Ask any instrument-rated pilot to list the advantages of obtaining an instrument rating and I am sure that included in that list is "It made me a better VFR pilot." In my opinion, obtaining an instrument rating is about 30 percent flying the airplane and 70 percent learning instrument rules and procedures. Don't get me wrong, driving the plane on the gauges is the foundation that a good instrument pilot must have to get the job done - but the rules and procedures used for instrument flying can be applied to VFR operations as well. That's why instrument training can lead to improved VFR skills.
You may be thinking "Sure, you just want us all to get an instrument rating, but I am not ready for that yet." No, I am not proposing that the only way to take advantage of instrument flying knowledge is to become instrument-rated. The instrument rating may not be an immediate goal for many pilots, for some good reasons. Just because you don't have the airplane, time, or money to commit to a full instrument course doesn't mean that you can't build some better VFR skills by learning instrument flight rules (IFR) procedures. Just a few hours of instrument ground and flight training can be very productive when you apply it to VFR flying. Better yet, when you learn the VFR side of instrument procedures, all your knowledge will make obtaining an instrument rating easier if you do decide to move in that direction.
When I teach instrument flying for the purpose of obtaining an instrument rating, I divide the curriculum into three basic sections: flying the airplane, en route procedures, and terminal procedures (takeoffs and landings). A student going for an instrument rating learns these basics, more or less in that order. But for VFR pilots, including student pilots, I like to start with an introduction to terminal procedures. The information used by instrument pilots for the arrival and landing is certainly key to the successful completion of their IFR journey, but its value is not exclusive to IFR operations. Publications known as terminal procedures are at the heart of what an instrument pilot must know to assure a safe arrival, and the same publications can be very helpful to a VFR pilot.
Terminal procedure publications are communally known as approach charts or approach plates. I will use the latter term. Approach plates are published by both the FAA and the Jeppesen Sanderson Company. Both are widely used by instrument pilots. The Jeppesen approach plates may be purchased on a subscription basis to cover various areas of the country. The FAA's National Aeronautical Charting Office (NACO - formerly the Department of Commerce's National Ocean Survey - divides approach plates into 24 books covering the United States. Each book may be purchased separately www.naco.faa.gov or from many approved chart agents. AOPA members can download NACO terminal procedures for free on AOPA Online . Because this availability helps to reduce training costs, I use the NACO approach plates and will refer to them in my examples. A lot of instrument pilots use the Jeppesen approach plates, and if your instructor is one of them, purchase the Jeppesen plates.
The purpose here is not to cover all the ins and outs of approach plates. Just a couple of hours of ground training with your instructor should help to explain the approaches to the airports you frequently use. I just want to show how much information they can provide in such a condensed publication, and how their use can make VFR flying safer. Let's take a look at some of the neat stuff a VFR pilot can find on an approach plate.
The communication section is really nifty. At complex airports you may have several different frequencies ranging from approach control to clearance delivery. It's all in one place and is organized by "phase of flight" reading from left to right as you would approach the airport. The airport may have several approach plates, and the frequencies are listed on all of them. An approach plate may not show all frequencies that can be used, but it will get you started. For instance, your sectional chart may show different approach control frequencies based on your bearing from the airport. You can always pencil in notes on the approach plate. Nontowered airports may only list a few frequencies because those are all that they have.
Navigational aids used as part of an instrument approach are shown on the approach plate, with frequencies and identifier codes. This part of the approach plate, called the plan view, is the largest part of the approach plate and makes it easy to locate and identify the navaids for position reporting to the tower or approach control. It also clues you in to the direction from which IFR traffic approaches the airport. If you hear a pilot make a position report at one of the approach navaids shown on the approach plate, it may give you a good idea of where you should not be.
Have you ever approached an unfamiliar airport over unfamiliar terrain in hazy VFR conditions and wondered about appropriate minimum altitudes? Worse yet, how about the same situation at night? Approach plates provide information that can significantly increase safety and peace of mind. You will find a circle labeled MSA on the plan view. The accompanying figure indicates the minimum safe altitude within 25 nautical miles of the airport area (it may be 25 nm from a radio fix associated with the approach, but it will be close to the airport). Eventually you will have to descend below the MSA to land, but the MSA could be used as an initial minimum target altitude when descending from cruise altitude. The approach procedure itself shows many minimum altitudes on the large plan view and the smaller profile view (this is the "side view" of the approach). Think about it: If these altitudes are good for instrument pilots, then wouldn't it be a good idea for VFR pilots to at least use them as a guide? If an IFR pilot should be at a specified altitude at a certain distance from the runway, then why shouldn't a VFR pilot do the same? The approach plate can take the guesswork out of determining safe altitudes, although few depict terrain detail as do sectional charts.
