Training & Sims

Maximizing DatalinkThere’s plenty more to using datalink weather than, “Don’t fly through the red stuff.” By layering information, you can build a more complete picture.Datalink weather is a staple food of most IFR cockpits theses days. And why not? It give us critical information directly into our hands to make more informed decisions in the […]

Its probably happened to you: Something en route made you consider not continuing to your intended destination. Now youre faced with the myriad choices of why, when, where and how to divert.

Every pilot is inspired to fly for different reasons—personal and technical challenge, freedom and new perspectives, civilian or military professional career paths. During my flight training and active flying, I calculated weight and balance and plotted cross countries on a daily basis. It was nothing to bang out wind correction angles, fuel burn, and time […]

The successful completion of an Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC) combines the knowledge and personality traits of both the instructor and pilot. As we intercepted the arc, Ken asked how I was going to navigate. I offhandedly said, “Turn 10, twist 10,” which was a knee-jerk response. Ken paused the sim and asked why I would […]

A flying friend of mine likes to say that you know you’re into something interesting when you have to sign a waiver beforehand. In the IFR world, I tend to think of approach procedures having an alphabetical suffix, such as RNAV (GPS) Z RWY 01, the same way. Whenever you see one of these, something […]

Concerns about pilot aging are just as important for the younger pilot as for the more silver-haired among us. The US population is getting greyer, and it’s plain to see when looking around any airport, so too is the average pilot. This aging brings numerous challenges and a few rewards that should be important to […]

When we think of GPS-based instrument approaches, we usually lump all the approach minima into a single “GPS approach” bucket. We tend to mentally order the types with WAAS as better than non-WAAS, and vertical guidance better than those without. After all, that’s how the magic box picks the type of service to provide.

Most of us learned to fly when the most advanced thing on our panels was a NAV/COM. Perhaps you entered the scene a bit later and had DME or even a rho-theta RNAV. Point is, few of us learned to fly in an airplane that had a display of any type.

Contributing editor Joe Shelton recently wrote about his use of the “turn 10, twist 10” method of flying a DME arc. But with a modern G1000 at the center of his tool set, he learned there is a better way. In fact, all curved courses can become much simpler with a modern navigator and EFIS. […]

Youre 30 miles out from a night LPV (GPS) approach to Runway 36, with a DA of 250 feet AGL. Winds are 180 at five on the surface with 200 variable 600 ceiling and two miles visibility. Your alternate is an ILS 35 minutes of flying away with 1000 overcast and 10 miles visibility. Youve got 1:20 of fuel.