Expected v Unexpected.
The Macleod offering is at least 'topical' and useful in that it states, in the first line - "pre-flight preparation is, and always will be, the best defence against VFR into IMC." We have hammered this subject before; there are very few 'genuine' cases of 'inadvertent' loss of VMC..Fact......Understanding the 'dynamics' of the forecast, planning 'decision' points and defining escape paths to a coffee and a wait-a-bit place are crucial elements. All been said and explained (ad nauseam) since Pontious; the lessons writ in blood and tangled wreckage.
The CASA offering reflects their inexperience and amateurish, home made tick-a-box approach to air operations generally. Stating the obvious has never helped any more than draconian rules and horrendous penalties. The old 'Crash Comic' did a great deal of good; the 'I learned' series of articles promoted much discussion and valuable lessons. To be honest, I watched the first 30 seconds of the CASA offering and hit the kill switch - at the request of the other collective 200 years of professional experience I was watching it with. "Rubbish" and quite probably dangerous rubbish.
Box ticking will not ever save a situation where, despite the coroners paperwork being tidy, some poor sods have to disentangle charred remains from a wreck, slammed into a cliff face 100 feet shy of the tree tops in the wind, rain, mud, blood and leeches. The eternal question has not ever been satisfactorily answered - Why?
But I repeat myself. There is no such animal as 'unexpected' weather. The BoM (bless 'em) do their best to provide accurate data (discussion for another day). Pilots must, I repeat MUST be able to develop a 'mental picture' of the forecast conditions, apply that to their intended flight path and formulate cut off points, escape routes and have a 'flexible' plan in mind which allows and acknowledges alternate strategy; and, be prepared to use it. Why push on toward being trapped between a 'rock and and a hard place' when turning left at Albuquerque and running for an extra 20 minutes would have stepped around the rising terrain and lowering cloud? Airline aircraft divert all the time, even manage the odd go-around - there is no shame in that. Quite the reverse in fact; Navy pilots wave off carrier landings without penalty; professional attitude rules.
But, we have said all of this and more, time and time again. If that video CASA released is the best they can do in an attempt to prevent VFR into IMC, and continue to present it as 'inadvertent' then it is time to bring in some 'professional' experience and be shut of the bumbling amateurs posing as 'experts in the field'. I shall record one 'Blot' on the Spencer copy book.
Toot - toot.
The Macleod offering is at least 'topical' and useful in that it states, in the first line - "pre-flight preparation is, and always will be, the best defence against VFR into IMC." We have hammered this subject before; there are very few 'genuine' cases of 'inadvertent' loss of VMC..Fact......Understanding the 'dynamics' of the forecast, planning 'decision' points and defining escape paths to a coffee and a wait-a-bit place are crucial elements. All been said and explained (ad nauseam) since Pontious; the lessons writ in blood and tangled wreckage.
The CASA offering reflects their inexperience and amateurish, home made tick-a-box approach to air operations generally. Stating the obvious has never helped any more than draconian rules and horrendous penalties. The old 'Crash Comic' did a great deal of good; the 'I learned' series of articles promoted much discussion and valuable lessons. To be honest, I watched the first 30 seconds of the CASA offering and hit the kill switch - at the request of the other collective 200 years of professional experience I was watching it with. "Rubbish" and quite probably dangerous rubbish.
Box ticking will not ever save a situation where, despite the coroners paperwork being tidy, some poor sods have to disentangle charred remains from a wreck, slammed into a cliff face 100 feet shy of the tree tops in the wind, rain, mud, blood and leeches. The eternal question has not ever been satisfactorily answered - Why?
But I repeat myself. There is no such animal as 'unexpected' weather. The BoM (bless 'em) do their best to provide accurate data (discussion for another day). Pilots must, I repeat MUST be able to develop a 'mental picture' of the forecast conditions, apply that to their intended flight path and formulate cut off points, escape routes and have a 'flexible' plan in mind which allows and acknowledges alternate strategy; and, be prepared to use it. Why push on toward being trapped between a 'rock and and a hard place' when turning left at Albuquerque and running for an extra 20 minutes would have stepped around the rising terrain and lowering cloud? Airline aircraft divert all the time, even manage the odd go-around - there is no shame in that. Quite the reverse in fact; Navy pilots wave off carrier landings without penalty; professional attitude rules.
But, we have said all of this and more, time and time again. If that video CASA released is the best they can do in an attempt to prevent VFR into IMC, and continue to present it as 'inadvertent' then it is time to bring in some 'professional' experience and be shut of the bumbling amateurs posing as 'experts in the field'. I shall record one 'Blot' on the Spencer copy book.
Toot - toot.