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More Circle On a Straight-In In your October 2024 issue, you were spot on, per usual, with your answer for the primary reason someone would circle when attempting a straight in: too high and too close upon breakout into VMC. If the conditions are just so, then why not? There’s no VFR traffic to contend […]

Block 10 For a Flying Club Thank you for unraveling the mystery of flight plan block 10: “Equipment” in the May 2024 article, “Flight Plan Codes.” I belong to a large flying club that does not track the type of ADS-B equipment in each airplane. For those that are Performance Based Navigation equipped, does it […]

Can You Get There? Here’s the basic question: If no arrival from your inbound direction is published for your destination airport but one is published for a nearby airport, can you file and fly that arrival even though it is not charted to serve your destination? As an example, in Oklahoma City no arrival is […]

Wind Gusts? I am trying to understand wind gusts, in particular those lower-level ones we encounter when we are landing or taking off. What is the actual cause of these? Are they sudden changes in the velocity of the wind (e.g. going rapidly from a 20-knot headwind to a 10-knot headwind and then back)? Or […]

Only Partially Correct Question 11 in the April (2024) quiz asked about the duration of a TAF. The correct answer said 24 hours, but that’s only half right.  International airports can have a TAF with a 30-hour duration to allow dispatching longer inbound international flights. —Sal Cruz, Watsonville, California You’re absolutely correct, Sal. Thanks for […]

Engine Failure Proficiency I read with interest your March Remarks, “Staying Proficient.” As a CFI, one of the things I enjoy doing is teaching at regional safety seminars put on by one of the major type-owner groups. One almost-universal weakness I find among these single-engine pilots is a lack of an ability to properly and […]

ADM and Proficiency I found “Improve Your ADM” in the February issue by Douglas Boyd, Ph.D. to be an excellent article (although I particularly like statistics). Regarding instrument-rated pilots launching VFR into MVFR, a number of instrument-rated pilots I know aren’t comfortable going up into actual. One might wonder if the underlying cause of both […]

Young, New Subscriber I’ve just received my copy of the Feb issue—it’s my first. I’m glad I’ve found your magazine—it’s a very interesting read. My plan covers both digital and print, so I have full access to the archive that’s definitely a never-ending trove of good reading for a long time to come. I’m a […]

How Do Ya Spell That? In Elaine Kauh’s article, “Plans Change,” in the January issue of IFR Magazine, there is an error in the route that Elaine lists for the flight: “You play defensive and file to go around all of that while including outbound, enroute and inbound checkpoints: RANDO DLL HERMNN WEASL.” The waypoint […]

Sim to Match My Panel Your article on simulators probably saved me $20k for a BATD that is nothing like the panel on my aircraft. I’m looking into building my own with an identical panel. But I barely know anything. Was hoping you might kindly point a noob in the right direction. Many thanks, —Nick […]