Radar Service Gotchas

An instrument-rated pilot called me a while back, seeking an IPC to prepare for a trip he wanted to make. Unfortunately, it had been nearly a year since hed flown at all.

Fred Simonds

Wednesday, November 05, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots often misunderstand "Radar Service Terminated," incorrectly assuming it closes their IFR flight plan or allows them to change their transponder code to VFR.
Pilots are personally responsible for closing their IFR flight plans after landing at non-towered airports, a common oversight that can delay other traffic.
Unless instructed to "Squawk VFR," pilots should maintain their assigned transponder code even after "Radar Service Terminated" for potential re-identification.
"Radar Contact Lost" differs from "Radar Service Terminated" and requires pilots to make mandatory position reports over designated fixes if out of radar coverage.

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An instrument-rated pilot called me a while back, seeking an IPC to prepare for a trip he wanted to make. Unfortunately, it had been nearly a year since he’d flown at all.

So we set out one night in his favorite G1000-equipped C-182. To our mutual disappointment but not surprise, we discovered that his IFR skills had badly atrophied. On a missed approach while turning to avoid heavy weather, he became disoriented and at one point allowed the airspeed to decay to 57 knots before I shoved the forgiving 182’s nose down. Learning had stopped; it was time to land.