Guys,
I picked up on bugginout's post by accident and really cant believe some of the replys - infact, without any disrespect to buggingout, I cant believe the question.
There is no, and I mean no, none, nine, nict circumstances under which a VFR rated pilot should ever find themselves in IMC conditions so the question shouldnt even arise. And please dont give me any rubbish about "well it happens so how do I deal with it". It should never never ever happen. If you are not rated for IFR then there are no conditions, failing stupidity, under which it could happen. If it does happen then you have made a big mistake in your pre fight planning. The average life span for a VFR pilot in IMC conditions is seconds - it may be a large number of seconds but it is still seconds, like somewhere between 40 and 100.
Firstly, there is no such thing as MSA in VFR. MSA is an IFR term which has a specific definition. Under VFR rules, ther is a safety altitude which is loosley 1000 ft above the highest obstacle within 5 NM eitherside of track including the start and end point which is often forgotten. It means simply that you draw a 5 nm race track around your intended track and add 1000 ft to your flight planned altitude. This however is a minimum recommendation and flight schools can insist on a 10 or even 15 nm track if the wish.
Secondly, to be non rated in IMC conditions and contemplating a get out strategy once in IMC is unbelivelably reckless. For a start, if you are unfortunate enough (and i'd prefer to say stupid but,,,) to enter IMC from VFR and are not rated, the last thing you should do is to try and perform a 180 degree U turn as your chances of survival are much less. You have no idea.... read "The Killing Zone" if you dont believe me.
The only solution is not to enter IFR without being IFR rated. If the examiner tries to push you into a decision, he is mearly testing your level of stupidity. Will this guy/gal try and press on through adverse wx or will he/she do the sensible thing and turn back or better still not even leave the ground in the first place.
PS
I know this is going to draw a reaction and I assure you all that it is not meant to but....
I personally think, and I use the posts on this topic as justification for my opinion (and it is just my opinion), that the CAA IMC rating encourages pilots to think that they can get through wx that they really should have run a mile from five minutes agao. My aviation authority, like many others in europe dont recoginise the IMC rating and as a result, not as many non CAA license holders get into the difficulties that this poster has asked advice on. I go back to when spin training was taught on the PPL. There were many fatal accidents and as a result the authorities in their wisdom removed it from the syallabus. Fatalaties as a result dropped sharply. Why, well I'd like to think that we were taught that the spin envelope was somewhere to be avoided so we didnt go there. The analagy is similar but opposite. By teaching a 'taster' for IFR which the IMC programme does, it gives a false sence of security and leaves pilots with an IMC thinking that they can cope with what is the most demanding of all flying skills - IFR. Please STOP the IMC qualification I say, but then again, who am I!!
Thanks n safe flying to all
Last edited by carbheaton; 4th July 2006 at 23:46.