"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:JTnGc.31291$7t3.22798@attbi_s51...
Later in the conversation, however, I did go into my usual spiel about
spatial disorientation, how my old primary instructor demonstrated it to
me
(at night, over Lake Michigan, with my panel covered), and how dangerous
it
is. Hopefully he/she got the message that they were in grave danger.

If his instrument-flying skills are good (and it sounds like they are),
spatial disorientation may have been the least of his worries. CFIT and
extreme turbulence may have been the more serious risks.

Our attitude and obtuse comments, in combination with his wife's
instinctive
fear, may have done the job of quietly kicking him in the pants for
subjecting his wife to such an ordeal.

Or maybe not. It's hard to tell.

Yup. Since the passenger's reaction was to keep her eyes closed, it sounds
more like she judged her fear to be irrational, and was just protecting
herself from the fearful stimulus (much the way some passengers close their
eyes if the plane banks thirty degrees). If she'd really understood the
danger, she'd probably have taken a more purposeful action instead, like
asking for a course reversal or a divorce.

--Gary