Sim Challenge: Trusting the Wrong Glidepath

A simulator is the perfect place to practice judgment, timing, and managing workload when the pressure is on. Our Sim Challenges make it easy to get a good workout—at home—using Microsoft Flight Simulator or X-Plane. Along the way, you’ll answer thought-provoking questions and learn from an expert’s real-world insights.

In this month’s challenge, you’ll discover the difference between approved vertical guidance and advisory vertical guidance—and what can happen if you follow advisory vertical guidance below MDA.

Take the challenge!

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Lee Smith

Lee Smith is an ATP-rated pilot, flight instructor, and software engineer in Maryland who enjoys bridging the gap between flight operations and technology. With a background in corporate aviation and over a decade of experience supporting flight procedure design and analysis, he brings both cockpit experience and engineering insights to complex IFR topics. Lee's work has appeared in IFR Magazine, IFR Refresher, Aviation Safety, and AOPA.

Latest posts by Lee Smith (see all)

• Sim Challenge: Trusting the Wrong Glidepath - June 23, 2026
• Sim Challenge: The Lowdown (IFR) - February 3, 2026
• Sim Challenge: There And Back Again - November 4, 2025