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In theory, the more you fly, the more proficient you become. But you can also become complacent, especially when doing the same approaches in the same airplane over and over again—then one day, something changes.
Here are some IFR gotchas to watch for:
Failure to Update
There are some pilots (and flight schools) that are reluctant to pay for GPS updates for their less frequently flown aircraft, so they let the subscription lapse. However, if the pilot has updated data via Garmin Pilot or ForeFlight on their iPhone or iPad, you can use the hardwired GPS for en route flying, but you should verify the fixes, waypoints, and procedures against the current charts in your portable devices.
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As far as flying an approach with an expired database, this is possible, provided you have current approach plates and can verify that the approach has not changed. The easiest way to do this is to reference the amendment date on the approach plate. If the information is valid, refer to the GPS Aircraft Flight Manual Supplement to see what is permitted, as the AFMS is the legal document for your specific GPS unit and rules of operation.
Don’t forget to verify RAIM (Remote Autonomous Integrity Monitoring) before flight, and have a plan if RAIM fails and you lose situational awareness.
Temperamental Tech
Many pilots make it a rule to fly with both an iPhone and EFB that are at least 80 percent charged, and there are even some who carry paper as a backup for the backups.
Even if the reliable data is available hardwired into the aircraft and into your devices, it couldn’t hurt to have a current paper copy of the approach at your fingertips. If your EFB or iPhone is stolen or otherwise compromised by hostile gravity or moisture (dropped in a puddle on the ramp), you’ll be glad you have the analog backup.
Neglected NOTAMs
Before we went digital, pilots made a game of comparing the new charts with the old and making notes to themselves about the changes. Because there was often a lag time of several weeks between changes in information and the printing of charts, the alterations came to us in the form of NOTAMs. The savvy pilots would write the updated information on their TERPs (Terminal Instrument Procedures).
- READ MORE: From VMC to IMC: A CFI’s Perspective
- READ MORE: All Pilots Could Benefit From IFR Refresher
These days it’s almost too easy to update materials, yet some pilots are a bit lazy about reviewing the updates prior to flight, or they are so used to flying a particular approach they give it not much more than a cursory review or neglect the NOTAMs for the airport. One of the reasons the FAA created TERPS was to provide standardization for instrument flight procedures, and those procedures are updated as needed.
Unbriefed Approach
No matter how many times you have flown in and out of that airport, always brief the approach as if it is the first time, just in case there has been a change, like the MDA has been increased.
To keep your skills sharp, you may want to do your currency approaches by sight-reading an approach you have never done before in an AATD or challenging yourself to fly a nonprecision approach sans vertical navigation.
Pilots have all sorts of ways to receive the information: reading top of the plate down or an acronym such as MARTHA, which stands for—Missed approach: memorize the first two steps. Approach type and required weather. Radio frequencies and radials that define the approach. Time if a timed approach. Heading on final. Altitude (how low can you go).
Rushing the Descent
The rate of descent is predicated on the type of approach. Some have vertical guidance, some do not. Before RNAV/VNAV became a thing, descents during nonprecision approaches involved maintaining a specific ground speed for a specific amount of time to reach the runway threshold. It shouldn’t be an issue to fly the approach as published, but sometimes
concepts are convoluted.
I have encountered pilots who, when cleared for the approach, wanted to put the airplane into a dive to get to the minimum descent altitude immediately, allegedly because another instructor told them to “get down as soon as possible to have a better chance to see the runway.”
However, the approach plate indicated we were to cross the FAF at 2,700 feet, then initiate a descent at a ground speed of 90 knots for approximately 4.8 nm, or 3 minutes and 12 seconds, until, at an altitude of 880 msl, we’d allegedly see the airport environment. We were in simulated conditions, and as a habit, I teach starting the timer at the FAF as part of the “T party” (timer, turn, throttle, tires, the flaps, track and talk). The learner’s ground speed never stabilized, and we “broke out” significantly beyond the runway threshold.
Route Complacency
The more you make a particular flight, the more familiar you become with it. This familiarity can breed complacency to the extent the pilot may rush through or skip the requirements of 14 CFR 91.103, which states, in part:
“Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight. For a flight under IFR or a flight not in the vicinity of an airport the pilot should review weather reports and forecasts, fuel requirements, alternatives available if the planned flight cannot be completed, and any known traffic delays of which the pilot in command has been advised by ATC.”
Pilots are also required to get information about runway lengths at airports of intended use and calculate aircraft performance, including takeoff and landing distance. Sometimes, though, pilots get so used to going to the same airport in the same airplane, they skip some steps.
The Scud Run
Among the most perplexing aviation accidents are the ones that involve instrument-rated pilots in instrument-capable
aircraft who attempt a scud run into an airport that doesn’t have an instrument approach because they are “familiar” with the area around the airport. Or they were.
It can be a surprise when you try to duck under a cloud layer to get into your familiar airport only to find that the golf course you used to come in low over is now a subdivision. Even Google Earth is dated, use the most current airport data.
Look for noise abatement procedures and warnings about flying the PAPI or VASI. There might be something underneath you don’t want to get too close to.
Captain Alfred Gilmer Lamplugh said it best: “Aviation itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity, or neglect.”
The message is clear: Pay attention in the cockpit and treat aviation with respect, for inattention and complacency can kill you, especially when you operate in the instrument
environment.
This column first appeared in the March Issue 968 of the FLYING print edition.
