Why is flying with reference to instrument difficult?

6 Answers

1. 
   

   
   

   Mark Kolber on May 12, 2015

   The problem is three-fold.

   First is that the 3 hours of required training for the private certificate is hardly enough to develop a sustainable scan. I recall giving a private pilot his first FR after his private. I put him under the hood for some basic instrument reference work. Never had to do unusual attitudes; he put himself into them within 10 seconds of normal straight and level flight with a full set of instruments in view.

   Second, the teriffic job you did when you took your private checkride was at the absolute peak of your hood flying ability. You even practiced specifically for it.You may be extremely unusual but the typical not instrument-rated pilot goes under the hood maybe once every 2 years during her FR, assuming a CFI who bothers to cover it. And, of course, practice under the hood where you know you can remove the hood or rely on your friend or CFI to take control has very little relationship to being in the clouds where you know you can rely on neither.

   Third. Don’t minimize two semi-related factors; the “oh crap!” stress factor of an unexpected encounter with clouds (related to the hood vs real distinction I made above) and the fact that most VFR into IMC encounters are the result of a series of bad decisions.

   So, all of a sudden, after not practicing even under the hood for a few years and making a series of questionable decisions that led to in inadvertent encounter with the real thing , you are now going to calmly and rationally reject the stresses of the moment, make great decisions, and do an excellent job of flying while also changing frequencies on the radio to give a call to ATC?

   Kudos to you if you can.

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2. 
   

   
   

   Russ Roslewski on May 12, 2015

   To add to Kris’s excellent answer, I would say that the main problems are exactly what you suggest in your #1 and 2 in the original post. You’ve been conditioned 24 hours a day over your whole life to trust your senses. So, if you’re the minimum pilot age of 17, that’s almost 150,000 hours of “training” on trusting your senses. Compare that with all of 3 hours of “hood work” you get during Private Pilot training and that’s why it’s so very hard to stop trusting your senses. Maybe you do okay for a little bit, if you started straight and level maybe you can maintain that. But the instant you make a turn or climb/descent, whether on purpose or inadvertently, it just gets harder and harder to ignore your senses.

   I assume from your question that you are a pilot, probably a Private Pilot, and so have had the 3 hours of hood work required. Realize that no hood is a real good representation of “the real thing” – some are better than others, whereas some are laughably ineffective, letting in lots of outside light to tip you off and offering up all kinds of visibility in the corners of your vision.

   I recommend you go fly with a CFII in actual IMC some day. It will be a very educational exercise and a big eye-opener. Then you can go back to your friend and answer him with the knowledge of experience.

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3. 
   

   
   

   Bob Watson on May 13, 2015

   In addition to the previous answers, I think you also have to refute the “flight simulator” assumption. Flying on instruments looks like flight simulator, and while they have a lot in common, most flight simulators don’t mess with your sense of equilibrium like a plane does. Until you’ve experienced vertigo in a plane, it’s hard to understand it.

   Sure, some people survive flight in IMC without training, but they got lucky. It’s one thing to fly under the hood with a qualified instructor, but it’s different when you’re the only pilot and you have passengers who are anxious, airsick, or both with you in the plane. Add in a little turbulence and you can imagine how quickly things will fall apart from there.

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4. 
   

   
   

   Nell on May 16, 2015

   The fluids in your ear canals are in motions that stimulates the hairs in the vestibular system of the ear. Vesitbular is responsible for sensory functions that signals a neural impulse to the brain along with the eyes to determine the current motion of the plane.
   In real IMC, there is no way to see the orientation of the plane and the plane’s motion disturbs these fluids, leading to a false feeling of let’s say banking motion.

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5. 
   

   
   

   Brian on Jun 02, 2015

   To add to all of the above, when we accomplish something we tend to get the notion we can handle it and then push that boundary. First you fly through one cloud safely, so you figure you can handle it and next time fly through a cloud deck, then in a cloud deck, and so on. Same goes with visibility, winds, and all other factors. Till one day you’re up in something you can’t handle and Mr. Murfy comes knocking…

   From the 2013 Nall Report (https://www.aopa.org/-/media/Files/AOPA/Home/Pilot-Resources/Safety-and-Proficiency/Accident-Analysis/Nall-Report/Nall_23_R4.pdf)

   “As always, attempts to fly by visual references in instrument conditions (“VFR into IMC”) accounted for the lion’s share of fatalities (Figure 21).”

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6. 
   

   
   

   Brian on Jun 02, 2015

   Mistype, that’s the 2011 report.

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