IFR Magazine

Two years have passed since we discussed the Skew-T diagram, and it’s time to re-acquaint ourselves with this tool. This is no easy subject, but we’ll avoid the overly technical talk and focus on the important stuff. Perhaps you resist the Skew-T due to its complexity, figuring you could just grab the upper-level winds and […]

Last year I got my multi-engine rating as I consider transitioning to a pressured twin. One of my instructors reminded me that I’d need a high-altitude endorsement to fly something capable of topping 25,000 feet. I probably read that somewhere, but it didn’t register. It’s true—I need the endorsement so I went about getting it. […]

That typical one-hour fuel reserve most of us use for personal flying works great, mainly ’cause we rarely need it. In most cases, there’s four-plus hours of fuel for a two-hour flight that includes an alternate just down the road. Use a (conservative) default fuel burn to estimate it, and you’re all set. But when […]

Heard while transitioning NorCal Approach airspace near Sacramento: Cessna 12345: (Broken, garbled transmission) NorCal: “I believe that was Cessna 12345; you’re coming in unreadable. Do you have another radio you can try?” (Pause) Cessna 12345: “NorCal approach, how do you read Cessna 12345 now?” NorCal: “Loud and clear now, your other radio was just static.” […]

Working remotely has its perks. The commute is great, the view is pretty good, and the dining options are usually decent as well. But, being cooped up in the same place day after day can lead to stir craziness. So when the opportunity arose to take a work trip from your home in Boston to […]

It was an IMC day with plenty of arrivals and departures taxing out. For a VFR tower like ours, IMC days are the easiest because the pattern is closed and it’s generally one in and one out. The TRACON was pushing metal all around. All air traffic was on IFR flight plans, so it was […]

Most pilots have heard at some point that ATC separates aircraft on a first come, first served (FCFS) basis, but have experienced the opposite. Many of us pay for our aircraft by the hour, so it’s understandable to get impatient when you’re first up and Tower tells you there will be others ahead of you. […]

Looks Like … Or Is? In the November Briefing segment about the Rolls-Royce electric airplane, Russ Niles states it “…bears resemblance to the Relentless unlimited racer at the Reno Air Races.” I’m sure Russ is aware that the Relentless Racing airplane was built from a Nemesis NXT kit which is also what Rolls-Royce used as […]

Fuel From Air Swiss researchers say jet fuel can be made out of thin air but it will take a massively expensive effort to set up the infrastructure. The scientists said they can take water vapor and carbon dioxide from air and crack it into carbon and hydrogen using solar power. The resulting “syngas” can […]