Top Five IFR Mistakes

Whether we want to admit it or not, human flight by reference to instruments alone is an unnatural act. To determine up from down or left from right without a natural horizon, we need hours of training, and even more hours of regular practice. We also need a decently equipped airplane, stuffed with radios, colorful moving maps, some gyroscopes or their electronic equivalent, and more than a few charts, telling us where to go and how to get there.

Key Takeaways:

• Many IFR pilots struggle with diligently briefing published procedures, leading to errors in executing departures, arrivals, and approaches.
• Poor communication and inattentive listening to Air Traffic Control (ATC) frequently cause issues, wasting time and potentially impacting flight safety.
• Pilots often make mistakes with altitude management, including busting assigned altitudes, and mismanage complex avionics due to insufficient practice or training.
• A dangerous practice, though less common now, is "ducking under" minimum descent or decision altitudes without visual reference to the runway environment.

Key takeaways sponsored by Aviator Pro | Start Your Training ->

See a mistake? Contact us.