Readback

March 2012 was another great edition. I enjoyed the discussion of the Santa Maria LOC DME (BACK CRS)-A approach (The Right Time to Descend), and I was happy to find that I agreed with your legal interpretation. However, I came to a different end conclusion.

Thanks for another great edition of IFR. I enjoyed the “Partial Panel with GPS” article. However, I have an issue with the “Getting the GPS Screens Right” sidebar. In my experience, pilots find it difficult to determine left from right if they are trying to fly numeric DTK and TRK. In general, I recommend against […]

Parkersburg Express from the January 2012 edition reminded how a similar T-type RNAV approach to Tupelo, Miss., gave me troubles when I was cleared to the IF/IAF (ARMRR) as I requested. The Tupelo approach is in a non-radar environment; I was coming from the southeast, and I was cleared direct ARMRR, maintain 4000 until ARMRR, […]

Best Foot ForwardI really appreciate the article by Chet Ludlow “Setting Limits in IMC” published in the December issue of IFR. With initial recurrency instrument students, I have taught this way for many years and found it most effective. However, even when I apply the maximums of Chet there is still a missing ingredient.That ingredient […]

Disregard that Glidepath“Familiarity Traps” was a very good article (October 2011 IFR), and one that a lot of us should learn from to develop our SOPs. I could make a strong argument to fly all approaches as published and not rely on anyone’s pseudo-glideslope, or advisory glideslope info, no matter what. And, as you clearly […]

Can I Just Breath Air?Thanks for your excellent article on aircraft oxygen systems in April. It is a common misconception that these systems deliver air. Although your article correctly referred to oxygen, people often ask, “Can’t I just breathe the air from my scuba tank? It costs a lot less to fill, and I already […]

Where’s the Runway?In December’s Readback, reader Mark Spencer asked about localizer offsets. In the answer, you said the offset value is not published for LDA approaches. That’s true for now. However a change to policy for the FAA will require charting the amount of offset for any ILS, LOC, MLS, LDA, LDA w/GS, RNP, LPV, […]

The Ol’ Switcheroo, V2In the October issue, “The Ol’ Switcheroo” letter and your response discuss flying an approach to one well served airport, then “hopping over” to another airport lacking sufficient approaches. Portland, Oregon is mentioned as one place that can work well. I want to caution you that the airspace around PDX all ends […]

Stepdowns On the GPS?Early on I learned that sinking below a critical altitude is one of the most difficult errors for me to correct. This has often left me wondering why altitude guidance from GPS navigators is so minimal. With WAAS it knows my altitude often better than my altimeter, and it can warn me […]

Thank you for reminding us in Deadly Disorientation (November IFR) that by far the most dangerous part of a day spent flying is not the drive to the airport, but GA flying itself. You said, it regularly kills between one half and one percent of its participants… The public must know this because so many of them are afraid of small planes. Perhaps we pilots should pay closer attention?