IFR Magazine

For some, the shoulder seasons mean ideal flying weather – crisp spring and fall mornings with great visibility, often under a stable ceiling. These conditions offer fantastic climb performance, and the lack of bugs splattered all over the windshield is a plus. Morning fog, too, is pretty to look at, although it sure puts a damper on early-bird departures.

From time to time we look at weather accidents, reviewing the factors that might have led to poor decision making or perhaps even weather that could not be anticipated. In this edition well take a look at the crash of a Pitts biplane in IMC conditions in California, and a Beechcraft Baron that went down in bad weather in Kentucky. Both of these incidents took place in April, so they should give you some food for thought this time of year.

On the way out of Florida for Hurricane Irma, it was very, very busy on frequency with everyone trying to get out of the state. ATC was doing a great job of handling very heavy traffic loads, and still managing to provide flight following to the greatest extent possible, when I happened to overhear the following exchange:

In June 2017, President Trump led off Infrastructure Week with his plan to move ATC to a nonprofit, private corporation. With two bills already in Congress, D. J. Gribben, special assistant to the president for infrastructure, called it low-hanging fruit from a policy perspective. Little did he know how incendiary the word privatization is to the aviation community. Mr. Gribben often uses this word, but savvy proponents avoid it and even refute those who use it.

For the 14th year, the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo welcomed visitors to Sebring, Florida, in January, providing respite from the cold for northerners and a chance for prospective buyers to take a demo flight in a Light Sport Aircraft. The show hosted about 100 exhibitors, more than last year, and organizers told AVweb ticket sales also were up. About 60 forums were held, and more than 1,000 youngsters took part in the shows youth education programs. The date for next years event is January 23 to 26.

When asking air traffic controllers about their jobs, you might occasionally get the answer, Best job in the world. Its a demanding, technical career thats both very rewarding and-while not glamorous-carries a certain mystique with the general public.

In 1984 when I got my instrument ticket, I was taught to use FROM when identifying crossing radials. I dont know if that is a standard practice or simply my instructors way of doing it. In Octobers Killer Quiz, Gone to the Dogs, you are identifying PLAZA via TO the 173-degree radial. My way would have been to dial in 353 and use a FROM indication.

Few moments in IFR inspire more drama than a missed approach or a go-around in IMC. We don’t do these a lot, there’s a lot happening, and you’re close to the ground with a possibly complex procedure. How much do you remember about the details?

With each new budget impasse, it seems theres a concerted effort to pass a law divesting ATC from the FAA to turn it over to a private Congressionally-chartered nonprofit corporation. Congressman Bill Shuster (D-PA), the powerful chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee offered two bills, HR 4441 in 2016 and HR 2997 in 2017. Fortunately, neither bill came to a vote because there was insufficient support.

Flying with a safety pilot is a great way to maintain instrument currency and more importantly, proficiency. Also, BasicMed pilots will want to make sure they are legal to act as safety pilots. Take this quiz to help assure a safe and legal flight with a safety pilot.