Nothing can be handier than arriving at an unfamiliar airfield with an idea of what the field looks like. The approach plate includes a small airport diagram (twice the size of the diagram found in the Airport/Facilities Directory). This airport diagram includes a lot of useful information about the airport such as runway dimensions and lighting. This diagram can be particularly helpful if you combine it with a detailed ground layout map; these taxi diagrams accompany approach plates and also may be downloaded by anyone from AOPA Online. The diagram on the approach plate helps you to identify the airport, and the larger-scale diagram comes into play after landing or when taxiing out for departure. Information and knowledge about the airport layout are essential to avoid the possibility of traffic conflicts during arrival and runway incursions once on the ground.
All of this can be covered in detail with a couple hours of ground training. But a few hours of flight training applied toward learning the actual procedures for an instrument approach can open up a whole new world of precise navigation. A VFR pilot may use and perform instrument approach procedures provided he or she remains in visual meteorological conditions at all times and does not accept an instrument clearance.
Understanding an instrument approach procedure, and having an approach plate handy, can help a VFR pilot, as it did me while approaching an unfamiliar airport in the flatlands of Texas on a VFR flight. The visibility was a very hazy four miles, and I was flying into a setting sun. Even with approach control telling me where the airport was, I couldn't see it and was having trouble figuring out how to enter the traffic pattern. So, I asked approach control to give me a VFR vector to intercept the instrument approach final course a couple of miles out on final. My approach plate gave me all the information I needed and, once lined up with electronic guidance, the rest was easy. I never requested an instrument clearance but used my instrument training as a VFR pilot. I once worked for an airline that required its pilots to use certain types of electronic guidance for all visual approaches. It all goes back to good cockpit resource management (CRM). The most fundamental aspect of CRM is "If you have it, use it."
There are many types of instrument approaches. You and your instructor can best determine which ones would be most helpful for you to learn based on where you fly and the type of flying that you do. When learning these procedures for the purpose of VFR flying, do them without a view-limiting device (Foggles or a hood). This is important because you want to learn how to integrate looking through the windshield with using instrument approach guidance. Learning instrument approach procedures will sharpen your navigation skills and help you understand new words, terms, and procedures.
Don't for a moment think that these suggestions apply only to big, complex airports. For pilots that fly out of nontowered airports in Class E or G airspace, having some knowledge of the instrument approaches to the airport can greatly increase safety. Many hundreds of these nontowered airports have instrument approach procedures. If you're familiar with the approach, when an aircraft transmits "Cessna One-Two-Three-Four-Five at the NDB outbound for the procedure turn" on the unicom frequency, you'll know where it is and approximately when to expect it in the pattern.
Another important thing to remember about nontowered airports is that the VFR minimums are not the same for Class G (uncontrolled airspace) and Class E (controlled airspace) airports. Class G airspace only requires VFR flyers to have one mile's visibility and to remain clear of clouds (daytime) to take off and land. IFR pilots on an instrument approach may be sharing the airspace with VFR pilot in what is pretty crummy weather. Class E airspace requires three miles' visibility and a ceiling of at least 1,000 feet for VFR pilots to operate. This adds safety at these nontowered Class E airports when IFR and VFR traffic mix.
Stay safe and legal no matter how comfortable you become using instrument procedures as a VFR pilot. A VFR pilot must remain in visual conditions at all times and must not accept an IFR clearance. Air traffic controllers don't know what ratings you have, and if you are in doubt about taking a clearance and being legal, advise the controller that you are "not instrument rated and will remain VFR." Use the CTAF when practicing at nontowered airports and remember that many VFR pilots may not un- derstand IFR lingo.
Learning to use instrument procedures while flying VFR requires only a small amount of ground and flight training. The skills you learn will fit right in to your training if you decide to pursue an instrument rating. Go ahead; put your toe in the IFR water to see how it feels. Doing so will make you a better VFR pilot.
When he's not working as manager of health, safety, and environmental operations at an Oklahoma manufacturing plant, Earl Downs can be found at his flight school, Golden Age Aviation. He owns an Aeronca 7AC Champion.
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