Practical IFR: Visual Approaches

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1 Comment
One of the great ironies of IFR flying is that once you have the right to fly through the clouds, you take almost every opportunity to stay out of them. It’s simpler, faster, and arguably safer (at least at the GA level) to shortcut full procedures with visual ones. The go-to “instrument approach” for keeping the mail moving is: “Cleared for the visual.”

Practical IFR: Mix and Match

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9 Comments
As an aviation writer, I’m always on the prowl for interesting approach charts (so if you have a favorite, drop me a line). One that recently appeared in my email was the ILS or LOC Rwy 27 at Williamsport, Pennsylvania (KIPT). The striking curiosity was plan view note, “RNAV 1-GPS or RADAR AND DME REQUIRED.” The investigation yielded a longer explanation than I expected. Too bad I don’t get paid by the word.

Practial IFR: Have a Speed-to-Fly for Emergencies in IMC

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3 Comments
One refinement that rarely gets taught is adjusting best glide speed (Vbg) for changes in weight and wind. In a glider, if you’re heading back to the airport with a headwind, you can’t just open the throttle to make up for lost groundspeed. Instead, you pitch down to speed up. A lot. In fact, you might add 20 knots to your best glide (L/Dmax) speed to counter a 20-knot headwind.

Practical IFR: Behold the Power of Uninterrupted Descents

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2 Comments
 “Descend and maintain” is such a staple of IFR communications…

Practical IFR: Decision Time

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Some decisions don’t allow the luxury of contemplation. Every instrument pilot knows at least one of these decisions in the depths of his or her cloud-flying bones: the missed approach. Making a decision while still descending and a mere 200 feet above the ground (lower for Cat II+) only works because the decision is binary. You see the expected environment and continue—or you don’t and you climb away.

Practical IFR: Understanding the Transitions

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6 Comments
Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (KBZN) RNAV and ILS…

Practical IFR: Departure Alternates

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5 Comments
A departure alternate is an airport and approach you’ll fly if trouble finds you seconds after you enter the clouds. These are required for many commercial operations if the conditions make an IFR return to the departure airport unlikely or impossible. They’re not required for GA, but you should consider making them part of your standard IFR planning.

Practical IFR: Off-Route Thinking

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4 Comments
Student pilots learn, by rote, the visibility differences between…

Practical IFR: Don’t Disable. Revert!

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12 Comments
What should you do when the autopilot fails to capture the glideslope or turns right when you expected left? You should disengage the autopilot and hand-fly, right? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Think about this objectively for a moment. Right at a critical moment in the approach, you’ve been hit with a surprise, so you double your workload by throwing out one of your best IFR tools. You do it right when a precise flying action is required.

Our Faith in NEXRAD

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The takeaway is that all such information should be considered an educated opinion, not a fact. It’s data that’s been collected from various sources, processed automatically, checked by a human briefly, and then pumped out to our cockpits. It’s neither completely right nor completely wrong.