Why I cannot fly through clouds

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evapilotaz

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A weird conversation I had with my wife today. I said to my wife I cannot fly through clouds. she said "that's stupid why the hell not" I said I'm not instrument trained and I need to be IFR rated. She said "get your instrument blaaa blaaa this weekend":mad2: I said it takes months and lots of money to be intrument rated. End of conversation .


Oh how little does she know about flying:dunno:

Oh by the way I am instrument trained only during my ppl training days.
 
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I find talking about flying to non pilots can be difficult sometimes because there is layers of data under the answer. It is rarely a simple answer which is what they are after.

"It goes 112 miles per hour" is not the real answer to a question but that is what they are expecting when they ask something simple.
 
So, she gave you the order...go get your instrument rating. Just takes a little book work and then ten days with Captain Ron :)
 
I find a lot of attitudes like that are solved with a little trip in IMC especially with an approach near minimums. There is a big difference between sitting on an airliner looking out a porthole and sitting up front looking at the abyss. That's money well spent on safety IMO and usually my passengers agree after one of those trips.

Forget talking about it.
 
I had an interesting discussion once with one of our systems engineers. There had been an accidental IMC accident not far away that clearly had something to do with disorientation. I had to explain how a pilot could literally lose track of which way is up. The best I could come up with was to put him in an office chair, slowly spin him up (not too fast -- it doesn't take much), and stop him suddenly, to induce a sensed rotation in the opposite direction.

People are used to cars, where you only have two degrees of freedom (speed adjustment, and turning left/right). Having independent control of roll and yaw is what makes flying so different.
 
Explain the safety benefits of having an IFR rating. She will most likely encourage you to go for it.
 
Interesting story about perspective of my wife.
The day after getting my PPL she asked in a completely serious tone how long will it be before I get my instrument rating, and she is a non pilot.

Her father had his PPL for 25 years, flew for work (their architect firm had 5 Mooneys back in the 60's ) and never got his rating. Tragically when she was 5 he died while scud running in fog. This made my instrument rating a requirement for getting my PPL.

Im just lucky she even let me fly, and even more lucky that she loves to fly with me....
 
MyassisDragon said:
Interesting story about perspective of my wife.
The day after getting my PPL she asked in a completely serious tone how long will it be before I get my instrument rating, and she is a non pilot.

Her father had his PPL for 25 years, flew for work (their architect firm had 5 Mooneys back in the 60's ) and never got his rating. Tragically when she was 5 he died while scud running in fog. This made my instrument rating a requirement for getting my PPL.

Im just lucky she even let me fly, and even more lucky that she loves to fly with me....
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I never got mine but practiced enough to get out of a bad jam.(plus, the three C's)I realized that I would never fly instruments often enough to be really competent so I never bothered. I've flown my wife all over the place for fourty years VFR, the last twenty by just watching weather underground. Important to remember that her dad could have bought the ranch WITH an IFR rating if he were not current and on the ball. Happens a lot.
 
My favorite question is "So you have your pilot license? Does that mean you can fly a 747?"
 
jordane93 said:
My favorite question is "So you have your pilot license? Does that mean you can fly a 747?"
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...and the answer should always be a loud and resounding, "absolutely!"
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Have her watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXzYZjpoz_E
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I'm not saying that VFR into hard IMC is a good idea, but that whole 178 second thing is bovine excrement. I comes from a study of pilots that had exactly zero (as in none) hood / instrument time that were stuck into an airplane that they had never flown before (Bonanza) with a partial panel and no instruction.
 
Just for fun....

Why can't I, as a VFR pilot, climb or descend through a "few" or scattered layer? In other words, what's punching through one poofy cloud on a blue sky day going to hurt?

(no I have not nor am I planning on this, mr serious)
 
evapilotaz said:
The kind of flying I do I have no need to be IR. pretty expensive to get IR just to punch holes in clouds.
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so the entire conversation with your wife was pointless. Why did you even bring it up?
 
cowman said:
Just for fun....

