Originally Posted by
FlimsyFan
aa, I think you were maybe one of them
No, you misunderstood the nature of my post.
Not sure whether you're issuing advice, or demonstrating that you're extremely talented, but for the rest of us mere mortals, flight in IMC in an R44 is beyond difficult. It is repeatedly FATAL.
Definitely not issuing advice! And certainly I do not think I'm extremely talented!
The inference above being that you have tried it... If I misunderstood your post, then I extend my apologies.
Heck no! No way have I tried it. As we've all discussed here, it would be a) stupid and b) illegal.
I originally posted in response to assertions that I took to mean that flying an R44 solely by reference to instruments was impossible. This seemed an unreasonably harsh point of view to me, as I would venture that nearly all civilian-trained instrument rated helicopter pilots in the US obtain their ratings using an R44. Certainly all the ones I personally know have. Heck, some of them have done it in R22s. And even the lowliest of the low, budding commercial pilots, have to demonstrate the ability to do this for 5 hours, as have I. About half of my 5 hours was in a simulator, the other half in an R44. What I was referring to was that I did not find those 5 hours to be exceptionally difficult. Challenging, to be sure, requiring 110% of my attention, but not impossible.
Now, what I was apparently missing, and unable to appreciate since I have never flown a helicopter in real IFR conditions, legally or otherwise, is that hood time, even at night, is not considered nearly the same thing as real IFR in terms of level of difficulty. This, of course, now begs the question of why R22s and R44s are considered acceptable instrument trainers. Surprisingly, the thread has not yet drifted in that direction.
At any rate, no apology necessary. Emotions are running high in this thread.
Thanks,
aa