Training and Escape

Throughout the flight training experience, pilots have been instructed on how to escape from VFR flight into IMC conditions mostly through rote learning. Many pilots are taught to avoid these conditions altogether, but even qualified pilots find themselves involved in an accident. The dangers posed by VFR into IMC cannot be overstated. While avoidance is key, willingness to continue and override fears emphasizes the need for a better understanding of escape.

While training is essential, perhaps it lacks clear guidance. Pilots are often taught that encountering IMC is sudden and all-encompassing, when in fact it’s usually insidious—luring pilots to continue flight into deteriorating conditions until it’s too late. The gradual onset of IMC encounters cannot be simulated realistically with the quick donning of a view-limiting device used in training pilots to fly solely by reference to instruments. This practice creates a scenario that fails to mimic reality, and in so doing pilots are ill-equipped to handle the real thing.

Clouds and Visibility

Clouds alone are not the only danger, but one pilots more readily respond to. It’s easy to avoid clouds that can be seen, but often reduced visibility traps pilots into a false sense of security. Worsening conditions with slowly reducing visibility lures pilots in, and those who do not realize they are in trouble may not find a safe exit; they become trapped, guided by hope with little chance of escape as they continue forward.

Visibility reductions can also play tricks on the mind, leading to spatial disorientation (SD). Oftentimes pilots do not realize how dire the situation has become since the good weather is now miles behind them and they have become focused on finding a horizon. Situational awareness quickly disappears, and pilots begin to deviate from the norm. Task saturation rears its ugly head, and pilots do all they can to keep the aircraft upright and flying straight. Gone now are the landmarks laid out so carefully on a sectional chart, instead replaced with frantic searching and worry. It’s far too late to avoid the conditions and the time for escape is now.

Teaching VFR into IMC

Watch this video to learn practical tips for teaching VFR into IMC.

How Are Pilots Trained?

Recently, a concentrated industry effort has been undertaken to review how pilots are taught to escape IMC. Often touted as the 180-degree turn, conventional wisdom states this is the best method to escape the conditions and return to an area with known, safer conditions. However, one might put forth the idea that a turn needs to be completed prior to entering the conditions. Once a pilot enters IMC, the clock has started, and the use of all tools becomes critical.

The first step is an immediate shift from a visual horizon outside the aircraft to an artificial one inside, namely the attitude indicator supported by other instruments. Lacking a proper artificial horizon, the use of pitch and bank instruments becomes critical. Airspeed, altitude, and heading indicator or compass can provide a complete picture of the aircraft attitude and position. Aircraft are stable and, by design, can return to the trimmed condition on its own safely. A loose grip on the controls instead of a tight grip (also known as “white-knuckling”) leads to better, smaller, and smoother control inputs.

The second step is a bit more difficult, especially for pilots without formal training: the ability to ignore the potentially overpowering sense of disorientation created by the information affecting the vestibular system and feeding the brain. Trusting one’s own body instead of instrumentation is a fool’s errand in IMC and one that often leads to disaster.

Third, declaring an emergency. Many pilots hesitate to declare an emergency fearing paperwork, FAA scrutiny, and potential enforcement—none of which are true. Pilots might also be so task-saturated that the thought of declaring an emergency simply escapes their minds. In other cases—and likely a common human factors element in VFR into IMC accidents—is the pilot’s failure to ask for help knowing it’s needed; instead pressing on (due to ego, continuation bias, fear of failure, fear of disappointing others, etc.) with a false sense of assurance that the situation will improve if they just stick with it a bit longer. Fortunately, ATC is thoroughly trained and adept at identifying and helping aircraft whose pilots are experiencing spatial disorientation. ATC can, in fact, declare an emergency for pilots and won’t hesitate to use that option in the best interest of safety. Otherwise, pilots who choose to be left on their own (when ATC services are available) have less than three minutes to save themselves from their plight.

Fourth and last, plan and execute it. Well-informed plans, which should include options for go, no-go, diverting, and aborting, are only good if pilots are disciplined to stick with them. The temptation to compromise only grows stronger farther into flight, often luring pilots into a deadly trap.

Whichever step pilots find themselves in, engaging the autopilot is a great way to alleviate some of the workload; wing levelers and low-speed protection can all aid in maintaining level flight. Competent pilots should know and understand how to use these systems properly and train on them regularly. Those without autopilot systems need to decide on an escape strategy immediately. According to both ASRS and NTSB reports, rarely does hoping for conditions to improve work out, so at this point two schools of thought emerge.

Escape Plans

First, pilots who are well versed in and understand SD may decide to execute a turn. Conventional wisdom recommends a standard rate turn for which pilots should know the approximate corresponding bank angle for their aircraft. Pilots who fly fast-moving aircraft increase their risk of SD since they often require larger bank angles for standard rate turns. In this case, pilots may wish to amend their procedure to a half standard rate turn or a relatively small bank angle.

Second, climbing may be a better alternative compared to turning. Since large head movements and turns increase the risk of SD, a straight-ahead climb could work better. Traditionally, pilots tend to descend as the ceiling and visibility reduce, preferring to keep the ground in sight. The alarming problem is that this descent has been occurring over time, and pilots, who have been focused on the immediate threat—the weather—have lost some of their situational awareness regarding obstacles and terrain. Consider for a moment what happens when pilots lose sight of the horizon after 10 minutes of trying to find a safe way through the weather. At that very moment, they may not be aware of the immediate terrain, their ability to clear it, and their position. Battling weather can distract pilots from the basics of navigating, putting them dangerously closer to the ground. In these instances, climbing may be safer, especially if turning will cause them to impact the terrain.

It is important to remember that VFR flight into IMC is insidious and CFIT accidents have played out exactly as the scenario above. ASRS reporters have described obstacles and terrain passing them quickly and causing them to realize just how low they are. In these cases, climbing up to a safe altitude could be easier to accomplish than a turn since there are fewer instruments to monitor. Climbs also have the benefit of being a wings-level event, which lessens the probability of turn-induced SD. Of course, all of this assumes that icing is not present in the clouds one is about to climb into, in which case the event is a series of bad decisions with no safe path out, again all by choice.

Regular and Real-World Scenario Training

While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to VFR into IMC escape, pilots should at least consider training for different escape options to prevent a fatal outcome after inadvertently encountering such conditions. CFIs play a critical role in helping pilots be better prepared to escape these conditions. First, they need to get away from traditional rote memorization and explanation of VFR into IMC flight and start applying real-world examples of VFR into IMC entry and escape. Scenarios should be discussed and, if possible, flown or simulated in conditions that mimic real-world visibility reduction and cloud avoidance. Instead of instantaneous IMC using a view-limiting device, CFIs should teach students about slow reductions in visibility and, if possible, fly with them in MVFR conditions.

Training in IMC— whether using simulators or in actual conditions—can also be helpful, provided CFIs are proficient and capable. Again, they should strive to encourage safe decision making and not scare students into submission, or worse, convince them they have the skills necessary to operate in these conditions.

Pilots too must seek training to enhance their skills, especially after earning their private pilot certificate. Consider again that instrument-rated commercial pilots are twice as likely to be involved in VFR into IMC accidents as their non-instrument-rated counterparts. The importance of training even with an instrument rating is crucial and probably overlooked by these pilots. IFR skills degrade quickly without regular use and given pilot tendency to overestimate their skills the situation can quickly become hazardous. Regular training goes a long way to reducing accidents; this along with good decision making could prevent these accidents from occurring.