Archives: IFR Mastery Scenarios

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156. The TAA at Tillamook

Instructors
Catherine Cavagnaro
You’re the only airplane inbound and ATC has cut you loose to join the approach as you see fit. However, the more you review the approach chart the more complex it becomes. The simplest options will be the toughest to execute given the winds and descent, but the easier options might not be legit.
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155. Foggy Thinking

Instructors
Thomas Haines
A delightful night flight home turns into a surprise missed approach only seconds from landing. Now back above the unforecast—and widespread—fog, you’re fat on fuel but short on options with the clock already passing midnight. You’ll have to balance between longer time in the air and making the next landing attempt a sure thing.
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154. A Quick Hop to Birmingham

Instructors
JP Dice
There’s no reasoning with a thunderstorm. It goes where it wants to and you go elsewhere to wait it out. This time the thunderstorm is right over your airport, so the question becomes: Where do you wait? Should you do as the airliners are doing for this airport or make your own plan?
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153. What’s Up in Watsonville

Instructors
Bruce Williams
You did your homework for this IMC departure. Obstacle Departure Procedure? Check. Emergency return plan? Check. Glass panel configured and ready? Check. Unfortunately, your cleared route undoes all this work and ATC says their hands are tied. Will you go with the flow or negotiate a new plan that checks the right boxes?
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152. Changing Plans at Southern Pines

Instructors
Doug Stewart
ATC’s vectors to final routinely make approaches simpler for the pilot and all controllers to move more airplanes from the sky to the runway in quick succession. The problem comes when a last-minute change requires reprogramming the avionics and another airplane closing in means there isn’t much time to get the right waypoints in the […]
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151. Who Needs an Autopilot, Anyway?

Instructors
Dave Hirschman
Upgrades are expensive, so many of us make do with a mixed panel of old and new technology. That’s fine as long as you don’t lean too heavily on equipment that’s long in the tooth. This flight pushed that limit and put you in a pickle: Press on with a problem or make a high-stakes […]
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150. Palo Alto Procedure NA

Instructors
John Krug
Sometimes the published procedure notes make no logical sense. How can an approach be forbidden under IFR when you could fly the exact same path VFR safely? Will you follow the letter of the law or trust your eyes and a PAPI—or use some other combination of techniques—to reach your destination in the dark?
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148. Snowfall in North Texas

Instructors
Mark Kolber
You’re cruising in clear air above potentially icy clouds with a plan to descend amid scattered clouds at your destination. However, the destination weather isn’t clearing as fast as it should. Do you stick with the plan, stretch your range to better weather, or seize a potential sucker hole that just appeared below you?
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147. Vertical Guidance Give and Take

Instructors
Bruce Williams
Common wisdom says that flying a constant-descent approach on a glidepath results in a safer, more stable approach than the old “dive-and-drive.” But what do you do when that technique is almost certain to result in a missed approach—while the old-school method will likely reveal a runway you can land on?
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146. Alarm Out of Albany

Instructors
John Krug
A new safety device surprises you when it alarms on the first flight. Is this a real emergency, an abnormal situation to watch, or actually normal behavior for your airplane? Is the sensor even working correctly? If this were simple VFR, you could make an easy return. But you’re in the clouds and climbing.
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145. Wanna Walla Walla

Instructors
Bruce Williams
Weather and alternate airport options required calculating your fuel down to the minute. Now you’re airborne and your destination is a weak bet at best. If you swing and miss, you’ll have a choice between a legal option that’s no sure thing and a safe one that’s on the wrong side of the regs.
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