IFR Magazine

While on a flight over San Francisco enroute to Napa Valley during a Presidential TFR in the Bay Area, I heard the following:Bonanza: Bonanza 1234 checking in, enroute for Palo Alto.NorCal Approach: Bonanza 1234, Palo Alto closed due to TFR delay. Suggest select alternate or vectors for a hold.

In the sidebar section Everything You Say Can and Will… of Tarrance Kramers Fibbing on Frequency in August, he said that everything you say is recorded. I once heard that a controller can put a hack mark on the tape to mark where a discussion or a disagreement has taken place. True?

Alexis de Tocqueville, a 19th-century French historian, described the United States as a great experiment. He called it an attempt to construct society upon a new basis, founded on theories previously unknown or impracticable. Another great experiment is occurring, this time in aviation.In 2006, ICAO quietly passed the Multiple-Crew Pilot License (MPL). ICAO recognized that many countries trained airline pilots using ab initio programs. These zero-to-hero courses put people with no previous flying experience into the right seat of an airliner in the shortest time possible. The MPL-supplanting the normal path through private and commercial licenses-replaces most piston flying with advanced simulators.

A poopy day at the airport finds you and your buddies sitting around engaged in a serious session of hangar flying. You decide to amaze the other airport bums with some interesting factoids about METARs and maybe even win a beer bet in the process.

Controllers dont just handle major factors like routings, sequencing, and altitude assignments. Threaded among those big concerns are micro situations that demand quick-thinking, tact, and fairness towards everyone involved. That objective treatment applies not just to pilots, but to the businesses on our airports.Weve got three FBOs on our own field, each busy with daily multitudes of GA aircraft coming and going. Most arriving pilots already know which one theyre using, and answer quickly when asked to, Say parking.

Although Ive never been involved in rulemaking, I can understand why it is a thorn in the side for a regulatory agency. Recently proposed changes for use of simulator time towards an instrument rating make a perfect example.

The only reason for VORs is for airways and instrument approaches. With GPS navigation taking over, its difficult to cost-justify ground-based navigation sources like VORs, many of which are nearing the end of their lives. T and Q routes are popping up, reducing the need for VOR-based airways, and many of us would prefer to fly a GPS-based approach than all the other types. Face it: GPS is in; VORs are out.A few years ago, the FAA wanted to axe half the VORs, but users have collectively pushed back. The current plan is to trim the 967 existing VORs by 300, in three phases of 100 each by 2025.But, its a chicken-or-the-egg thing. They cant get rid of the VORs until they get rid of the airways and the approaches. GPS-direct navigation is common already. So, eliminating airways should be reasonably simple. That leaves approaches as the limitation and the short-term solution. So, for now, the FAAs focus is on eliminating ground-based approaches.

Meadows Field in Bakersfield, California (KBFL) lies at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. For purposes of instrument flight, we call this area a huge temperature inversion waiting to happen. And when it does, the minimal visibility means well want to know exactly where we should squeak the tires at the landing end of a precision approach. At KBFL, its not where youd expect at first glance.

To paraphrase Sir Walter Scott: Breathes there a pilot with soul so dead who never looking skyward and watching the Thunderbirds hath said, I wish I could fly with that kind of precision?While few are selected for prestigious precision flying teams, we can all strive for precision in our flying. Its simply a matter of discipline and shows that youve got the right stuff. Lets explore a typical flight to find areas for excellence. It starts with taxi out.

You can do a lot with an instrument rating and appropriately equipped aircraft-slice through clouds, take-off zero-zero and fly VOR, ILS, GPS and even (if you care) NDB approaches. None of these operations require special qualifications beyond the instrument rating. For example, many of us got instrument ratings before GPS, yet were authorized to fly GPS approaches. But, there are things an instrument-rated pilot cant do, even with certified equipment. Wanna fly a CAT II approach? Sorry. How about an ILS CAT I SA or RNAV (RNP)? Nope, cant do those either. What gives?