The biggest safety investment in GA is...

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:22:54 -0700, Matt Barrow wrote:

Of course, the solution then is to do as many of these as possible. IR.
Commercial. Lots and lots of flying.

Very few BA types (owner flown) have Comm tickets.


Oh? A number of the members of my club do. I was working on mine until
a combination of work and child pressure ate up too much time.

Like we need an excuse, right
grin?

Like we need a hole in the head! :~(

I still practice the maneuvers when I can. They're the fun part. The
rating as a whole was just a fun goal to aim towards with otherwise
aimless flying time.

- Andrew

It seems to me those who argue against getting the rating are
rationalizing. They are claiming their specific circumstances are
different enough from that represented in the OPs data to make the
findings not apply to them. Maybe they are right, but as a
professional shrink I'd surely want them to rethink their positions.

I think there would be fewer "Godspeed" notes here if the pilot in
command could have, on firing up the engine, been able to say
"November whatever, instruments to Podunk" instead of scud running.
Why would anyone with a few hundred hours of time or more resist doing
the little extra training?



On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:22:54 -0700, Matt Barrow wrote:
Of course, the solution then is to do as many of these as possible. IR.
Commercial. Lots and lots of flying.

Very few BA types (owner flown) have Comm tickets.

Oh? A number of the members of my club do. I was working on mine until
a combination of work and child pressure ate up too much time.



Like we need an excuse, right
grin?

Like we need a hole in the head! :~(

I still practice the maneuvers when I can. They're the fun part. The
rating as a whole was just a fun goal to aim towards with otherwise
aimless flying time.

- Andrew

On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:18:34 -0000, wrote in
. com:

Why would anyone with a few hundred hours of time or more resist doing
the little extra training?

Lack of ability and self-confidence?

Single-pilot IFR can be one of the most difficult tasks a person can
perform.

I once wrote in 1998:

"For me, IFR flight is a lot like playing a game of Chess in the
blind while juggling three balls in the air and maintaining a
running conversation at a noisy cocktail party. You have to
mentally visualize the position of the "pieces" on the "board,"
continually monitor and interpret a myriad of arcane instruments
and make corrections to keep the airplane shinny side up, all
while constantly attempting to pick out the ATC communiques
intended for you from the rest of the "guests'" conversations. To
this add the _stress_ of the consequences of losing the game
(death). (Of course, this analogy fails to consider weather,
turbulence, flight planning, interpreting charts and plates,
tuning radios and OBS settings, equipment failures, ....)

Single-pilot IFR aircraft operation in the ATC system in IMC
without the benefit of Global Positioning Satellite receiver,
auto-pilot, and Active Noise Reduction headset, is probably one of
the most demanding things you will ever do."

Something like a quarter or so of pilots seem to do it all right. My
husband claims he'd rather fly IFR when tired then VFR, especially at
night. This, in a Mooney 201 without an altitude hold on the
autopilot. Of course he has several thousand hours in it, that
probably makes a big difference.

On Jul 7, 11:55 am, Larry Dighera wrote:
On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:18:34 -0000, wrote in
. com:

Why would anyone with a few hundred hours of time or more resist doing
the little extra training?

Lack of ability and self-confidence?

Single-pilot IFR can be one of the most difficult tasks a person can
perform.

I once wrote in 1998:

"For me, IFR flight is a lot like playing a game of Chess in the
blind while juggling three balls in the air and maintaining a
running conversation at a noisy cocktail party. You have to
mentally visualize the position of the "pieces" on the "board,"
continually monitor and interpret a myriad of arcane instruments
and make corrections to keep the airplane shinny side up, all
while constantly attempting to pick out the ATC communiques
intended for you from the rest of the "guests'" conversations. To
this add the _stress_ of the consequences of losing the game
(death). (Of course, this analogy fails to consider weather,
turbulence, flight planning, interpreting charts and plates,
tuning radios and OBS settings, equipment failures, ....)

Single-pilot IFR aircraft operation in the ATC system in IMC
without the benefit of Global Positioning Satellite receiver,
auto-pilot, and Active Noise Reduction headset, is probably one of
the most demanding things you will ever do."

Something like a quarter or so of pilots seem to do it all right.

Is this the number of pilots with an instrument rating, or the number
of current instrument pilots?

If it's the number with the rating, I would submit that only a small
percentage of them are both current and proficient.

My
husband claims he'd rather fly IFR when tired then VFR, especially at
night. This, in a Mooney 201 without an altitude hold on the
autopilot. Of course he has several thousand hours in it, that
probably makes a big difference.

Flying single pilot IFR at night when tired is statistically one of
the most dangerous things you can do with an airplane.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

If it's the number with the rating, I would submit that only a small
percentage of them are both current and proficient.

I'd be interested in seeing some statistics on this. Got a cite?

--
Dan
T-182T at BFM

If it's the number with the rating, I would submit that only a small
percentage of them are both current and proficient.

I'd be interested in seeing some statistics on this. Got a cite?

I know Richard Collins (Flying mag's ancient wag) has discussed this
many times, and I know that of my personal instrument pilot
acquaintances, very few, indeed, are current and proficient. (Most
fly VFR only, or very, VERY "soft" IFR.)

What we need, however, are statistics -- and I don't have any. How
could one track this?

It surely won't be in the insurance company statistics, since every
pilot has an incentive to claim to be the Ace of the Base on those
forms -- and the FAA is almost useless when it comes to hours flown
each year, IFR or VFR.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

VFR into IMC iisn't too far from the most risky, isn't it, Jay? A
casual reading the NTSB reports would suggest that, anyway.


On Jul 7, 5:25 pm, Jay Honeck wrote:
Something like a quarter or so of pilots seem to do it all right.

Is this the number of pilots with an instrument rating, or the number
of current instrument pilots?

If it's the number with the rating, I would submit that only a small
percentage of them are both current and proficient.

My
husband claims he'd rather fly IFR when tired then VFR, especially at
night. This, in a Mooney 201 without an altitude hold on the
autopilot. Of course he has several thousand hours in it, that
probably makes a big difference.

Flying single pilot IFR at night when tired is statistically one of
the most dangerous things you can do with an airplane.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

wrote

VFR into IMC iisn't too far from the most risky, isn't it, Jay? A
casual reading the NTSB reports would suggest that, anyway.

Perhaps he should have said, "some of the most risky *legal* flying you can
do."
--
Jim in NC

In article .com,
Jay Honeck wrote:

Flying single pilot IFR at night when tired is statistically one of
the most dangerous things you can do with an airplane.

Flying single pilot VFR at night when tired isn't the safest activity either.
In fact, any flying when tired isn't a good idea.

--
Bob Noel
(goodness, please trim replies!!!)