Originally Posted by
OvertHawk
Don't be there.
If you've got an aircraft without instruments or are not trained and competent to use them then plan properly and don't get stuck. It's like the perpetual chicken and egg arguments we see about IIMC avoidance versus recovery.
The best way to recover from these situations is not to get into them in the first place.
The idea that spinning down through a cloud layer should be advocated as a mainstream method of recovery for anyone other than aerobatic experts is just bonkers. And even for aerobatic experts it demonstrates significantly poor decision making to have got there in the first place. (evidenced by the pilot in the link above pressing on over cloud becoming dependent on fining a hole).
The don't go there mindset as a solution doesn't help someone who is in that position(as given by an actual example that I posted earlier). The reality is also that significantly poor decision making is a common fact of general aviation life. In fact, we are on an accident thread with just such an example in which the spin option was a possible outcome if the pilot had decided to not test his instrument expertise(which was marginal in its likelihood to ever work)
The spin recovery idea is a rare scenario involving a double failure but what is someone going to do if they have an instrument failure issue while flying VFR on top(which is legal in many countries) and the weather is worse than forecast? What about a fuel leak scenario. Wish they hadn't got there and that's it? They could consider the situation(aircraft type, known ceiling, spin experience, instrument capability for self and aircraft). The stars may align on rare occasion. It is not a mainstream solution, just a desperation - Out of Other Options scenario to consider.
As for restricting my rare case scenario to aerobatic experts only, the same might be applied to attempting instrument flight, an action that has literally killed thousands over the years with a full working panel of instruments. Not sure I would do it in a Bonanza but what if you are in a CAP 10.
The Don't Be There mindset is a great mindset, but is based on wishful thinking instead of reality for the general population. The same mindset was applicable to Do Not Fly VFR into IMC if not trained to do so. But thousands died trying anyways, so it was decided that the Don't Be There theory was not sufficient and mandatory instrument training became a requirement in many countries for VFR only pilot licenses because it was known that this would continue to happen. My recommendation just one more idea to have in mind that could work in certain rare cases.