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Excellent points! Had no idea Kennedy was descending into Martha's Vinyard when he went in. But the industrial haze we endure here in the Godless, Drug-infested Northeast is no joke. Comes up quick; goes away slow. Sucks with a half-life. If you possess an auto pilot, disconnecting it ranks right up there with the other Darwinianly Stupid Acts like trying to beat Cro-Magnon Man at building fires, and in these situations Sir Charles, like The House, always wins. Needle-ball-and-airspeed was good enough for Doolittle, so it's probably good enough for us. However, most of us have more panel than that - at least a single-axis gyro. My advice was for a VFR pilot who is unaccustomed to IFR conditions. I first faced this particular elephant many years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Back then at the Dawn of Aviation, my problem was a panel full of dials and no real idea what to trust. Flying behind the airplane? Sure! Any of the rest of us ever done that? ...naaaaaah! I was aiming at the guy or gal who has spent most of their hours flying VOR, GPS and contact, and all of a sudden has a Holyshit Moment. Robert Beeman ----- Original Message ----- From: "Skyport Services" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 7:11 PM Subject: Re: [COUPERS-TECH] AH > ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any > advice in this forum.]---- > > > At 05:43 PM 4/14/2005, Dr. R. B. wrote: >>...you ordered from WAG Aero for seven hundred bucks and installed right >>away. [YOu didn't? Hmmm. OK, then instead you'll have to use your >>turn-and-bank indicator for wings-level, and your altimeter as your >>primary pitch indicator.... > > > OK, what ever happened to "needle, ball and airspeed"? Heck, with an > Ercoupe you can forgo the ball, too. > > One more thing: remember, the airplane knows how to fly a lot better than > you ever will. Airplanes don't fly into the ground, pilots fly them into > the ground. If it was flying straight and level before you lost the > horizon, it'll keep doing that after,too. Good argument for keeping it > trimmed. > > John Kennedy lost control as he descended into the haze at night. He took > off during daylight and flew into the night. He apparently disconnected > the autopilot for the descent. Hindsight: BIG mistake... I had the > pleasure of flying to Martha's Vinyard the next morning, just as it hit > the news. Conditions stank even during the daylight. Visibility below > 3000' couldn't have been more than about 2 miles. As we left the Island > that evening we were instructed to head straight for the mainland. No > sightseeing as debris was starting to wash up on the western shore. > > It is my firm belief that regardless of the cause published by the feds, > the vast majority of GA accidents are really caused by pilot error. So be > careful out there! > > John Cooper > Skyport Services > PO Box 249 > 4996 Delaware Tnpk > Rensselaerville, NY 12147 > 518 797-3064 > ========================================================================== ==== > To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm > Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/ > > > > ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers-tech/
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