Why can't I, as a VFR pilot, climb or descend through a "few" or scattered layer? In other words, what's punching through one poofy cloud on a blue sky day going to hurt?

(no I have not nor am I planning on this, mr serious)
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Do we really need to answer that for you???
 
Cruiser said:
so the entire conversation with your wife was pointless. Why did you even bring it up?
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Agreed. I'm not sure the point of this thread. I wonder if the OP understands that the instrument rating serves more benefit than just being able to accept IFR clearances?

The other cool thing about airplanes is they allow you to fly long distances to places that have different weather from your home region.
 
MAKG1 said:
I had an interesting discussion once with one of our systems engineers. There had been an accidental IMC accident not far away that clearly had something to do with disorientation. I had to explain how a pilot could literally lose track of which way is up. The best I could come up with was to put him in an office chair, slowly spin him up (not too fast -- it doesn't take much), and stop him suddenly, to induce a sensed rotation in the opposite direction.

People are used to cars, where you only have two degrees of freedom (speed adjustment, and turning left/right). Having independent control of roll and yaw is what makes flying so different.
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True.. But you forgot the pitch axis.. That one kills you faster...And more often..:sad::sad:
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
I'm not saying that VFR into hard IMC is a good idea, but that whole 178 second thing is bovine excrement. I comes from a study of pilots that had exactly zero (as in none) hood / instrument time that were stuck into an airplane that they had never flown before (Bonanza) with a partial panel and no instruction.
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I agree. flying level in IMC would be the easy part. I'd like to see a test where they take 100 different non Instrument Rated private pilots out in hard IMC down to minimums, fly them up above the clouds, then tell them to get them back on the ground and see what that outcome would show. Have it done in a closed military airspace with a skilled pilot in the right seat to regain control if needed. That would be telling.
 
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Brad Z said:
Do we really need to answer that for you???
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I assume because of a combination of collision avoidance and the likelihood that people would abuse the privilege and do full on IFR flight instead of just popping through the edge of a cloud to get clear of the cloud layer.

And to be clear I'm talking about conditions like this or better where you can clearly see around the cloud, it's just hard to find a hole that will keep your separation rules intact.
4859631342_3581773361.jpg
 
If the cloud can't hide an airplane, it isn't a cloud. The point of cloud clearances is to avoid the hidden IFR airplane popping out and hitting you (unless you're scud running at 600 AGL over a Class G airport with an instrument approach).
 
cowman said:
I assume because of a combination of collision avoidance and the likelihood that people would abuse the privilege and do full on IFR flight instead of just popping through the edge of a cloud to get clear of the cloud layer.

And to be clear I'm talking about conditions like this or better where you can clearly see around the cloud, it's just hard to find a hole that will keep your separation rules intact.
4859631342_3581773361.jpg
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Heck.... That is a perfect VFR day here in Wyoming.....

Altho, once over 10,000 msl, you need 1000 /1000/ 2000.. Not 500/1000/2000 like sea level pilots get by with...
 
cowman said:
it's just hard to find a hole that will keep your separation rules intact.
4859631342_3581773361.jpg
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Exactly - I'm not seeing any 3/4-mile across "holes" there, which is the minimum you need to not bust mins (in the most likely airspace requirements we're talking about, 2,000' lateral).
 
N801BH said:
Heck.... That is a perfect VFR day here in Wyoming.....

Altho, once over 10,000 msl, you need 1000 /1000/ 2000.. Not 500/1000/2000 like sea level pilots get by with...
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Umm, that's 1000/1000/1 SM, plus 5 SM vis instead of the usual 3.
 
Today was a beautiful day in the Phoenix area to get some actual IMC. Light rain, barely any wind, depending on the airport it was like 1000 OVR. We dream about days like today as IFR pilots!
 
N801BH said:
Heck.... That is a perfect VFR day here in Wyoming.....

Altho, once over 10,000 msl, you need 1000 /1000/ 2000.. Not 500/1000/2000 like sea level pilots get by with...
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Not if you're within 2,500 AGL...
 
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