Choosing An Alternate

Most IFR operations dont require an alternate airport. Thats because the advertised weather often is better than required to select one and list it in a flight plan. That doesnt mean we shouldnt at least have something in mind as an alternative place to land if, say, some nummy lands gear-up at your destination or, as we saw in December 2017, an entire major airport finds itself without power.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

An IFR alternate airport is required if the destination airport lacks a published instrument approach, or if the forecast weather within one hour before and after the estimated time of arrival does not meet the 1-2-3 rule (2000 ft ceiling and 3 statute miles visibility).
To be a legal alternate, the chosen airport's forecast weather at the estimated time of arrival must meet specific alternate minimums, either standard (e.g., 600 ft ceiling/2 SM for precision, 800 ft ceiling/2 SM for non-precision) or any higher published alternate minimums.
Current FAA policy allows planning a GPS approach at either the destination or the alternate, but not both; however, pilots must ensure a non-GPS approach is available at one of the planned airports.

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Most IFR operations don’t require an alternate airport. That’s because the advertised weather often is better than required to select one and list it in a flight plan. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least have something in mind as an alternative place to land if, say, some nummy lands gear-up at your destination or, as we saw in December 2017, an entire major airport finds itself without power.

For those occasions when an alternate is required, there are some rules that apply. And some of those rules are directed at the equipment we carry or the planned destination. Although this isn’t that complicated, there are a couple of ways to screw it up. Deciding whether we need an alternate is where we start.