As Real As It Gets

[marsman2020 1,310]

5 hours ago, SAS443 said:

Wow. that was intense. 

Glad he lived to tell about it. But this photage serves as reminder to everyone from pilots to student pilots & flight simmers of how easy it is to get lost and disoriented. That was an experienced GA pilot with instrument rating but he got task saturated within minutes.

My thoughts as a sim-only pilot.

Early in the video, when he flew into IMC, he could have hit the LVL button on his AP and reduced some of the workload in the short term while he got ahold of ATC. 

Later on, when the pitot freezes up....I'm not sure I'd go right to pulling equipment circuit breakers in IFR conditions.  Probably should have checked all of the "normal" switches first. 

A lot of futzing with technology, touchscreens, etc.  3 different plates/maps up on the G3Xs, plus a map on the GTN650 with all the primary flight displays squished over on the left hand side. 

[MrFuzzy 2,118]

4 hours ago, Emerson67 said:

On MSFS we get the fear of CTD instead

And post - CTD traumatic stress 😄

 

[MrFuzzy 2,118]

2 hours ago, marsman2020 said:

My thoughts as a sim-only pilot.

Early in the video, when he flew into IMC, he could have hit the LVL button on his AP and reduced some of the workload in the short term while he got ahold of ATC. 

Later on, when the pitot freezes up....I'm not sure I'd go right to pulling equipment circuit breakers in IFR conditions.  Probably should have checked all of the "normal" switches first. 

I think he was not thinking clearly. He was scared. I am not a pilot but the first thing coming to my mind when the airspeed indicator fails since I started simming many years ago, is the pitot heat.

But it's easy to be smart and sharp when you are sitting at the desk and not risking your life 🙂

[kakihara123 144]

Also I really recommend using the random failures Program from Github.

I set up mine so that I have a low chance for a failures on any part of my flight.

One time all the electrics failed on my TBM while I was hauling fragile stuff via OnAir.

I was about 20 or 30 nm away from my destination high up some Mexican mountain.

I only knew the Airport was to the right under some clouds.

The failure caused every screen to go black. Only the compass worked, but that didn't help much. I also could not lower the flaps and landing gear because it is all electric and at least for the default plane I don't think there is an emergency gear extension.

I also could not bank too hard or my load would get damaged. Somehow I found the airport on sight only. Since I had no way to check my speed and I was on several thousand feet, which I also could not see without gear and flaps I came in way too fast. I touched down on the runway and overshot it by 300 meter or so into some trees. Luckily those didn't trigger a crash since they were too thin I guess. 

Quite intense in VR but also very fun. 

[Noel 4,486]

I just flew out of Page AZ yesterday in this sim.  I'm struck by a couple of things on this video thanks for sharing.  It seems to me actual flight in light aircraft is so much closer to reality in MSFS versus P3D, in terms of turbulence effects at least.  And 2nd, even me as a pretend pilot immediately thought the pitot tube must be frozen when he reported no airspeed indication and am very surprised he didn't realize it for so long, though I understand what he said that he didn't have to consider this in 15y in flying his Texas locale.

I get the sense flying in clouds is to be avoided always even when instrument rated, and I didn't know that before.

Thanks for posting!

[Bobsk8 12,554]

18 minutes ago, Noel said:

I just flew out of Page AZ yesterday in this sim.  I'm struck by a couple of things on this video thanks for sharing.  It seems to me actual flight in light aircraft is so much closer to reality in MSFS versus P3D, in terms of turbulence effects at least.  And 2nd, even me as a pretend pilot immediately thought the pitot tube must be frozen when he reported no airspeed indication and am very surprised he didn't realize it for so long, though I understand what he said that he didn't have to consider this in 15y in flying his Texas locale.

I get the sense flying in clouds is to be avoided always even when instrument rated, and I didn't know that before.

Thanks for posting!

If you watch the video, that aircraft isn't the most stable platform to handle IFR turbulence. Bouncing around like a moth in a flame. He is lucky he didn't get into a spiral. 

[Noel 4,486]

27 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

If you watch the video, that aircraft isn't the most stable platform to handle IFR turbulence. Bouncing around like a moth in a flame. He is lucky he didn't get into a spiral. 

To me it seemed very similar to what the TBM does when it gets very choppy which it does on occasion.  What is it about turbulence modeling in MSFS that people complain about?  

[Bobsk8 12,554]

11 minutes ago, Noel said:

To me it seemed very similar to what the TBM does when it gets very choppy which it does on occasion.  What is it about turbulence modeling in MSFS that people complain about?  

I fly the JF Arrow, and the Mooney, and I think they fly pretty realistically  in turbulence. Maybe some of the people commenting have very little experience in a light aircraft in actual turbulence. I can remember flights I had in RL where I had black and blue marks from the seat belts, when turbulence was bad. 

