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Old 10th May 2003 | 20:31
  #13 (permalink)  
Captain Stable
 
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,704
Likes: 1
From: Who can say?
G-SXTY, you've demonstrated by asking the question here that you are a far safer pilot than many of the idiots out there.

There tends to be a peak in the accident statistics scored against pilot experience at about 100 hours. At that point they tend to think they've got it sussed. I very nearly added to those statistics in a fairly high performance single when I had just a tad over 100 hours by getting into cloud unexpectedly and getting thoroughly disorientated. And I DID have an IMC rating.

As other posters above have said, best answer is not to put oneself in that situation in the first place. Having got there, according to your options listed above, far and away the best answer is option (c) - put it down, and survive. You've already gambled with your life and an expensive machine quite enough. Time to leave the casino. Anything else is an excellent way to commit suicide. You may get away with it - Hungry Joe did. Chances, however, are not good. Reddo also points out a very good way of thinking about it - never ever reduce your available options to only one - because Sod's Law then applies and it will be taken away from you.

Excellent advice I got when I was a PPL student was to imagine the conduct of my flight in terms of the AAIB reports - e.g. "The (limited experience) pilot elected to continue the flight despite a descending cloudbase and worsening weather towards high ground with cables..." and imagine whether I wanted people to read about me in those terms. We've all been there - read those reports and thought "What a plonker". Don't let people think you died being a plonker.
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