Reply #204: It sounds crazy to you because you're not a pilot and you don't understand spatial disorientation

[MajorChode]

Just to get a basic pilot certificate, a person must have some instrument training. While it's true that John-John had some additional instrument instruction and he was working towards his instrument rating, that doesn't mean he had the knowledge and skill to fly single pilot in IMC conditions. Every pilot knows how to "operate" the instruments. Being proficient with them is another matter entirely. Contrary to what some have alleged, John-John was a decent pilot and he was progressing in his instrument training well according to the instructors he flew with, but he wasn't prepared for what he got himself into.

Kennedy didn't talk to ATC the hour prior to his accident, and since he was flying under VFR, there was no need for him to do so. I have no idea where you're getting your information from, but it's wrong.

You can't compare flying an airplane to driving a car. It's apples and oranges. It's pretty much impossible to get spatial disorientation in a car, and even if you did there's no danger of getting in an unrecoverable unusual attitude because you're only operating in 2 dimensions. Furthermore, flying at night you don't necessarily know you've lost your reference to the horizon because you can fly right into a cloud and not know it until it's too late.