On Aug 19, 11:34 am, wrote:


If a pilot pulls the chute because he judges an uncontrolled parachute
descent to be less risky than trying to keep the plane upright for a
few minutes in simple instrument cruise flight, then he has judged
himself to have less than the minimum required competence for a
private pilot. (As I said earlier, it's not THAT judgment that I'm
disputing; he may well have made the right choice at that point.)

Anyway, I'm glad they're ok.


In my view that is not a valid statement. People who leave training
with a private pilots license have at best the most primitive and
perishable of instrument skills.

Three hours is insufficient to develop and ingrain even a rudimentary
"scan" and it certianly does not teach deriving a "picture" of what
the airplane is doing based on the instruments.

I dont know what the experience level of the pilot was, but my "BFR"
experience back home is that most private pilots without an instrument
rating are essentially non functional under IMC by the two year mark
of the BFR. IE they have no instrument skills whatsoever.

Robert