CFI TOOLS VFR INTO IMC AN INSIdIOUS TRAp BY MACHTELD SMITH VISUAL FLIGHT RULES (VFR) FLIGHT INTO INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS (IMC) IS THE WORST WEATHER-RELATED CAUSE OF GENERAL AVIATION ACCIDENTS EACH YEAR-WITH AN 86-PERCENT FATALITY RATE-INVOLVING VFR AND INSTRUMENT-RATED PILOTS. A classic study supported by the AOPA Air Safety Institute determined that a pilot will lose aircraft control in 178 seconds when flying VFR into IMC. That doesn't provide much time to escape, so prepare your students to have a plan-better yet, to avoid the problem in the first place. TRAINING As a flight instructor you teach your students recovery from unusual attitudes wearing a view limiting device, and this is important by all means. But it's far from what they'd actually experience during a real VFR into IMC encounter. Donning a view limiting device on a VFR day guarantees that your student is instantly put into an IMC scenario. But it's slightly deteriorating weather slowly evolving and enveloping pilot and airplane that lures pilots into the trap. And without visual references pilots can quickly experience spatial disorientation-a main reason for losing aircraft control-causing incapacitation that often ends in an unrecoverable graveyard spiral or spin. CFIs can help pilots be better prepared with real examples of inadvertent VFR into IMC entry and how to escape. If you have an opportunity to expose your student to a VFR into IMC scenario, whether flying with them in marginal VFR conditions or using a simulator that can gradually place your student into a deteriorating weather scenario, it may help instill a deeper understanding of how quickly spatial disorientation can set in. Also, if you're proficient and capable, take them up in actual instrument conditions to have them experience the real thing. In addition, show primary students how to set personal minimums that will help them avoid VFR flight into IMC and remind them to adjust their personal minimums before each flight. For instrument-rated pilots help them set personal minimums reflecting their instrument proficiency and currency levels and remind them to adjust personal minimums as needed before each flight.