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The NTSB unanimously adopted on February 9 its determination that the probable cause of the crash on January 26, 2020, that killed all nine people aboard was the “pilot’s decision to continue flight under visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions,” leading to “spatial disorientation and loss of control.”
There is no such thing as ‘unintended’ or ‘inadvertent’ IFR; most people who encountered it knew for minutes or miles that such a thing was possible. It should really be called “Advertent IFR”
If you go down, you slow down.
However, if you’re arsin’ around low level (say, 500 - 1000 feet) in poor viz at cruise speed, upon entering IMC conditions you:
1. Go on the dials.
2. Note your heading.
3. Note the reciprocal.
4. Make a level, 180 degree turn toward the low ground.
5. Fly back into better conditions.
If you’re in hilly or mountainous country, then you pick a heading that will keep you clear of terrain until you’re at a safe altitude. Synthetic vision (as I have in my aircraft) is very handy for that.
However, if you’re hell bent on getting through, then as the ceiling and viz decrease, so do you: in both altitude and airspeed.
NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF THE GROUND.
Your aim is to give yourself reaction time, so you gradually lose altitude and airspeed; it may turn out that you wind up at ground level in the hover.
Of course, you should have beat a hasty retreat long before this, but at least you’re in one piece and can make a decision to land or turn around to see what’s behind you.
The take-away is that unless you’re reasonably proficient on instruments, the moment you start slowing down and losing altitude to maintain ground contact, you ‘get out of Dodge’ while the getting’s good. (And that goes for fixed-wing pilots also.)
If you like pushing weather and you do not have an “Inadvertent IFR” procedure, you should develop one…
