Instrument Flying

Catastrophic FailureAugustClassic CFITMayCloak Of InvincibilityDecemberFifteen MilesJuneMinimum EquipmentMarchMissing Flight PlanOctoberMostly MundaneJanuaryRunning The ScudAprilSpin Recovery FailureSeptemberThe Impossible TurnFebruaryToo Much Automation?NovemberUnsecured CargoJuly

The Boeing 727-200, operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 6231, departed John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, N.Y., at about 1926 Eastern time on December 1, 1974. A ferry flight with only crew aboard, the 727s destination was Buffalo, N.Y., a great-circle distance of 261 nm. After takeoff, the aircraft climbed to 13,500 feet msl and leveled off for about 50 seconds, accelerating from 264 knots to 304 knots.

One of the first things instrument pilots learn during their training to fly approaches is reading the fine print, the various notes that may accompany a published procedure. Its a classic case of the large print holding great promise while the small print dashes any lingering hopes. Perhaps most ubiquitous is the NoPT admonition that a procedure turn is not authorized when flying to the final approach fix on certain segments.

The controller finally was able to clear me to the locales minimum vectoring altitude (MVA-see the sidebar on the opposite page) of 1600 feet msl and soon I broke out of the stratus layer into good VMC underneath. I could see a few lights on the ground, but the runway was out of sight, behind me. Since I was still IFR and on a vector, I couldnt just go zooming around out here, looking for the airport, without canceling IFR. And I didnt want to cancel until I was relatively sure I didnt need it anymore.

the applicant must demonstrate the ability to perform the Tasks listed in the table below. The person giving the check should develop a scenario that incorporates as many required Tasks as practical to assess the pilot’s ADM and risk management skills.””

it’s likely you may need to completely rethink when

The good news about this plan was the VOR/DME procedure we wanted to fly into Winter Haven used LAL as an initial approach fix. The middling news was we were doing this at 2700 feet msl, 700 feet above the minimum crossing altitude at LAL, to stay above KLALs Class D, which tops out at 2600. So Id need to carefully pull the plug after crossing LAL to ensure I could get down to the MDA before getting too close to the airport. But the hold at LAL coming off the miss at VDF had us going the opposite direction, and we were trying to do this on our own, using published procedures.

Earlier in the year, I found myself headed toward Albany, N.Y., to visit a long-time pilot-friend and play with airplanes. I was flying a second friends airplane, IFR, and being vectored for a visual approach through a cloud deck. All of a sudden, I can hear ATC, but they cant hear me. So I reached down between the front seats for the handheld mic-but there is no handheld mic. Theres a bracket, but nothing on it.

After earning my instrument rating, I took my CFIIs advice to heart and have filed IFR religiously on virtually every flight since my checkride eight years ago. I do it because I noticed that I am more tuned up for IFR flight than I am when flying VFR. My preflight planning is more thorough and my cockpit is more organized.

A cardinal rule of mountain flying is to always be mindful of places where the terrain climbs faster than the airplane, and then avoid them. This isnt exclusively a backcountry issue-you dont have to fly in the Western U.S. or in the mountains to get bitten-there are plenty of airports on the U.S. East Coast where we can run into things if we cant climb well enough or if we stray off the published route, whether IFR or VFR.