How long
can a pilot who has little or no instrument training expect to live after
he flies into bad weather and loses visual contact?
Researchers at
the University of Illinois found the answer to this question. Twenty
student "guinea pigs" flew into simulated instrument weather, and all went
into graveyard spirals or roller coasters. The outcome differed in
only one respect - the time required till control was lost. The interval
ranged from 480 seconds to 20 seconds. The average time was 178 seconds
- two seconds short of three minutes.
Here's the fatal scenario.
The sky is overcast
and the visibility is poor. That reported five mile visibility looks
more like two, and you can't judge the height of the overcast. Your
altimeter tells you that you are at 1,500 feet, but your map tells you
that there's local terrain as high as 1,200 feet. There might be
a tower nearby because you're not sure just how far off course you are.
But you've flown into worse weather that this, so you press on.
You find yourself
unconsciously easing back just a bit on the controls to clear those none-too-imaginary
towers. With no warning, you're in the soup. You peer so hard
into the milky white mist that your eyes hurt. You fight the feeling
in your stomach. You try to swallow, only to find your mouth dry.
Now you realize you should have waited for better weather. The appointment
was important, but not all that important. Somewhere a voice is saying,
"You've had it. It's all over!"
You now have 178 seconds to live.
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Your aircraft feels on even
keel, but your compass turns slowly. You push a little rudder and
add a little pressure on the controls to stop the turn, but this feels
unnatural and you return the controls to their original position.
This feels better,
but now your compass is turning a little faster and your airspeed is increasing
slightly. You scan your instruments for help, but what you see looks
somewhat unfamiliar. You're sure this is just a bad spot.
You'll break out in a few minutes. (But your don't have a few minutes left.)
You now
have 100 seconds to live.
You glance at your
altimeter and you are shocked to see it unwinding. You're already
down to 1,200 feet. Instinctively, you pull back on the controls,
but the altimeter still unwinds. The engine is into the read and
the airspeed, nearly so.
You have 45 seconds
to live.
Now you're sweating and shaking. There
must be something wrong with the controls: pulling back only moves
the airspeed indicator farther into the red. You can hear the wind
tearing at the aircraft.
You have 10 seconds to live.
Suddenly you see
the ground. The trees rush up at you. You can see the horizon
if you turn your head far enough, but it's at a weird angle --you're almost
inverted.
You open your mouth
to scream, but you have no seconds left.
Thanks to 'JJ' Quinn for submitting
this article
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