Real-World Alternates

One of the concerns many pilots express about doing their flight planning on a tablet computer is that they dont spend time with a chart and a plotter looking over a route. They end up starting a flight with less situational awareness about airports where they can bail out if something goes wrong en route. That, combined with what can become a rote fixation on selecting an IFR alternate based only on the regs regarding weather at the destination, is an invitation to poor decision-making when a little smoke in the cockpit means shutting off the electrical system a third of the way into the flight, or the engine starts running rough on initial climb from an airport thats below approach minimums.One way out of these dilemmas is to keep in mind the FARs are, by law, nothing more than minimum standards-and only looking at an alternate airport for the destination on an IFR flight of 500 miles might not be doing ourselves any favors. We always need an ace in the hole, and it doesnt have to be the one we tell the FAA about on the flight plan.

rdurden

Wednesday, May 20, 2015 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

David Berman flies his parents in for the occasion in his Cessna 340A. Marina Pia Goldi

Key Takeaways:

Pilots should go beyond minimum FARs and automated flight planning by proactively developing comprehensive situational awareness of en-route and destination alternate airports.
Always carry more fuel than legally required, planning for high-burn scenarios like missed approaches to maximize diversion flexibility and range.
Continuously prepare for contingencies by identifying multiple practical backup airports, understanding that the filed alternate may not be the best or only option during an actual emergency.

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One of the concerns many pilots express about doing their flight planning on a tablet computer is that they don’t spend time with a chart and a plotter looking over a route. They end up starting a flight with less situational awareness about airports where they can bail out if something goes wrong en route. That, combined with what can become a rote fixation on selecting an IFR alternate based only on the regs regarding weather at the destination, is an invitation to poor decision-making when a little smoke in the cockpit means shutting off the electrical system a third of the way into the flight, or the engine starts running rough on initial climb from an airport that’s below approach minimums.

One way out of these dilemmas is to keep in mind the FARs are, by law, nothing more than minimum standards—and only looking at an alternate airport for the destination on an IFR flight of 500 miles might not be doing ourselves any favors. We always need an ace in the hole, and it doesn’t have to be the one we tell the FAA about on the flight plan.