A new online refresher course for IFR-rated pilots debuts today on the AOPA Air Safety Foundation Web site.
The free interactive online course, titled IFR Adventure: Rules to Live By, uses flash technology to take pilots through a realistic IFR cross-country flight, exploring how specific IFR regulations apply to various real-life instrument-flying scenarios. Among the challenges of the flight: diverting to an alternate airport, suffering communications failure, and evaluating the weather.
"This is an ideal way for rusty instrument pilots to feel more comfortable about retaking the left front seat," declared Bruce Landsberg, ASF executive director. "IFR regulations can be daunting, but this new program presents the most important rules in a practical way, illustrating them as they apply in the real world."
Before taking off on the virtual flight, pilots are presented with an electronic "flight bag" that contains weather information, a copy of the federal aviation regulations, pilot and aircraft logbooks, and other items. Pilots may dig into their flight bag at any time for help in answering quiz questions that are used as teaching tools in many of the scenarios.
Completion of the IFR Adventure: Rules to Live By course with a score of at least 80 percent allows the pilot to print out a handsome completion certificate that may be used to satisfy the ground instruction requirement for the FAA Wings safety program.
The new course was developed with a generous grant from the William H. Donner Foundation and is available without cost to all pilots. IFR Adventure: Rules to Live By joins the growing library of ASF online courses, which already includes Runway Safety, SkySpotter®, Operation Airspace 2002, and CFI Renewal Online.
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation was chartered in 1950 specifically for research and pilot education on GA safety. Since then, the GA accident rate has decreased by more than 90 percent. The foundation is supported largely though donations from individual pilots and companies interested in promoting GA safety. For more information about ASF programs and activities, visit the Web site.
02-3-045x
Related Articles
