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Hey, You Can’t Do That!

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The article outlines a multi-stage "Sim Challenge" designed to test advanced instrument flying skills by simulating equipment limitations and unconventional navigation scenarios.
  • Challenges include a "Double ILS" maneuver requiring precise vertical and lateral guidance without traditional setup, and a "DME Arc Traffic Pattern" using only VOR/DME.
  • The ultimate test, "DR Mode," involves flying entirely by dead reckoning (heading, speed, time, altitude) to break out directly over a destination runway in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC).
  • The exercises emphasize "old-school" navigation techniques, meticulous planning, and precise flight management to adapt to low-information IFR environments within a flight simulator.
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There’s an old joke about the retired airline pilot who checks out in a Cessna 172 after years of flying heavy iron. The pilot calls Tower from the hold short line saying, “I’ve lost my first officer, have only basic functioning equipment, and I’m down to one engine … I’d like to declare an emergency now.”

This Sim Challenge is sort of like that. These “approaches” test your skill and IFR imagination. You’ll be using equipment and published procedures in ways they weren’t designed to be used. We usually suggest flying something fast for the challenge and fun, but consider something simple and slow like a vanilla 172, at least at first.

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