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T
RAINING
M
ANUAL
–
L
ANCAIR
IV/IVP
WEATHER FLYING
Unlike surface travelers, pilots ply their trade in the midst of the ocean of air.
Operation within the ever changing atmosphere requires pilots to possess special
training, knowledge and skill about weather. Lack of that specialized knowledge
and skill can be deadly. Many fliers have come to grief while navigating around
and through hazardous flight conditions including thunderstorms, icing,
turbulence, low ceilings and visibility. Lancair pilots are no different. In the past
20 years, 18 Lancairs have been lost in weather related accidents. Many
accidents have involved pilots flying into thunderstorms; other pilots have
attempted VFR flight into IMC conditions, including a particularly egregious
accident involving two pilots who filed an instrument flight plan in February 2008
for a proposed cross country flight. Icing conditions were forecast and made
known to the pilots by the AFSS briefer. The Lancair ES crashed less than 30
minutes after takeoff killing the two pilots and their passenger. What was
remarkable was that neither pilot possessed an instrument rating. The common
thread that all of these accidents shared is that weather did not cause the
accidents--- the pilot did. In many cases the pilot in command was warned well
before the flight commenced that hazardous weather conditions would be found
along his flight path—yet the pilot chose to proceed. Most of these accidents
involved Lancairs on extended cross country flight—some on their way to
vacations or airshows like Oshkosh or Sun N Fun. Many of these accidents
involved pilots like the above ES example who were not qualified to undertake
the instrument flight from a regulatory standpoint.
This section will not cover classic weather instruction like that found in Advisory
Circular AC 00-45 or AC 00-6. For the pilot interested in how weather and
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©
Copyright
2007
LOBO
May
not
be
copied
without
permission.