178 SECONDS
Hi Guys!
For those of you who haven't visited the school in a while, I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised as it is abuzz with activity and many new students. Please join us for our final breakfast run of the year on Sunday the 6th December.
On a colder note, the whole country has experienced a rather miserable week of really bad weather and it reminded me of this article. If you're ever tempted to take to take off in marginal weather and have no instrument training, read this article first before you go. If you decide to go anyway and lose visual reference, start counting down from 178 seconds.
How long can a pilot who has no instrument training expect to live after he or she flies into bad weather and loses visual reference? Researchers at the University of Illinois found the answer to this question. 20 student 'guinea pigs' flew into simulated instrument weather and all went into graveyard spirals. The outcome differed in only one aspect: the time required until control was lost. The interval ranged from 480 seconds to 20 seconds. The average time was 178-2 seconds short of 3 minutes.
Here is the fatal scenario:
The sky is overcast and the visibility poor. The reported 5 miles visibility looks more like 2 miles, and you cannot judge the height of the overcast. Your altimeter says you're at 1500 feet but your map tells you th...
Read More... |
