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Every semester I teach a course called Integrated Flight Operations. This is the students introduction to instrument flying. They learn right off the bat that there is a host of new material, charts and regulations with which they will have to become intimately familiar if they are to be safe instrument pilots. A sample of the text, charts and the AIM demonstrates there is a mound of material to absorb.

After the moans quit and their eyeballs return to their sockets, I pose the question many instrument pilots have been asking themselves for years: What is the purpose for studying, learning and, in the end, presumably knowing all that stuff?

When you boil it down, all the rules, p…

I agree that any actual IMC experience is worth more than most hood time. I also am a firm believer that any pilots first IMC experience should be with a CFII in the right seat.

I had problems my first time (on my long dual cross-country during my instrument training) on an approach to downtown Kansas City airport. But, my next experience was better and now Ive logged several hours of actual on my own and feel comfortable.

However, in The JFK Aftermath, [Commentary, September] Paul Bertorelli suggests that in conducting IFR training on a medium-low IMC day with a CFII you could log flight time as PIC toward a BFR or other recurrency work. Sorry, but wouldnt you have to file IF…

Every pilot in the known universe has heard the term flying by the seat of your pants. And until I interviewed the late Captain Elrey B. Jeppesen a few years ago, I thought I understood its meaning.

But Captain Jepp set me straight. During the early years of airmail flying, of which he was a part, instrument flight wasnt even on the drawing board. Jepp explained that the early mail pilots, tooling along cross continent in open cockpit biplanes, were on their own when they encountered weather. Maps by Rand McNally, no IFR rules or clearances, no radios and, critically, no gyros.

Yet even through horrific winter weather, pilots managed to get the mail delivered. Thus it was thought at…

The discussion started out being is a twin better than a single. But soon it was branching into the philosophical questions of how much more does it take to make something better, when is more less, and can you really afford more anyway?

Die-hard twin pilots smugly point to the capabilities of their machines and say its no contest. The pilots of singles like to say that the second engine does little but lift its own fuel and fall back on old jokes about the second engine only being there to take you to the scene of the crash.

But twins do cost more to operate than a roughly comparable single, and since most general aviation pilots vote with their checkbooks, the popularity conte…

Tucked away in the bowels of many airplanes is a piece of equipment the pilot may count on for survival. But many pilots dont take the time to learn about their autopilots, nor do they check them before flight.

The best place to spot a problem is on the ramp rather than at altitude. Even though many pilots consider the autopilot a luxury, its good to know that it works correctly in cases where the success of a flight depends on turning control of the airplane over to a computer.

Ask any pilot, Whens the last time you preflighted your autopilot? and youre likely to be met with a blank stare. Under pressure, many will admit that they dont even know how to check it or where to loo…

Most people would agree that flying costs a lot of money and, if youre like most general aviation pilots, that cash drains right out of your pocket. Most pilots are willing to pay the price for the rewards of flying, but few want to throw money away on their aerial pursuits.

It only makes sense to try to get the most for your money – and that means maximizing the amount of time you do the kind of flying you like and minimizing the amount of time you spend droning through the maneuvers essential to maintaining your proficiency.

With the right attitude, its easy to do. You can make money while you fly by simply not wasting it. That takes study, preparation, forethought and practice.

Its a terrible feeling to be in an aircraft when something goes wrong and all you can see are your options narrowing. Although aviation psychologists have suggested a number of techniques for decision making, some seem too complicated for the cockpit.

When forced to make multiple decisions, navigate, communicate, and control the aircraft in a stressful environment, the KISS method – keep it simple, stupid – is probably best. There is a simple concept pilots should employ in their decision making, and it boils down to five words: Keep a safe way out.

This begins with flight planning. Most people would agree that a good flight begins with a good plan, and keeping a safe way out shoul…

Night flight can be deadly, but its also a great experience. Not many small aircraft are in the sky. The air is often smooth and clear. The lights below, of cities and towns are fascinating. Part of the reason you learned to fly in the first place (remember?) was this sensation of being part of a different experience.

Night flying is a part of the whole set of flying skills. If you plan to use the airplane to its maximum potential, youll need to be able to fly it at night. As your skill level progresses, with suitably equipped aircraft to fly, you can venture into safe night IFR flight.

You will need to stay current at night flight if you set your sights on being a competent pilot. I…

With all too chilling regularity, pilots who fly close to the ground wind up on the losing side of the battle against wires, towers and other obstructions.

There are many reasons pilots fly too close to obstructions, and some of them are legitimate. Forced landings are what they are. Approaches to and takeoffs from small airports carry risks that may be unavoidable. Buzzing, enjoying the scenery down low and pressing on into lowering ceilings, however, open the aircraft to extraordinary risk from stationary objects.

Agricultural pilots, by the very nature of their jobs, operate in an airspace filled with obstacles of every description. Avoiding electric transmission cables, towers of v…

Ask any pilot in the lounge about oxygen and flying and youll get, Well, youve got to have oxygen on above 14,000 feet, and above 12,500 feet if youre going to be there for more than half an hour. Ask the same pilot how much oxygen and youre likely to get a puzzled look.

The FARs outline when to use oxygen and the Airmans Information Manual says cannulas may be used up to 18,000 feet. But other than that the aviation bibles are mute on the issue.

Pilots are left to guess how much oxygen they need as they climb into the oxygen altitudes.

In addition, lower fliers can be left wondering what to make of conflict between the regulatory oxygen altitudes and evidence that hypoxia…