IFR Mastery Archive - PilotWorkshops

187. Get Me Out of Muhlenberg County

Instructors: Kevin Plante

A batch of convective rain blocks the next leg of your trip. Do you try to skirt around the front of it where the weather is best, the back of it where the terrain is lowest, or wait for it to pass hoping the sizable gaps don’t shrink into mere suckerholes?

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186. Gastonia Distress

Instructors: Martin Pauly

It’s been a simple IFR flight on a VMC morning. Now you’re approaching a destination that’s frustratingly hard to pick out given the suburban landscape and the just risen sun in your eyes. The distance is ticking down, ATC is getting impatient, and the nearby Class B limits your options to maneuver.

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185. Back Course to the Future

Instructors: Catherine Cavagnaro

Standardization and experience are cornerstones for professionalism on the flight deck. The potential dark side of those same traits can be complacency and expectation bias, not to mention overconfidence. Now you have seconds to figure out a situation that seems to make no sense—and there’s precious little room for error.

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184. Rime or Reason

Instructors: John Krug

You had a plan. You flew the plan … to within 15 minutes of your destination. Now it’s falling apart, but the resolution could be only a couple hundred feet below you or a few minutes ahead. Or, either choice could be a fool’s errand. Will you stick with the plan or go rogue?

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183. Overly Optimistic Ovation

Instructors: Kevin Plante

You’re a controller who has concerns about a Mooney pilot trying to end a long IFR flight after midnight. The pilot seems unconcerned—and even offers to fly faster for better flow with airliners you have stacked up on approach. Do you trust the pilot or your intuition that trouble is brewing?

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182. Descend Via at Bellingham

Instructors: Bruce Williams

Automation has changed the face of our flying—mostly for the better. The faster and higher you fly, the more this can pay off. However, avionics procedures that work flawlessly when everything goes as expected can turn the best of plans into a high-stakes juggling show. How will you keep all the balls in the air […]

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181. That Slow Sinking Sensation

Instructors: Catherine Cavagnaro

Statistics say a partial power failure is three to five times more likely than a complete power failure. But that might mean three times as many options and a paralysis of indecision. How will you weigh your options to take the best prompt action without simply making a snap judgment?

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180. Straight to Nirvana

Instructors: Bruce Williams

Departure procedures range from “fly runway heading” to convoluted turns amidst precipitous terrain. Yet even the most mundane departures can be misunderstood. Now you’re in the clouds and wondering: Is this departure more about keeping you clear from the terrain below or the traffic above?

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179. Block Island Bind

Instructors: Doug Stewart

The conventional wisdom for many pilots flying ILS approaches was to simply convert to a localizer-only approach if the glideslope didn’t behave as expected. Is there an equivalent for an RNAV LPV? And if so, how much time is enough to change the plan on an approach in actual conditions?

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178. Mason City Mashup

Instructors: John Krug

Sometimes non-towered operations feel like the Wild West. That can be tough enough on a sunny day with the flexibility of VFR. When you’re departing IFR in visual conditions, it’s even tougher. The question is: How much flexibility do you have before you’re tucked safely into ATC’s warm embrace?

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177. Fortuna Fire Drill

Instructors: Dave Hirschman

The immediate emergency is over … or is it? There’s nothing to indicate the problem persists and it would be far more convenient—even arguably safer—to keep going. However, a recurrence of the fire later could be much worse than dealing with options than you have right now.

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176. Lee Landing Limbo

Instructors: Catherine Cavagnaro

Low clouds, small runway, slick airplane … this sounds like an NTSB report waiting to happen. Then again, you have the skill, the fuel, and the time to make a well-executed attempt with no pressure to make it work out. And you have several backup choices. Stick with the plan or bail out now?

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