IFR Magazine

Why do holiday newsletters begin with, “It’s hard to believe another year has passed”? Have we not yet accepted the earth’s orbit around the sun? Or is it truly unfathomable that no matter what reality dictates we’re doomed to repeat the same dumb things year after year? And I’m not just addressing you folks in […]

Youre 30 miles out from a night LPV (GPS) approach to Runway 36, with a DA of 250 feet AGL. Winds are 180 at five on the surface with 200 variable 600 ceiling and two miles visibility. Your alternate is an ILS 35 minutes of flying away with 1000 overcast and 10 miles visibility. Youve got 1:20 of fuel.

The Asiana Airlines flight crew mismanaged the descent of a 777 into San Francisco International Airport last July, the NTSB said in its probable-cause hearing in June. The pilots made several mistakes and by the time they decided to go around it was too late. The airplane hit the seawall, causing a fiery crash that killed three passengers and seriously injured 49. The board also found the complexities of the auto-throttle and autopilot flight director systems contributed to the crash, and should have been more clearly described both in Boeings documentation and in Asiana pilot training. Crew fatigue also was a factor. The board also said emergency responders on the scene, who ran over one of the crash victims with a fire truck, should have been better trained and equipped. The board followed up with 27 safety recommendations to the airline, Boeing, the aircraft firefighting group, and the city and county of San Francisco.

lectric-powered airplanes may still be far from mainstream, but interest in this technology continues to grow. In late April, Airbus engineers successfully flew the E-Fan, a tandem two-seater with a pair of electric-powered ducted fans on the tail. The batteries, carried in the wings, provide 30 minutes of flight.

Cirrus has been flying a Vision jet since 2008, but the first copy of the final production version flew for the first time on March 24. The jet is one of three conforming flight-test aircraft that will complete the flight-test regime, with deliveries expected to start late next year. Cirrus chief test pilot Mike Stevens flew the jet for an hour after takeoff from Duluth (Minn.) International Airport, and said it handled and performed very well and all systems functioned properly, just what you want in a first flight. The SF50 is a seven-seat, pressurized, single-engine jet, with a price of $1.96 million. Cirrus CEO Dale Klapmeier said the company has 500 reservations for the aircraft.

Reference Fred Simonds article Need Datalink? in the May 2014 issue. We first put datalink into our Bonanza about a dozen years ago after being stuck for a few extra days by weather. We had a post-mounted StratoCheetah by Echo Flight that used the Iridium satellite system. It worked reasonably well but was intrusive. Next a panel upgrade included the, then, UPSAT MX-20 with WSI datalink FIS. This is what we still use today in contrast to the XMWX system mentioned as the only available system in the article. There are some differences in the data and presentation, but the WSI receiver provides most of the same information as XM systems I have used.

Its no secret that general aviations accident rate is significantly worse than the airlines and corporate flight departments. According to NTSB studies over the first 10 years of this century, youre 12 times more likely to have an accident when flying your own or a rented GA aircraft.

Many years ago as a newly minted instrument pilot, I was flying an old Cessna 172. When I checked in with approach, after the usual exchange, the controller asked me if this was a training flight.

While transitioning Salt Lake airportss Bravo airspace, we overheard an exchange between the controller and a pilot unfamiliar with the area. The pilot was having trouble understanding a routing change. Finally the controller said, That is Baldy intersection, Bravo Alpha Lima Delta Yankee. It is named after my supervisor.

In Lee Smiths April 2014 article on Visual Area Protection, I think there is an error. The diagram indicates that the 20:1 slope is the same as standard three degree VDA. My memory, Lee Smiths original Danger Below MDA? from March 2013, and my math indicate that 34:1 is the same as a three degree slope.