(26 min)

Instrument pilots must have a solid understanding of their aircraft’s performance profile. Countless pilots have wasted valuable training hours—and struggle to this day—because their instructor skipped this first critical step. Here’s the step-by-step process for creating the essential performance profiles for each airplane you fly.

(21 min)

A solid instrument scan is more science than art. It’s an equation, built by using specific instruments and relationships to reveal specific information. A purposeful scan presents more data in less time, leaving you spare brain cycles for advanced tasks. The details are slightly different for traditional gauges or a glass panel, so we cover both.

(20 min)

Anyone can fly straight-and-level behind an attitude indicator with a little practice. It’s the transitions from one flight profile to another that start a chain reaction of distraction and leave the pilot miles behind the airplane. We review old-school exercises that make transitions second nature, even when done simultaneously with ATC communications or programming a GPS.

(23 min)

Once upon a time, the only moving map instrument pilots had was the one between their ears. This was called “situational awareness,” and it required proactive thinking which made for better instrument pilots. Today, many pilots fly reactively because their situational awareness is their moving map. When you can fly with nothing but needles, you’re even more capable in a GPS cockpit.

(25 min)

Some IFR clearances just don’t fit neatly into that GPS flight plan. Others start simply enough, but then get complicated with a change in the air—right when you’re at your busiest. See how to break down these challenges into manageable parts and use various button-pushing tricks to make your GPS handle whatever ATC dishes out.

(24 min)

The partial panel scan is often taught as a scan with an instrument or two missing. That’s a mistake. If the instrument scan is a purposeful equation then any missing element can be inferred from the remaining ones. Doing it wrong leads to bad habits that bleed through to even a full-panel scan. Doing it right helps with the loss of any instrument or system, even in glass cockpits.

(22 min)

GPS approaches brought hold entries back into the mainstream with hold-in-lieu-of-procedure-turns. But the same GPS tells you how to enter, and nearly ubiquitous radar coverage means you rarely pause. However, suspended sequencing and random holds do happen, so you need a simple way to remember how without screwing up.

(22 min)

The pilot-navigated transition to final offered by DME arcs has been largely displaced by GPS. Yet that same GPS makes radius-to-fix arcs a feature of more and more approaches. Here are the essential points and pitfalls of any arc, whether you fly it with old-school DME or with an IFR GPS in the panel and an iPad on your lap.

(11 min)

The term “Glass Panel” is used on everything from an aftermarket digital attitude indicator with airspeed and altitude tapes to an integrated, multi-screen system. Each installation has its own best practices and failure modes, but there are some common techniques that help on virtually all digital systems, with everything working; or even when some components go offline.

(16 min)

If you fly a multi-engine aircraft (or even a high-performance, retractable-gear single) you need a more extensive set of numbers than a fixed-gear trainer. Here’s how to generate those numbers and transition between configurations for both normal ops and with one engine shut down.

(24 min)

What’s the correct procedure when no departure is published? It depends on whether or not the airport has a published approach. How do I use a visual climb over airport (VCOA)? You employ it as an alternative to an obstacle departure procedure. Departures are just as important as approaches, and you can get in just as much trouble by not understanding their nuances.

(30 min)

What instrument approach will you fly more than any other? The visual. What’s the most powerful tool for a savvy IFR pilot? The contact approach. Understanding the procedures, privileges, and pitfalls of real-world IFR approaches gets the full utility out of IFR. Other key approach topics include approach chart secrets, cold-weather ops, the structure of approach clearances, and what to do when equipment stops working.

(23 min)

The WIRE briefing method gets the most import parts of the approach dialed in right away, followed by all the details you need and none of the fluff. It includes, however, often overlooked items such as creating real-world missed approach points given actual conditions versus the published minimums. The technique gets demonstrated on an old-school VOR approach with no GPS or moving map available—which is a great way to keep your mental map sharp.

(14 min)

The workhorse of published approaches is an ATC vector onto an ILS or LPV. The simplicity and routine is also a trap unless you’re prepared for last-minute changes, crossing restrictions, nuances of GPS/VLOC guidance, and requests to fly the approach faster (or slower) than you planned.

(11 min)

GPS simplifies instrument approaches—if you understand all the variations and subtleties that accompany different approach designs. This example combines common GPS approach features with a few important variations, including an unusual arrival sector, an LNAV+V surprise, and a curving missed approach in mountainous terrain.

(8 min)

Tower Enroute Control (TEC) routes offer an end-to-end IFR flight in miniature with almost no downtime. Unless you trained in a busy IFR corridor, you may never have found and flown one. This briefing uses an L.A. area TEC route to discuss departure procedures, departure alternates, use of visual conditions to hone your IFR flying, and real-world iPad and checklist setup.

(27 min)

The entire flight is shown for each phase of the TEC route flight. There’s step-by-step analysis of programming (and reprogramming) the GPS, practical use of flows, briefings, and abbreviated checklists (including unplanned interruptions). It also includes tips for using instrument bugs and performance profiles in practice.

(17 min)

Planning more ambitious flights requires a structured system to ensure no details are missed. This is applied for a flight from an obstacle-laden, non-towered departure to a complex airspace arrival. Ambiguity is removed—before takeoff—by establishing minimums specific to this departure and the planned arrivals. ForeFlight is used for planning both route and requirements.

(20 min)

The flight starts with a non-towered departure procedure that includes suspending of GPS sequencing, using ETAs for planning, and tricks for amending the GPS flight plan to prevent errors. Adjusting performance profiles for non-precision approaches and best practices for advisory vertical guidance, crossing restrictions, and continuing below MDA are demonstrated.

(6 min)

Sometimes you need an IFR clearance on the fly, and sometimes you can’t land straight-in. This briefing walks through the steps for pop-up IFR and reviews circling do’s and don’ts. It includes strategies for safety when no straight-in minimums are published.

(19 min)

This flight presents tips for finding the right ATC frequency, reporting in, and using the GPS for approach planning. It also includes requesting changes to clearances from ATC—after a chart review to ensure it will work, cockpit resource tips, adjusting standard flight profiles to meet the current need, and considerations for maneuvering in low visibility.

(8 min)

When ceilings are only a couple hundred feet high at your departure and destination, planning for contingencies is essential. Foreflight is used as a power-planning tool in guessing the right SID, picking a departure alternate, and ensuring both a legal and practical destination alternate is available. Spoiler alert: Those two destination alternates are different airports.

(30 min)

This flight starts with an example of “Climb via SID,” including vectors off and back onto the published departure. The approach plan changes once due to ATC and a second time due to an in-flight emergency. The logic for picking the best diversion is talked through and several slick GPS tricks are demonstrated that make a change of plans on the fly simpler and safer.