, "Hey, the FAA says that primary pilots require only three hours of instrument flight, simulated at that!  What are you beating me up for?"

Sadly, the flight school/flight instructor is right!  They're fulfilling the minimum training requirement put forth in the FARs.   See the problem here?

We can't change them . . . but we can change us!

No, we will not be seeing any changes in the FARs anytime soon.  Nor will be seeing any changes in the Part 141 FAA approved flight school curriculum.  Nor will be seeing many DPEs conducting Private Pilot check rides in IMC conditions.  But we can make changes in ourselves!

If you are a VFR pilot and your flight training provided you with little or no actual IFR experience, or if your logbook reveals little or no (less than 6 to 10 hours) actual IFR flight, I invite you to pay very close attention to the VFR into IFR flight fatality rates. 

More importantly, stop recommending your flight instructor or flight school to your friends.  Next,  engage a flight instructor to fly with you the next time the weather goes below VFR conditions.  Go into the clouds and the low, rainy scud.  Get comfortable with the knowledge that your airplane flies the same way in dreary days as if flies on clear days.  Obtain the skills to safely extricate yourself from unexpected adverse weather conditions.

If you do this . . . and every other VFR-only pilot does likewise, we could see a dramatic reduction in continued VFR into IMC flight fatalities!