From/To: Riverside, CA (KRAL) – Long Beach, CA (KLGB)
Briefing: 12 min
Flight: 23 min
Debrief: 2 min

Planning is essential for IFR flight in the L.A. Basin, especially when ATC expects you to have all the insider information. This includes finding the right Tower Enroute Control route and filing that code in your flight plan. It might also include an ODP assigned by ATC for traffic flow that you’re required to fly. Ryan lightens the load by backing up visual navigation (but still under IFR) with published approaches and visual tools built into the Garmin GTN navigator. But then he uncovers an easy trap for the complacent when prioritizing tasks in a busy terminal environment.

Key Items: Tower Enroute Control route, assigned ODP, ForeFlight route advisor, GTN visual approach function, flight instrument checks, flowchecks and checklists, busy terminal environment, automation traps

From/To: Long Beach, CA (KLGB) – Santa Maria, CA (KSMX)
Briefing: 14 min
Flight: 28 min
Debrief: 2 min

This trip starts with tips for complex taxi instructions and using published runway hot spots, along with annotating a chart in ForeFlight. The departure includes an RNAV SID, which requires understanding the buttonology, limitations, and legalities of the GPS. SID instructions and amendments get covered. On the arrival side, the GPS is used for descent planning on a steep approach with stepdowns inside the final approach fix, as well as the legalities and practicalities of GPS for a localizer backcourse. A missed approach reveals a trick to fly a missed approach hold while simultaneously loading the next approach, all with only one GPS. Use syn vis and terrain screens to keep track of where the hills lurk.

Key Items: Hot spots, climb via SID, back course guidance, estimating unpublished descent gradients, syn vis, terrain, flight plan editing 

From/To: Oceano, CA (L52) – Monterey, CA (KMRY)
Briefing: 16 min
Flight: 25 min
Debrief: 2 min

Departing an airport without any published instrument procedures is made simpler and safer using the VFR sectional and a smart roll-your-own departure. The ForeFlight route advisor is helpful, but it’s better when you understand the ATC system for routings. (Hint: It’s not always about your departure and destination airports.) Planning also includes customizing the published VDP for your specific aircraft and customizing the VNAV profiles in the GPS for smart use of the autopilot (including the confusing VNAV Direct). Even with all that automation, Ryan demonstrates how some mental math acts as a backup and check that you pushed all the buttons correctly.

Key items: Departures from non-instrument airports, departure alternates, LP approaches with unofficial vertical guidance, adjusting the published VDP, customizing VNAV profiles

From/To: Monterey, CA (KMRY) – Reno, NV (KRNO)
Briefing: 10 min
Flight: 23 min
Debrief: 2 min

While the departure seems routine, there’s a commonly ignored gotcha that could bite the unsuspecting. It also involves building the departure in the GPS waypoint by waypoint, which can be legal even with an expired database. Then it’s a comfortable cruise that requires negotiation with ATC to stay practical. Things get busy with a GPS-ILS hybrid approach that’s becoming more common, including a radius-to-fix leg requiring a digital HSI. With true airspeed already high due to altitude, things are amped up by flying a “best forward speed” approach.

Key items: Non-standard diverse vector areas, RF leg, hybrid approaches (GPS/ILS), best forward speed, picking the best minimums, negotiating with ATC, legally using an expired database, autopilot tricks, digital ATIS

From/To: Bremerton, WA (KPWT) – Wenatchee, WA (KEAT)
Briefing: 17 min
Flight: 27 min
Debrief: 2 min

Another simple departure reveals a new hazard when the ODP is only textual. Ryan shows how annotating the enroute chart offers a good safety hedge. There are times when the VOR approach can be the best option, and this is one of those times. But it’s flown with GPS and autopilot to an airport where cold temperature corrections may apply. This is also a place where a shortcut from ATC is better declined than accepted, and what should be good visibility to circle actually is barely enough. Finally, some rules for circling when you must help ensure things stay on the rails.

Key items: Calling ATC on the phone, decline a shortcut, cryptic approach clearances, non-standard climbs, textual ODP tips and traps, cold temp restrictions, mystery paths to IAFs, dead reckoning legs, best rules for circling

From/To: Wenatchee, WA (KEAT) – Hermiston, OR (KHRI)
Briefing: 10 min
Flight: 19 min
Debrief: 2 min

A graphical ODP means there’s something more complex you’d better get right. Some simplified climb planning helps ensure that works out. This can be cross-checked with the new performance profiles in ForeFlight. The GPS is a huge help, but only if you know when to manually sequence it and when it’s going to act on its own. You may also need to create a hold that won’t appear in any database. The contact approach becomes the right tool for weather that’s almost—but not quite—good enough for visual approach. Smart GPS use makes what could be sketchy, far safer.

Key items: Planning backups for GPS, graphical ODPs, simplified climb gradient planning, ForeFlight performance planning, creating custom holds in the GPS, loading airways, contact approach requests and best practices

From/To: Springfield, CO (8V7) – Denver, CO (KAPA)
Briefing: 12 min
Flight: 21 min
Debrief: 2 min

The diverse departure gives flexibility but nearby military airspace restricts it. Putting a custom waypoint by radial/distance from a VOR into the flightplan, the GPS, and ForeFlight makes things simple. The arrival into the Denver area brings STARs into the picture with potential descend via clearances, and the proximity of terrain at night means synthetic vision, profile views, and terrain overlays come into play. Loading vectors to final is fine on a GTN, but there are still tricks to be used when on vectors that let you almost read ATC’s mind.

Key items: Custom radial/distance waypoints, diverse departures, planning around SUAs, selecting STARs, descend via clearances, sidestep approach procedures, terrain awareness, high-speed approach

From/To: Denver, CO (KAPA) – Eagle, CO (KEGE)
Briefing: 9 min
Flight: 17 min
Debrief: 2 min

How do you pick the right SID when there’s more than a page worth? ForeFlight can be a huge help if you know where to look. How can you descend below DA even when the airport isn’t in sight? It can happen with a fly visual segment, but you’d better understand what that means for a missed approach. This trip requires multiple stepdowns with multiple nav sources, and even with a good autopilot, it’s easy to fall behind.

Key items: Picking a SID, LDA with a glideslope, legal descent below the DA, arrival holds, alternate missed approach, automation gotchas, discrepancies between GPS and VOR courses, steep descents and high TAS

From/To: Eagle, CO (KEGE) – Aspen, CO (KASE)
Briefing: 12 min
Flight: 17 min
Debrief: 2 min

Sometimes the only way out is the Visual Climb Over the Airport, which happens here before a rush to get established on the notorious localizer into Aspen—which requires over twice the descent rate of a typical instrument approach. This means adjusting standard performance profiles in anticipation of the anvil descent, yet having a workable backup plan in case you don’t quite get down. Once you commit at Aspen, the complex missed approach is no longer an option.

Key items: Ruling out SIDs, visual climb over airport (VCOA), the notorious Aspen localizer approach, altering performances profiles, unusual missed approach, circling in the mountains, intercepting VOR radials with GPS