Poor Boy Over Richfield

Richfield was forecast to be overcast 2000 or better all day, so you didnt file an alternate and didnt carry alternate fuel. So thats the situation: 12,700 MSL at EBOVE, no GPS, no DME. Even turn off GPS location on your iPad if you have that. (In ForeFlight, this is in settings, scroll to the bottom, and set Enable Ownship to Never.) Give yourself 45 minutes of fuel at normal cruise. No one said you were good at planning.

jwanwest

Saturday, July 14, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Dick Karl in the cockpit. Jon Whittle

Key Takeaways:

The simulation challenge presents an IFR emergency where pilots lose GPS and DME, compelling them to revert to traditional VOR/ADF navigation.
With only 45 minutes of fuel and their original GPS-only destination inaccessible, pilots must quickly choose an alternate airport with conventional approaches.
The scenario rigorously tests foundational navigation skills, including using crossing radials, timing for distance, and meticulous flight planning to manage descent and account for winds under adverse conditions.

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We’ve done our best with these sim challenges to accommodate older sim setups that lack IFR GPS. That’s a challenge itself in an IFR world ever more dependent on RNAV. Today, however, everyone is in the same boat—a leaking one with one chance to avoid “swimming with the fishes.” And nobody gets to use “RNAV (GPS).”

Assume you’re near the end of a flight bound for Richfield, UT (KRIF). You are southbound on T298 at 14,000. Salt Lake Center clears you for the RNAV (GPS) RWY 19 approach, crossing EBOVE at or above 12,700 and the usual missed approach instructions. As you pass 13,000 Salt Lake gives you a “radar contact lost.”