IFR Magazine

For this look, well cover about half of the reports other than position reports per 14 CFR 91.183(a) that Fred Simonds briefly mentions in his Radar Service Gotchas on page 14. Well thoroughly cover those later.

As in the article, many airports are one approach at a time, either due to the nature of the approach, the terrain or radar coverage. In these cases, its considered courteous to cancel IFR as soon as you can so that anybody waiting behind you can begin their approach.

Its true-sometimes pilots forget to close their flight plan altogether. A long time ago ATC placed my little Tiger in an NDB hold in weather with 20-mile legs, obviously a delaying tactic, awaiting the ILS. Then a Short 360 commuter (the Winnebago with wings) showed up, also seeking the ILS. On inquiry, ATC told us that an aircraft had flown the approach and not closed its flight plan. Sure enough, the airport manager found the airplane at its tiedown, pilot long gone. Claiming minimum fuel, we landed first with only half an hour of fuel left in the tanks.

The regulations only talk about a flight instructor certificate, yet no one says they are an FI. They state they are a CFI. Where did this C come from? What does it stand for?

At the U.S. Army Aviation Center for Excellence (at Fort Rucker, Alabama), U.S. Army flight students perform their supervised solo flight at 20.2 hours of (helicopter) flight time, consisting of three traffic patterns to a hover with the students stick-buddy in the left seat. When winds picked up, the tower safety officer placed all of the solo students on a ground hold. Some of the students got a little impatient while waiting for winds to die down.

On page 11 of the July issue, Jordan Miller implies that you can slow down to extend your range to the alternate. That makes a ton of sense to me since I sometimes do that anyway. But I seem to remember reading that the FAA doesnt agree with that method. I believe they expect you to use the full normal cruise speed for the whole flight, including to the alternate.

Many young aspiring pilots think that being an airline pilot is the pinnacle of the aviation profession. Maybe it is; maybe it isnt.

On Thursday, December 28, 1978, a United Airlines DC-8 enroute from Denver, Colorado to Portland, Oregon, crashed 6.9 miles east-southeast of Portland International Airport.

A beautiful VFR day in south Florida was coming to a close. The shadows of beach-front hotels were stretching across the sand 3500 feet below. For my first cross country after getting my private, my wife and I flew VFR from Miamis Opa Locka airport up to Stuart for some Mexican food-a $100 burrito run, so to speak. We were headed home along the coast.

Whenever I plug in to work traffic, well over half the targets on my scope are unidentified VFR targets. There could be over a hundred depending on the hour. Each is perfectly legal, remaining clear of all Class B, C and D airspace.