I’ll say in advance that Tom and I aren’t bound to agree on everything in this series. While I think checklists and acronyms are great on the ground and in flight for things like emergencies, I don’t think you can apply them to the shades of gray we find in instrument flying. If there is a good one, it would be called AOTBP. That’s hard to pronounce but it is easy to remember because it is an acronym for “Awareness of the Big Picture.” Without that you can’t make good decisions.
With the preflight considerations out of the way, the cabin secured, the checklist run and the airplane started, you are ready to call for your IFR clearance and embark on a form of flying that is not much like VFR flying. The subject here is learning to use that IFR capability. The only way to do it is to get out there and fly IFR. The key to success is in recognizing that everything can and might change from the time you secure the cabin door to the time you open it at the end of the flight. All the preflight work is great and necessary, but we have to fly with constant thoughts about what might change and how it might best be handled.
