WENAS Returns

Depart Tri-Cities for Yakima from Runway 21R. You filed PSC V298 YKM and got a clearance with, Cleared to the Yakima airport via Tri-Cities 7 then as filed. Climb and maintain 6000. Use real-world weather so the winds are variable for this day. Or, if you must, dial up 800-foot ceilings and a wind out of the southwest. Set the radios, brief your route. Then fire up and taxi out. Assume Towers last words to you were, ...on departure, fly runway heading. Runway 21R, cleared for takeoff.

jwanwest

Monday, January 21, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

The article presents a series of challenging instrument flight rule (IFR) simulations focused on complex departures and approaches at Yakima, WA (KYKM), starting from Pasco, WA (KPSC).
These scenarios require pilots to execute specific procedures like the WENAS 7 departure, DME arcs, and various instrument approaches (ILS, VOR/DME, LOC/DME BC-B).
A core component of the challenges involves simulating navigation system failures, such as losing GPS or multiple NAV radios, forcing reliance on limited equipment like a single VHF radio and DME.
The simulations are designed to test and enhance a pilot's proficiency in handling detailed IFR procedures, emergency situations, critical decision-making, and understanding specific climb gradients and approach courses.

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Some places get the best names. Take Yakima, WA, for instance: Gromo, Naches, Zilla—that last one is worthy of a Japanese movie monster. Maybe even “Gromo versus ‘Zilla” as Tokyo burns. My inner eight-year-old rejoices, and wants a plate of nachos.

That inner third grader also giggles at Yakima’s Wenas 7 departure, both for the vaguely salacious name and the angst it caused many a hopeful cargo pilot. When I instructed in Seattle, we’d prep pilots going for charter and cargo interviews. A common sim task was the Wenas departure with killer winds that got complicated by an engine failure and a back-course, one-engine return … hmm, sounds like a Sim Challenge.