As I look at the wonderful screen shots in the forum...

....and admire the amazing cloud formations that the Sim Pilots are about to enter...

I pinch myself and remember this little gem of knowledge...>>>

http://www.flyingmag.com/blogs/flying-time/stay-out-clouds?cmpid=032012&spPodID=...

Paul...VFR, and staying well clear of clouds!... ...!

Cumulonimbus clouds on a warm summer day are beautiful to look at, whilst lying on the grass and gazing up at the sky...

..but then recall that terrifying drive you had, a few years ago, through miles and miles of dense Fog, with visibility close to zero, never quite knowing where you were on the road...or even if you were still on the road, and all the time waiting for the crash which would suddenly cut short your life, and everyone else with you!

Take my tip, keep out of bloody clouds..they will kill you!.. ..!

Paul...long-time Motorcyclist...and Fog avoider!.. ...!

Flying Trucker wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2012 at 7:41pm:


..whilst flying in dense clouds, with poor visibility, and disorientated?

Clouds are beautiful to look at....but given half a chance, they will attack you, and kill you!... ...!

Paul.... ...!

I manage my sim flight, flying in marginal VMC conditions reasonably successfully, using IFR rules...
...and providing that ALL my instruments are operating correctly... ..., and that I am reading them correctly!.. ..

But the work load is enormous during normal level flight, and attempting to land under those condition is extremely daunting, to say the least!

Most of the time I try to stay well clear of clouds in all my GA, VFR flights.

Paul.

Flying Trucker wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2012 at 7:56pm:


I read a more recent study that reduced that life expectancy to under 90 seconds.  I can definitely see why.  On a recent instrument flight, we had to descend through a 1,500 foot cloud deck on the approach, which took roughly three minutes.  In that short time, I was stuggling with a slight case of vertigo.  I had to force myself to believe the instruments and not my gut.  I was more than happy when we broke out at 900 feet and could see ground again.

DaveSims wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2012 at 8:24pm:


Lucky you.. ..!

Its the sharp intake of breath that normally precedes what someone is going to say to me, that triggers me to pay attention before they actually speak...
That doesn't happen with Air Traffic Control!
The ATC command is like a sudden, unexpected, unintelligible machine-gun blast in my ear-oles....making me jump!...
...and I am forced to constantly repeat;..."Say again"...while struggling to find the Knee-board pencil, which has disappeared between the Rudder Pedals ...!

I can never, ever, get used to real ATC, from real Airfields!

Paul..."Would you repeat the instruction again...please!"... ...!

... ... ...!

I have no interest in flying in clouds without the rating. Always did fine "under the hood", but that is very different.
I've gotten "the leans" once, while flying solo VFR: climbing turn; looked at the chart then back outside a bit too quickly, and suddenly the instruments and actual horizon seemed to be lying to me. It passed in a moment, but in IMC it would have been a lot worse.

I've heard that in something like a Cub, when you find yourself in IMC, or need to descend through clouds, the best course of action is to chop the throttle, apply full nose-up trim, then put your feet under the seat, sit on your hands, and wait. Doesn't always work, as Doug's tale shows... sometimes you just need a lot of luck, like this poor bastard:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3QU8J8YJIc

... the audio is real; the video is a pretty good dramatization using MSFS.

Hi Sean...

If the pilot I mentioned had of done exactly what Air Traffic Control had said they would have been alive today...perhaps.

He was not Instrument Rated and he did not believe his eyes...he was flying by the seat of his pants when he should have been on the ground.