IFR Magazine

• Engine Break-In
• Decision-Making
• Big Wind
• IFR Departures
• Airspeed Control

As surely as the sun rises, the FAA issued scheduled AIM changes in July. Many of these changes affect IFR operations. Last month we warned you about this quiz, so you surely reviewed those changes. Take our quiz and see how much you retained.

• EMERGENCY RETURNS
• PILOT DEVIATIONS
• BASICMED LACKS ADMIN
• AIM UPDATE QUIZ
• DEAL WITH DISTRACTIONS

Last month’s Clinic took us to western Kentucky where we wrangled a circling-only VOR-A approach. In September, we untangled an ILS/GPS hybrid in upstate New York. For another take on a ground-based approach using GPS, plus a circle-to-land, we head to Alpena, Michigan on the shore of Lake Huron. The lake’s a frequent source of […]

Aviation makes us mission-minded. The whole point of these flying machines is to go somewhere and do something, even if that’s just practice following little black lines on the iPad so we can make pretty pictures on FlightAware. That’s what makes practicing emergency returns so important and so frustrating. It’s not fair having something go […]

Some years back at Bradley International Airport, there was a local air taxi company that did a lot of their new pilot training on the mid shift. They would go round and round the same ILS pattern for hours apparently swapping seats as the flight went on. Often, as the controller on duty, I would […]

Turn Off a Satellite? Some FMCs have a satellite deselection function. Some don’t. Why and when should this be used? Pablo Farias Dezontini – São Paulo, Brazil Normally you would never deselect a satellite. The GPS ground monitoring stations will detect a malfunctioning GPS satellite and take that satellite “off the air.” However in the very […]

OWNERS TAKE OVER MOONEY MANAGEMENT Mooney announced in August that a new management group made up of “pilots and Mooney owners” has taken over operations at the Kerrville, Texas plant. The new CEO is Jonny Pollack and he said his top priority is to ensure support for the existing fleet. “Our first and immediate focus […]

Recently my wife and I were musing about my checkrides, so I went through them. My private endured loneliness for about 15 years before I added SES (single-engine sea) to the certificate. Those two hung out together on my paper certificate for about another 15 years as I was mostly a dabbler, flying when time, […]

• BREAKING OUT
• Old N-numbers
• Simpler Aircraft?
• Pitot/Static Problems
• Uncoordinated Flight