Actually, they should disable the ability to engage the auto-trim in the clouds or red/blackout. Otherwise the autopilot would shut off the moment we entered the cloud, and that'd kinda dumb.
As to the whole human senses thing... I can tell you that your body positively sucks when it comes to determining which direction is up and all. To your body, accelerating feels nearly identical to being in a pitched up attitude (throught eh wonders of vector addition)--as a side note, that's how motion simulators work. Anyway, I can't tell you how often I "feel" like I'm doing other stuff than flying straight and level, when I am. It's really hard to believe instruments over my body, since every bone in your body may feel like you're turning left, but you've just got to trust those little needles and all. So, as it is, I'd say AH is about as easy to fly instruments in as in real life. See, in AH we're not getting disoriented by our bodies, but we're also not getting the other cues we get in RL (engine sound, sliding around on the seat...).
Of course, we do need the Artificial Horizon working, but most of those WW2 Gyros would tumble if you spilled the gyros... So, you wouldn't be doing anything aerobatic on instruments and there could be a new type of kill... The IMC Manuever Kill? Of course then we'd get IMC dweebs (me)... But I agree, don't let the AP engage in the clouds (or not if you're not relatively close to Straight and Level).
blk (AT)
