The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) invited 12 General Aviation pilots to Cologne to take part in a simulator mission to assess their skills when faced with flying into poor weather. 75% of all weather-related General Aviation accidents in Europe result in a fatal outcome, so it’s important that every pilot takes VFR2IMC seriously. Essentially, this is when pilots without an instrument rating fly into cloud – unless they complete a 180-degree turn without delay – the chances of a safe outcome diminish rapidly.
In this experiment, conducted in a simulator, when the pilots knew what was happening, still resulted in three of the 12 pilots having a fatal accident.
In this video, Wendell Lynch, EASA’s GA Safety Promotion Lead, highlights the threats associated with flying into IMC, talks to some pilots about their experiences and talks through the experiment they conducted.
