Welcome to IFR Focus: Sharpen Your Skills, Master the System

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IFR Focus is a new destination dedicated entirely to the art and science of flying in the system. Whether you’re an experienced IFR pilot looking to stay sharp or a student climbing toward that checkride, you’ll find practical content here to help you fly safer, smoother, and smarter.

Practical IFR: Does Your Approach Use the Wrong Minimums?

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It’s visibility that controls whether we can land or not. While on paper that's a number we have or don't, it’s not so simple in real life. We must make a rapid judgment call—sometimes based on a glance—as to whether we're getting enough visual information to call the flight visibility half a mile. Or three-quarters of a mile, or two miles, or whatever.

Practical IFR: “Cleared to Intercept?” A Common IFR Dilemma

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You haven’t been cleared for the approach, but the needle is alive and time is short. Learn how to handle this tricky IFR moment without risking a violation—or a missed approach.

Practical IFR: Practice Approaches

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The two best things you can do are making practice a habit and upping the stakes. The first part is pretty simple: Set a recurring day, say the second Saturday of each month, when you and a friend or two go bore holes in the IFR system for practice. Three people are better because two get to watch while one flies, and there’s still a party if one of the gang must take a day off.