When To Go Visual

I had flown a full day with the new owner of a turbocharged Beech Bonanza, a recently retired airline pilot who also had been a U.S. Air Force tanker pilot. He was IFR proficient from the airline and wanted to focus on visual and hand-flying skills while orienting to his airplanes autopilot and avionics. He did a great job and got markedly more comfortable with the airplane as the day progressed. At the end of the day, I recommended he get more experience with the airplane before going IFR in it. We shook hands and I went to my office to complete my paperwork.

Tom Turner

Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots can strategically integrate various visual flight techniques (e.g., VFR departures, VFR-on-top, visual/contact approaches) while under an IFR clearance to expedite flights and increase operational flexibility.
These techniques offer benefits such as faster departures from busy airports, direct routing to avoid complex procedures, maneuvering between cloud layers, and quicker arrivals at destinations.
However, utilizing visual techniques within an IFR environment requires strict adherence to VFR visibility and cloud clearance minimums, along with a thorough understanding and management of the associated risks.

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I had flown a full day with the new owner of a turbocharged Beech Bonanza, a recently retired airline pilot who also had been a U.S. Air Force tanker pilot. He was IFR proficient from the airline and wanted to focus on visual and hand-flying skills while orienting to his airplane’s autopilot and avionics. He did a great job and got markedly more comfortable with the airplane as the day progressed. At the end of the day, I recommended he get more experience with the airplane before going IFR in it. We shook hands and I went to my office to complete my paperwork.

That evening I checked online to see if he got home okay. I noticed he had delayed quite some time before leaving, and that he had filed and flown IFR. Knowing his airplane was notorious for difficult hot starts, I emailed asking if he had trouble getting the airplane started. No, he had no trouble starting it the way we’d practiced, he replied. He had to wait a long time for his IFR release. That got me thinking about all the ways it can be advantageous to fly visually while on an IFR flight plan.