I totally agree with Cary. I would add that instrument rated, experienced, and current pilots can get really disoriented as well.

With over 400 hours IMC experience and current, I let two circumstances alter my perception of reality. Returning from Joplin, Missouri IMC in a UH1-H, ATC asked CW-2 Dave Hawkins and me why we were 12 miles north of the airway. I was flying that leg and reported we had a centered needle. We had a bad VHF navigation receiver. No problem; we got vectors to the ILS, a different VHF receiver.

Even with vectors, Dave tuned the LOM on the ADF. I missed two important things : We were being vectored north of the LOM for the ILS 02 and we had received (Dave anyway ) an amended clearance to the backcourse 20.

When I started wandering badly, Dave said, "backcourse Jim. I realized I was out to lunch somewhere and asked Dave to take over and complete the approach.

It really is too bad that we are trained to think from day one that if we enter a cloud we are dead. I understand the thought process behind it...to keep the student alive...but it seems like it would be better to focus on whatever time it takes to teach the student to safely execute a 180 degree turn holding altitude with needle/ball, airspeed, and a stopwatch (if nothing else is available) in actual conditions in a controlled environment. In not doing so, we are paranoid and fearful which 99% of the time leads to panic. Most of us end up here at some point in our flying career, as unintentional as it may be. It would be better to live through it. As instrument flight is a skill that rapidly degrades, of course currency is prudent.

To the OP's point: find an old hand up there and get comfortable doing the above. Don't push into surrounding terrain on bad weather days. Featureless terrain is the worst for making a go/no-go call. We have no idea what the ceiling is and can find ourselves in trouble in a heartbeat. Check the AWOS, if there is one. If not, you'll have to rely on experience, which is costly.

The other option is don't fly unless it's blue bird conditions. That's my personal preference.

Signed,

The dude who's always brave when the sun is shining.

Agreed.

To that I would add if you have an autopilot know how to use it and if you do not have an AP consider getting one.

It is not a Get Out Of Death Free Card but it's close.

Gump's got it right IMO. I know quite a few fellows that have landed on the tundra gone upside down and got a ride out to live another day.

Punching up into the clouds in Nome...a LOT of terrain and ice. That country is pretty unforgiving. Especially in a not so high powered airplane, I wouldn't think of going IMC in a 152 unless it was the last option other than crash. And if you're not really proficient on the gauges....ugh.

When I was flying in rural AK (can't say bush or some people spool up lol) I always, always, always had a plan B. And it was never how easy can I crash. If it comes down to that you want to be prepared but always have an out. So many times even with good planning you get out somewhere that makes you cuss. Think way ahead, know the terrain. Even coming back into OME you've got the hills and towers to contend with both of which have brought planes down.

I have many thousand hours of IFR work and single engine up in your neck of the woods in anything south of a Caravan would not be my first preference.

gbflyer,

You make a good point and the basic instrument training you describe is required for the PPL. Also the old Cessna operators manual, before the POH, makes a good point for taking our hands off the control wheel and using the bank instrument to rudder turn back to where we can see.

The problem with both basic instrument training and the rudder turn back is that they extricate us only from mild VFR into IMC situations. The whole world changes when we lose our visual horizon. Now higher is better than lower. Now instruments are more important than the gut feelings (and there are going to be gut feelings.) Generally we are moving from warmer to colder air when climbing. With low temperatures and high dew points, this is problematic. In the lower 48 we do not have vast areas, even in the desert, where we can expect not to encounter man-made things sticking up a few hundred feet. Microwave towers make 500' a very unsafe altitude. We can see the bottom of the all towers at 200' much better. Mainly, basic instrument only separates us from contact with the earth and LZs while not really making us comfortable with the ATC system. Yes, it works somewhat. No, it is not always the best solution.

I expect my non instrument students to stay in contact with the earth and land rather than enter clouds. I also encourage them to get their instrument rating, even crop duster students.

Again, you make a good point. All instructors should insist on their students being comfortable with basic instrument flying and understand the extreme difference between it and contact flying. It is the transition that will kill you.

contact

To emphasize what Gump and Headout pointed out......there are many weather systems in Alaska. The only GOOD forecast is one put together by someone who works and flys in THAT weather, and who has paid close attention to how things work in that neighborhood. And, that forecaster needs to be you.

The weather cameras are a great aid to understanding weather, as are the many ASOS/AWOS that have been deployed. That said, I'd rather have weather from a trapper or fisherman or pilot who works that part of the world.

You need to become your own forecaster. Wander over to the FSS and or the NWS and pick the brain of those folks who deal with the weather daily. Talk to the commercial pilots and listen to the cues they use and the traps they know of....they'll share.

When you fly, you will obviously get a sense for how good the forecast was and how good YOUR forecast was. Log that into storage. Just as importantly, though, on days that you opt NOT to fly, check the weather frequently via the AWOS/cameras......again to evaluate the forecasts.....both yours and the NWS type. I've sat on the ground some days when I could have flown because I failed to recognize the flaw in the forecasts.

Become a weather watcher....don't be like most folks and just bitch about it.....learn how weather systems work and how they move in your part of the world. Bear in mind that NONE of the aviation weather forecasts are written by someone in Nome. Some are written by a person in an office in FAI, but many of those products come out of a computer in Kansas. The guy writing that forecast in Fairbanks is going to drive home in Fairbanks weather at the end of his shift.....not Nome weather.

