The First Forty Seconds

The Iraqi helicopter pilots I’ve been training in the sim are a fairly mixed group, but they all have two things in common: they’re older (most of them are Iran-Iraq War vets) and they’ve had some training in instrument flight.

But, “have had some training in instrument flight” doesn’t necessarily equate to “have had some training within the past ten years.” Some accumulated actual weather time in Britain, France or Russia during an overseas aircraft qual -- I’ve heard a couple of interesting stories about the dimensions of thunderstorms in Russia and the severity of clear-air turbulence over France. And I can tell who’s flown in Britain -- the first time a Brit-trained pilot climbs into an overcast layer in the sim, he invariably mutters, “Oh. My. Gaaaahhd…”

Inadvertent Instrument Meteorological Conditions, or IIMC for the Acronym Aficionados (hi, Barb!), means you’ve lost visual reference without intending to do so. Although they’re all a tad startled that I can turn the weather to crap as fast as it can happen in the Real World, the pilots who’ve had a lot of actual weather time don’t get fazed much. The ones who are good settle right down. The inexperienced ones, wellllllll…

IIMC onset can be slow -- you keep pressing on and the weather keeps getting worse and the visibility decreases so slowly that you’re in the trap before you realize it (that’s how JFK Junior bought it -- and that’s how multiple-vehicle smashups happen in bad weather). Or IIMC can happen fast -- you’re flying at night and punch into a cloud or a dust / snow / rain storm catches you. The weather itself isn’t usually the killer, though -- it’s how you *react* to the loss of visual reference. If your control touch isn’t what it should be, if you fixate on one instrument instead of scanning the important ones, or if the startle reflex kicks in, you will probably -- make that *definitely* -- take the aircraft into what’s understatedly-referred to as an Unusual Attitude.

Rather than go through all the physiological explanations for what happens when your brain is deprived of it's primary sensory input for keeping you upright (and I *can*), try this little experiment -- make sure you’re near something soft -- stand up, extend your arms, close your eyes and tilt your head to one side.

Now lift the leg opposite the head-tilted side.

You’ve just gone into an Unusual Attitude.

However, when you’re descending sideways at rates in excess of 3,000 feet-per-minute, even *water* is hard as granite.

The FAA did a study some years back and found that most pilots killed themselves (and everyone else on board) within forty seconds of entering an unusual attitude if they didn’t get the aircraft level. Do that properly and you've solved your immediate airspeed, altitude, descent rate and bank angle problems and you can work out the rest in (relative) safety.

So, one of the things I teach *all* the guys who come up here from Taji is How To Survive the First Forty Seconds -- because if they can level the aircraft and get their airspeed under control within that time, they’ll probably live through the rest of the flight, even though it’ll still be pretty -- ummmmm -- exciting. The main problem they have to overcome is overcontrolling -- making the initial correction too large and then overcompensating for it. Then overcompensating for the overcompensation, then overcompensating for the -- you get the idea.

I show them unusual attitudes and why they happen. I show them how to recover smoothly and *fast* without overcontrolling the aircraft.

I show them how to fly with three fingertips, not their entire hands.

How well do the *really* inexperienced guys absorb that? Watch.

No, that's *still* not my normal, conversational voice...