The following article is reprinted, with permission,  from the Transport Canada Aviation Safety Letter Issue 1-2000.  There have been some weather related accidents over the past ten years in our RASOS Member States and this article should be passed on to all non-instrument rated pilots as it may save lives.

                                                                                              178 Seconds

            If you're ever tempted to take off in marginal weather and have no instrument training, read this article before you go.  If you decide to go anyway and lose visual contact, start counting down from 178 seconds.

            How long can a pilot who has no instrument training expect to live after he or she flies into bad weather and loses visual contact?  Researchers at the University of Illinois found the answer to this question.  Twenty student "guinea pigs" flew into simulated instrument weather, and all went into graveyard spirals or roller coasters.  The outcome differed in only one respect: the time required until control was lost.  The interval ranged from 480 seconds to 20 seconds.  The average time was 178 seconds--2 seconds short of three minutes.