[ryanbatc 12,812]

1 hour ago, Noel said:

 

I get the sense flying in clouds is to be avoided always even when instrument rated, and I didn't know that before.

 

Not at all.

[ThomseN_inc 1,128]

Now imagine the same situation at night with a steamgauge cockpit and a paper chart. 😉

[Amon1973 1,421]

18 hours ago, Stealthystevie said:

This happened to me whilst I was on my solo Navigational Flight Test for my PPL.  My total flight time was around 25hrs and I'd had only 5hrs IMC training.  To make matters worse, I was overhead the Northern Pennines at the time (..in NE England), which - I found out later - is a graveyard for inexperienced/non-IFR pilots, and merely an hour before this I was grounded at Carlisle Airport nervously twiddling my thumbs awaiting a repair to the old Tomahawk's alternator.  (..unbelievably, it had failed half way through my NFT!)

Having left Carlisle after the alternator repair (an hour behind time), the weather had closed in.  I tried to stay beneath cloud, but was scraping the road-signs so eventually had to bite the bullet and climb into thick cloud to reach my safety height.  A minute or two of spacial disorientation followed (..or what might better be called 'panic', as I watched the pointers on most of the instruments wind & unwind) - but I eventually regained 'straight and level' flight.  At this point, I made a PAN call to Teesside Airport and informed them that I, a student pilot, was flying totally blind a little above the height of the highest Pennine peak, and I needed urgent assistance.  

To cut a long story short, I was vectored thereafter (..very gently) all the way back to Teesside through cloud, where - I found out later - the flight school instructors were huddled nervously around their radios awaiting the worst!  Needless to say (..since I survived to write this) I confounded their expectations and directed the Tomahawk unerringly on instruments for over thirty minutes, to break cloud at last on fairly short finals.  My touchdown was a 'greaser', but as you might expect (..given their trepidation) no-one in the club house slapped my back.  My only reward for surviving this folly was a Navigational Flight Test pass-stamp on my log book (..and the suggestion that I should have been awarded an IMC rating as well!)            

My old work colleague used regularly fly from Teesside to Carlisle (and to other GA airports in the UK) after he retired, I don't think he got paid any money for but it meant that he flew for free.  

[snglecoil 1,828]

2 hours ago, Noel said:

I just flew out of Page AZ yesterday in this sim.  I'm struck by a couple of things on this video thanks for sharing.  It seems to me actual flight in light aircraft is so much closer to reality in MSFS versus P3D, in terms of turbulence effects at least.  And 2nd, even me as a pretend pilot immediately thought the pitot tube must be frozen when he reported no airspeed indication and am very surprised he didn't realize it for so long, though I understand what he said that he didn't have to consider this in 15y in flying his Texas locale.

I get the sense flying in clouds is to be avoided always even when instrument rated, and I didn't know that before.

Thanks for posting!

I think that MSFS does a reasonable job depicting turbulent movement in a light GA airplane, the heavier planes less so. The plane the guy is flying in the video is a Vans RV10 experimental. It is a fantastic plane with performance comparable to a Cirrus SR22. But it has a very sporty feel so it is much more responsive and maneuverable than comparable certified planes. And as you can see, he has it well equipped with very nice electronic avionics.  

Single pilot IFR is already a tremendously high workload when you are expecting it, but although it is demanding, it is not necessarily unsafe. Honestly, there is something very peaceful about flying inside a cloud when you are prepared and know exactly where you are at safe altitude and on your intended track.  This video shows how entering IMC unexpectedly can be extremely disorienting. He was nowhere close to losing directional control of the plane, but he went from having mental capacity to complete task saturation in seconds. It was exacerbated by difficulty contacting ATC (and worrying that he had lost contact even after establishing initial contact). Then throw all of the alerts and visual signals of losing the airspeed and angle of attack indication and it is just too much to think clearly. 

There is an analogy that I like to someone juggling balls. They can handle 3, 4, 5 balls at a time but at some point they will get one ball too many thrown at them and instead of just missing that one extra ball, all of them will be dropped. That's what can happen in IFR. This guy, despite some rough circumstances, did well enough to get out safely.

Edited April 11, 2021 by snglecoil

[SAS443 1,716]

1 hour ago, Noel said:

I get the sense flying in clouds is to be avoided always even when instrument rated, and I didn't know that before

Convective clouds - yes avoid if you can.

But stratiform clouds when no icing is anticipated is flyable by using your instruments. 

for planning purposes Sigwx-charts are very accurate with  freezing points (which altitude OAT is 0c/32F) and moderate to severe icing areas. 

 

[Noel 4,486]

In the US the FAA says there are around 3 small aircraft crashes daily, and if you compare time (versus miles) traveling in a car versus time traveling in a small aircraft it is ~19 times more dangerous to fly than drive.  

[Bilbosmeggins 217]

I guess it would be. When conditions get too dangerous, you can just pull over in a car. No such option in a plane 😂