The Dangers of VFR IMC Flight

¶ … IMC stands for instrument meteorological conditions and these are typically experienced during a VFR flight. VFR stands for Visual Flight Rules. For VFR flight to take place, Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) must be maintained. To achieve this a pilot cannot fly through clouds, while keeping a safe distance. Ground must be visible in certain kinds of airspace. The main priority of VFR is to avoid collision and maintaining visual on other aircraft and minimum horizontal visibility. Some countries do not allow VFR night flights (Spain). This is due to the potential dangers of VFR flight into IMC.

Weather-associated flight risk management goes with practical measures to ensure a safe flight. However, in some conditions, safety may be lost due to unexpected circumstances like low visibility. Other threats come in the form of continued flight into terrain (CFIT) as well as loss of control (LOC). These happen in IMC frequently and account for 75% of GA weather associated deaths. Although that is a large percentage some errors and risks occur due to lack of pilot qualification or training.

Pilots learn to fly in various conditions. However, at times even if a pilot is qualified and trained, erosion of skills can happen. If a pilot relies solely on flight instruments, this could lead to an inability to handle unexpected conditions, slower response time, and potential fatality. Aside from skill and unexpected conditions, pilots may also fly in IMC conditions due to placement of priority on wrong things like getting home, lack of situational awareness due to inexperience, over-confidence associated with poor risk awareness, and pressure to continue flight due to job responsibilities.