The Sections of the Sky You are probably familiar with Victor airways from reviewing sectional charts as a private pilot. In the IFR world, we almost always try to fly along “airways” and not always Victor’s airways. Airways in the sky have a distinct advantage over just flying direct somewhere. You can generally get right… Continue reading The Structure SC
Topic Category: IFR
Tower and Approach / Departure SC
Tower You of course are probably familiar with what a tower controller does. Keep in mind though, that besides just controlling the airspace within about 5nm of the field, the tower controller is constantly on the land line coordinating with Approach/Departure to hand off aircraft and help get pilot’s requests granted by Approach/Departure. Often times… Continue reading Tower and Approach / Departure SC
From the Ground Up SC
ATIS So let’s take a look at this as if we are departing a Class C or D airport. The first thing we’ll do is get the ATIS (which is recorded every hour, or as needed by the Ground Controller) Once we have the ATIS, then we’ll go ahead and get our Clearance from Clearance… Continue reading From the Ground Up SC
Electronic Navigation SC
Localizer and Marker Beacons How does a Localizer work? A localizer is just like a VOR, however instead of different radials, it is simply transmitting one long straight line and telling whether you are left or right of that line. It DOES NOT matter what the OBS knob is set to when you have a… Continue reading Electronic Navigation SC
Radio Waves SC
The Waves of the Radio All navigation instruments in our airplanes work off of radio waves (VOR, ILS, GPS, NDB, etc.) Let’s go ahead and talk about the different types of radio waves, and what each one is good for. Ground Wave – This radio wave travels across the Earth’s surface, bounded by the… Continue reading Radio Waves SC
Portable Navigation SC
Ipads are great, but…. There are tons of options when it comes to portable GPS units. One of your best bets is to purchase an iPad or Android Tablet and dedicate its use just for your navigation app (such as Foreflight, Garmin Pilot, or WingX Pro). There are also separate GPS only units you can… Continue reading Portable Navigation SC
Airspace Review (Optional) SC
Class B, the busy stuff To make sense of this complicated cake, let’s build it from the ground up! At a Class B airport, you have Ground Control, just like you would at a Class C or Class D airport. Ground control issues taxi clearances. You have Tower Control, same as any other towered airport. … Continue reading Airspace Review (Optional) SC
Spacial Disorientation IFR SC
Spatial disorientation Spatial disorientation results from the brain not properly interpreting the signals it is receiving from the rest of the body. Remember, flying is not natural for humans, this is partly what makes it so great! The body uses three integrated systems that work together to ascertain orientation and movement in space. Vestibular system—organs… Continue reading Spacial Disorientation IFR SC
ADM / CRM / SRM Review SC
Aeronautical Decision Making, Crew Resource Management, Single Pilot Resource Management While these might be big fancy titles, the actual concepts they represent are actually much more simple, and probably something you already do to some extent subconsciously. The whole idea behind these concepts is to reduce GA accidents. The diagram above shows where GA accidents… Continue reading ADM / CRM / SRM Review SC
Aeromedical (Mind) Factors Under IFR SC
You can’t see Judgement (especially through the clouds) Judgment isn’t something we can see and measure like stick and rudder skills. It’s a little tougher to train as well. In fact, the same judgement and attitude that got you to a point in your life where you could both financially afford to fly planes and… Continue reading Aeromedical (Mind) Factors Under IFR SC