Topic Category: IFR

Instrument Failures

When Instruments Let Ya Down… Below we’ll take a look at a few different types of instrument failures.  Some you should recognize from just a still image, others you will have to play a short video to get a sense of what instrument has failed.  The videos are short intentionally.  We want your eyes to… Continue reading Instrument Failures

Flying Partial Panel

The aircraft was on an IFR clearance and climbing through a cloud layer when it broke up in flight following an in-flight upset. The weather conditions included multiple cloud layers from 4,000 to 13,000 feet, with a freezing level around 7,000 feet msl. An AIRMET was in effect for occasional moderate rime to mixed icing-in-clouds… Continue reading Flying Partial Panel

Transponders

MODE C Transponders Well first, what is a transponder?  A transponder is a little box mounted in the panel of your airplane where you can set a 4 digit code that ATC assigns to you.  The purpose of this box is to tell ATC where you are and how high you are.  Transponders are also… Continue reading Transponders

Departure Procedures

Departure Procedures (DPs) In this TOPIC, we’ll cover Instrument Departure Procedures, and how not to be that guy in the picture above! The Procedures we will talk about are: Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs) Obstacle Departure Procedures (ODPs) Diverse Vector Areas (DVAs) Visual Climb Over Airport (VCOA) As you can see, we love acronyms in instrument… Continue reading Departure Procedures

Low En-route Charts

Remember: Low Charts are updated every 56 days just like instrument approach procedures and many of your other IFR publications.

Airport Diagrams

No Google Maps at Your Destination Airport Unfortunately, you will not have google maps on your cell phone to guide you around the taxiways and other movement and non-movement areas at your destination airport.  An essential part of your preflight planning needs to include becoming familiar with not only the runway information and layout at… Continue reading Airport Diagrams

ASR / PAR

Airport Surveillance Radar and Precision Approach Radar IAPs Congrats!  You just found the simplest approach plate known to man!  The Radar Minimums! This is what an approach plate looks like for an ASR or PAR approach.  You just read the minimums, ATC takes care of the rest….no frequencies to set for a LOC or GPS!.… Continue reading ASR / PAR

VOR

The Very Inaccurate VOR Approach! It’s no surprise this is a non-precision approach. They might as well call this an obstacle clearing procedure rather than an Instrument Approach Procedure.  In my experience with the reliability of the VOR stations in the USA the way it is and the condition of most VOR receivers in today’s… Continue reading VOR

RNAV / LNAV / VNAV / LPV

What is RNAV? RNAV in simple terms is GPS.  RNAV stands for “Area Navigation” (thanks acronym maker guy).  Bottom line, if you are planning on using an RNAV approach plate, you are going to be doing an approach that uses GPS instead of a ground-based navigation system, such as a VOR or Localizer/Glideslope. What are… Continue reading RNAV / LNAV / VNAV / LPV