Maxred
You mentioned my opposal to flying SEP over long stretches of water and at night. Also my own hard IMC with a IMCR! Correct but in that time I have lost 7 friends in GA accidents some far better pilots than I am so looking back at some of the close calls someone has been looking after me.
Others may not be so lucky!
You say that pilots fly within their limits?
I am not so sure! I was quite horrified reading the chute pull accident statistics in a certain plane.
Some were crazy! Things like stalls and failure to recover while on autopilot
Radio failure resulting in a chute pull.
Frozen Pitot with loss of apparent speed.
Loss of control on a simple missed approach etc etc etc.
While I am not blaming the above on IMCR I do feel that pilots wanting to fly IMC especially airways have to display an accuracy of hand flying while dealing with nav radios and failures to a level exceeding the IMCR.
When I renew my type rating we are heavely loaded with multiple failures to see what we can deal with and when we freeze becoming brain dead.
That is the biggest killer of all! overload !!! and that varies considerably by your makeup, experience levels and currency.
MaxRed you sound like a pretty experienced capable pilot who would take a lot of loading before loosing the plot but PPLs vary a lot even ones with an IMCR.
Flying is easy when everything is going right and the autopilot does the work for you VFR or IFR but its when things go wrong that in IMC the problem becomes 10 times worse than if you are visual so you better be on top of the game and more!
Most know their limits and safely fly within them some fly within them but then inadvertantly get into weather situations they cannot deal with (very easy when you cannot see where you are going or misread weather and icing)
I have been there in the past and been very lucky. If that arrogance??? I hope not. Your comments bothered me a lot because I do have a posting style aimed to encourage discussion and argument not because I particularly think I am right or wrong. So yes a bit of stirring
We all have a lot to learn and I have met pilots who make me as a jet Captain feel inferior at their depth of inticate knowledge and ability. Yes a lot was SEP and mostly MEP in very inhospitable areas, winter summer night and day. Some in **** weather !I am still here so I must be doing something right? Not sure what
Pace