Flying Clouds

[NiqueNaque]

Chuck,70 and still flying!Some 'strine' for you - "ONYA Mate" (most usually expressed with both thumbs up).Cheers,Nick.

[asra]

I believe it would be poor decision making to fly into a cloud, but lets say you did.... I believe if you pull the power to idle and pull the stick back to stop the machine and then watching the yaw string to make sure your not going forwards or backwards, just do a vertical outta the cloud. I think the gyro will come straight down if you do a vertical. A airplane is a whole other story. You can be upside down and not know it till your out of the cloud and that may be too late. I don't think the same is the case in a simple gyro.Just my two cents.just my two cents

[birdy]

Well well well.......................How ya go'n Ron?[]Your stratergy would be orright, solong as you'v got a string.[][}]Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.Ingratitude stinks.......be generous carefully.

[NiqueNaque]

Ok,So what is the recovery strategy for the moment you pop out of the bottom of the cloud, and you still have ground clearance?

[Echo]

Fairly obvious , Nick . Nose down , power on & get back to flying speed ( then give yourself an uppercut for going there in the first place). EricX

[Tim]

Then buy a lotto ticket - it must be your day.Tim McClure

[asra]

Good stuff fellers, this thread is getting very nicely into Human Factors, the cause of about 60% of accidents and incidents.As usual I'm going to be a pain in the whatever.From time to time we have republished in Gyro News an an article on the delayed effects of alcohol. As everyone knows, and hopefully complies with, you are required to let 12 hours from 'bottle to throttle' elapse.Since this thread has referred to the role of the inner ear in our maintaining equilibrium I would like to point out that this mechanism is often disturbed for up to 48 hours after as few as 3 beers, leading to unexpected episodes of vertigo. Thus when you lose the visual component of your orientation cues, and have to relie on your inner ear, spatial disorientation is a common problem.In the IFR situation you have to be trained to disregard the spurious cues and believe the gauges, not easy.A while ago, while doing some Instrument Training I got cauht in an extremely heavy shower while driving at night and totally lost visual reference. I had to laugh at myself as I immediately locked down on the only instrument available - the speedo![:I]John EvansThink logically and do things well, think laterally and do things better.

[asra]

Birdy what I would give to spend a week or two with you guys. It would be the time of my life!just my two cents

[asra]

john......is'nt that 12hrs, but also zero blood alcohol as well. Mate I can be legless, 12hrs later still got it in the system??????[][]RDC

[NiqueNaque]

Russell,Read the article. Alcohol affects the density/viscosity of the fluid in your ears, this in turn affects your balance mechanisms, all dangerous in any dose.Nick.

[asra]

Spot on nick.......I was thinking there was part "B" to the 12hrs rule??????? alsoRDC

[asra]

Yes Russel, you can't expect a bloke to walk when he's in that condition can you![|)].As Nick points out, the problem with the inner ear is the relative change in specific gravity of the inner ear fluid, the endolymph. Thus even when the blood alcohol has fallen to zero there is still a signifigant amount in the endolymph and the tissues in the semicircular canals, which act as angular accellarometers. While they are equal your equilibrium is OK, but as the endolymph equilibrates with the blood level, the tissue lags behind, so spurious sensations of movement can result.We normally manage this sort of problem by over-riding those sensations with our visual perceptions, thus when visual reference is lost spatial disorientation occurs.One suggested solution to this problem, which is commonly favoured by many is to maintain a constant blood alcohol level[^]. While this may help this problem, it certainly raises a lot of others.[B)]John EvansThink logically and do things well, think laterally and do things better.

[birdy]

Just wunder'n, if all this appens to ya ears when you drink beer, would the opposite apply when ya drink rum?[]I mean, beer tastes like cat's p!ss[}] and rum is like mum's milk[],so I'm figur'n that rum would make your sences better[].[I'm usualy more sensable after a few rums[xx(].]Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.Ingratitude stinks.......be generous carefully.

[asra]

.[I'm usualy more sensable after a few rums.]Just wondering how many rums you had before you came up with this theory?[:0]

[mrford61]

Was it Roosevelt that said that "Beer was proof that God loves us"??