VFR/IFR And Dragons

Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside

Wednesday, December 22, 2021 at 02:42 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots can strategically use short IFR clearances to overcome local weather challenges (e.g., marine layers) before canceling and proceeding VFR, a method often discovered by pilots rather than suggested by ATC.
For emergency best glide, applying maximum nose-up trim can be a simple and effective technique for many General Aviation aircraft, though its precise effect depends on the plane and loading.
Pilot-related factors are the primary cause of general aviation accidents, accounting for over 60% (e.g., 62.1% in 2019, per AOPA/ASI), a category that also encompasses pilot decisions regarding aircraft maintenance.
Type-specific pilot proficiency programs offered by aircraft owner clubs provide highly effective and challenging recurrent training, significantly improving pilot skills and emergency preparedness.

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I enjoyed your article “VFR on an IFR Clearance” in the November 2021 issue. I owned and operated a King Air E90 for about 15 years and frequently flew into Watsonville Municipal (KWVI) near Monterey, California. Unless it was a short hop, I almost always flew on a full IFR flight plan and was almost always above 18,000. Watsonville frequently had its marine layer for most of the morning starting at about 500 feet and rarely over a thousand feet thick, but definitely IFR. Filing a plan and getting a clearance and release out of Watsonville given the busy Bay Area airspace was frequently problematic to the point where I would bring a handheld radio and sit on the stairwell talking to NorCal through the remote outlet.

Then one day I heard a local guy in some twin call up asking for a quick IFR release to NALLS intersection, the final approach fix for the Localizer Runway 02 approach. He got it immediately and took off. Never heard from him again since I was still on ground remote, but presumably he canceled with NorCal at or near NALLS and headed VFR on his way.