Originally Posted by
Mel Effluent
I have read this thread with great interest. As an ex-military pilot, instrument rating instructor and QHI with nearly 1000 hours 'actual' in helicopters, I think that a few important points have been missed here:
1. Instrument flying proficiency is a perishable skill. If not current, even the most talented and experienced pilot will struggle to accurately fly a helicopter on instruments manually.
Thanks for bringing this up - I meant to mention this when I was talking about how the 5 hours of hood training for the commercial license can make people overconfident.
We generally don't do much if any IMC flying during the winter (in Boston) because of ice. So, each spring we need to do some work to get current again. In just 3 months I'm rusty enough that I wouldn't launch IMC without a refresher.
If I'm rusty after 3 months, imagine a VFR commercial pilot who got 5 hours of hood time several years ago when he was trained!