Pilot Proficiency

The Citation Jet Pilots Association met in Colorado Springs, Colorado, this past September, and I went to see what it was all about. With a recently purchased 19-year-old CJ1 in our hangar, we finally qualified for membership. Going required a certain suspension of skepticism on my part. I am not a natural joiner of groups. […]

You’re not a pilot unless you are flying. Maybe you once were a pilot, or are one in spirit, or perhaps continue to be a pilot on paper (compliant in satisfying regulatory definitions). But in my eyes, until you pull back on the yoke and defy gravity’s ancient pull, you aren’t one. I did not […]

Every instrument pilot should understand the process of filing, getting a clearance, and then flying an IFR flight plan. But why does it occasionally seem that ATC makes things complicated? Say you’ve filed a straightforward Point A to B then C. But then you’re cleared from Point A to B then to X, Y, Z, and only finally to Point C. Why are these extra fixes in the flight plan? Where did they come from? Why this today instead of an intermediate RNAV fix that you usually get?

The ADS-B deadline was looming. We wanted to keep our airplane as a practical transportation tool. But in addition to being legally required, ADS-B and the technology associated with it would make our flights safer. The FAA’s safety analysis on the accident rate of ADS-B-equipped aircraft between 2013 and 2017 is out: For the continental […]

Santa Paula Airport is a 20-minute flight from my home base, Whiteman Airport. The fuel there is $1.25 per gallon cheaper, however, so when I’m flying around the local area, I often stop at Santa Paula to refuel. The precise economics of fuel tourism are an SAT-level problem, but if I’m over Santa Paula anyway, […]

A simple ILS approach ends in an unexplained disaster.

Somewhere among all your stuff, there’s undoubtedly a stash of old logbooks. Mine are on a bookcase in the den—except the most recent of six, which is sitting open on the dining-room table, patiently waiting to be updated. It’s been several years since that’s happened, but I keep stickers for flight reviews and jot down […]

Traditionally, the purpose of an instrument approach is to stabilize the pilot and the aircraft, lined up with the runway and in just the right position from which to land. Well, not in this case. The localizer directional aid approach, also commonly called the “localizer darn angle” approach, lines the aircraft up to the airport […]

Since this is the first issue of IFR Magazine in the 2020s, its fitting that we stop and look at how far weve come with computer forecast models. Theyve made a huge impact on aviation forecasting. If you just take the single-engine up for an hour on the weekend, you probably dont have much need for the weather models, but if you do any sort of regular cross-country flying, chances are youve run across at least some of them.

Pop quiz: When must you file an alternate? Thats an easy one, we all know the rule about needing 2000-3 one hour before and after the ETA. Next question: When do you file an alternate? Probably the most common answer is, I always file an alternate. Fair enough, its never a bad idea. Now, regulations aside, why do you file an alternate? Naturally the response is: In the event the weathers gone down too low at the destination and we need somewhere else to go. Right up there is an unexpected loss of equipment or a navaid required for an approach. And while the regs are also designed to provide a backup for lost communications, this often serves as a distant third, cause these days were just not all that worried about that.