As to what to do in an inadvertent IMC encounter, you've already been offered some great advice. The best plan is to stay out of that situation.

But, climbing and stumbling around in terrain is a losers bet. All that country offers lots of opportunity for icing in cloud, and a 152 isn't a great ice carrier.

Finally, this article from the knowledge base may be of interest to you: https://www.backcountrypilot.org/featur ... ngle-pilot

MTV

A lot of good information in the previous posts, pay heed to them.

I’m not an Instructor, nor am I IFR rated, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night, so take what I’m about to say as entertainment, not instruction. I have taken IFR training to the point where all I lack is the cross country, the tests and check ride (but that doesn’t mean I’m speaking like an instructor or some kind of expert, that’s just a note as to where I am today). Note to self I need to get off my ass and finish it.

Before you let yourself get anywhere near Wx conditions that could possibly lead to Inadvertent IMC, and that includes PVFR that MTV talks about, get yourself some IFR training, and get a lot of it in actual IFR. The hood/foggles/whatever are nice (not really) but we’ve all cheated them because we can. It’s completely different when, as MTV says, you are flying inside a milk bottle. Completely different.

Forget about the stop watch idea, you just went Inadvertent IMC which by it’s very nature means you are surprised, scared, overwhelmed, and your body is IMMEDIATELY sending you false signals, you don’t have time to be playing with a watch, and you don’t need it. You were not in IMC a second ago, now you are, all you need do is execute a standard rate 180 turn right now. Long before you found yourself in this situation you should have formulated a plan to get out, and now you need to execute that plan. For me I immediately shift all my attention to three gauges and three only, and I don’t believe a thing my body is telling me. One, Attitude indicator which gives me bank angle for a standard rate turn (or close enough) and is the nose above, on, or below the horizon. Two, Altimeter which confirms what the attitude indicator is telling me, am I gaining, maintaining, or loosing altitude (for me the altimeter is actually a faster reference for that then the attitude indicator). Three, heading indicator/compass (I do know what direction I was flying before I went Inadvertent IMC, right?). And I won’t touch the throttle, not doing so will provide some additional auditory clues to reinforce what I’m seeing on the instruments. Engine sounds labored then I’m climbing, engine doesn’t change then I’m level, engine sounds less labored then I’m descending. This is where a PFD really shines as everything is integrated on a single screen and readouts are really close to one another. One might imagine that a PFD with synthetic vision would be even better, but I think *wink wink* that’d I’d be too busy on the other instruments to include synthetic vision in my scan. Although this might be more a function of having never flown off synthetic vision.

I found a great way to practice getting out of Inadvertent IMC, BUT NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR ACTUAL IFR TRAINING WITH AN INSTRUCTOR, is with X-Plane on my laptop. Don’t need the rudder pedals, just the control yoke/throttle hardware. X-Plane interfaces with Foreflight as well so I can set everything on my iPad just as I would in my plane, then fly the route on Foreflight while using my laptop screen for the instrument panel and view outside. A cool feature is X-Plane can use real-time weather conditions so since the weather is too crappy to fly I can fly the actual weather outside with X-Plane. [also a great way to practice IFR climbs, turns, descents, holds, procedures and approaches] I wonder if one wore a hood doing this if they could gives themselves vertigo. Imagine flying on your laptop and falling out of the kitchen chair.

Thread drift: One day a number years ago on a crappy weather day I thought I’d take my 185 X-Plane up and fly the Idaho backcountry. See if I could get to a strip from memory. As I flew what I thought was the correct route I suddenly realized I’d flown into a box canyon. Glancing at the ridge I needed to clear I thought “no problem, I’m flying a 185, I can get over that”. So I poured the coals to her. Initially climb rate was great, but I’d forgotten to take into account that as I climbed I was gaining altitude which means loosing horsepower. The closer I got to the ridge the slower my climb rate got so I pulled the yoke back to increase it like every other pilot has done that’s crashed - it worked for a short time. Then about 100 feet short of the ridge (sound familiar?) I was right on top of the trees, ran out of climb, pulled back on the yoke just a little more and stalled it. Crash. At the time I thought “Surely I wouldn’t have actually tried this in a real situation, after all I was on the far right side of the canyon to allow myself a canyon turn out of there”. Who knows. I do know with 100% certainty I’d never try that now.

Now back to your regular programming.

Excellent advise from MTV. The cheapest and some of the best aviation education is watching the weather out your window. There you have the real deal. Some of the best spent time doing circuits are in marginal weather rather than windless sunshine. Go see what it really looks like in the safety of your local airport pattern or local area. If you were flying a three day pipeline loop, would which way would you start? After watching actual and reported weather three days, how would that have worked out?

Lots of good advice here. I am IFR and I agree with those who say stay out of IMC if not completely comfortable there. Being forced into IMC is not the time to find out of you are proficient on the gauges. There's a saying that when the engine quits the insurance company owns the plane, not you. I would extend that to when your choice is IMC or forced landing (VFR only pilot). Also, the earlier you make the decision to make an off airport landing the more likely you will be able to find a decent place to put er down.

That brings up another item that I may have missed if someone else already mentioned it. When flying in this kind of environment, you may still be in a world of hurt after you make a successful off airport landing in the bush if you are not prepared for survival in the bush. As in: Emergency vest, proper footwear and clothing, food, water (see emergency vest), Spot locator or the equivalent...etc.. etc..