VFR Mastery Tag: Systems

It’s a short flight on a clear morning, departing just before sunrise. It’s one of those mornings where things are running well and the tower controller has time to banter on the radio. The only other traffic is an airplane on approach to a nearby airport—or so everyone thought. Now it’s dead ahead and landing.

Is use of carb heat a routine procedure or a response to an emergency? You can remedy the situation, but it’s bound to return in the same conditions. POH guidance and tribal knowledge disagree on the best way to proceed. You’re alone at the controls with miles to go, so only you can decide.

Killing time on a routine flight, you explore some less-used pages on your engine monitor and make a surprising discovery. The reading seems sure to be wrong—especially because the airplane is happily ticking along—but what if it’s not? And if it is real … is this an emergency or just something to tell maintenance about […]

It’s a short flight to a familiar airport you’ve done many times before. But, all of those were in the daytime when the hills on both sides were easy to see. Now a moonless night adds a substantial level of uncertainty. Will technology tempt you to make this approach in the dark?

What do you do when you discover a mechanical oversight that’s probably not a safety issue but leaves your airplane technically unairworthy and there’s no one around to fix it? Can you remedy the situation yourself? Or is it better to act as if you never noticed it in the first place?

Things were going well: You flew your airplane to an airport few GA pilots will ever see, you rocked a two-day demo for an important work project, and you got a tailwind whisking you toward a steak dinner with family. Then your only engine failed, over unfamiliar territory and at night.  

The LSA you’re flying isn’t equipped for legal flight in the clouds, but its autopilot doesn’t know that. That’s why you trained yourself to turn it on and do a 180, if you ever went IMC accidentally. But that’s not working out as planned, so what’s the best way to get back to visual conditions?

After a great day at the beach, it’s only a 40-minute flight home. But the sun has long since set, and an uncooperative alternator makes even a short VFR flight complicated when you consider navigation, communication, and regulations. Even the simplest choice isn’t so simple when you look at the big picture, and the destination […]

Difficult situations can crop up on beautiful days and without anything actually going wrong. In fact, these might be the most insidious of traps because they lure you in. Watch how a series of reasonable decisions creates a tough conundrum. How would you handle a situation where every option leaves you feeling uncomfortable?