Ever feel like you know what a person's answer to a question is going to be before you ask the question? That happens to flight instructors too. Over time, certain questions to pilots elicit astonishingly predictable responses.
This ritual plays out on a variety of topics, but I see it most frequently in conversations with new pilots who have been mulling whether to get an instrument rating. You can tell they want to get the rating. What they say stops them is that they "don't have any plans to fly in the clouds," or they think, "there's no reason to get instrument rated because I'll never be able to stay current."
I'll bet you that fewer than half of all instrument-rated pilots are current-meaning that they cannot legally file IFR without first having to log some practice procedures or retain a local instrument flight instructor (CFII) and take a proficiency check. No big deal-that's the way life is for pilots who fly when they can, not when they have to.
So now I've got you belted into a cockpit to show you why you will find that both your brain and your flying soul will draw nourishment from adding an instrument rating, even if you never plan to let your wings touch a cloud. What are we going to do on this demo flight? We are going to take the same trip you would have taken anyway, and we're going to do it under visual flight rules (VFR), just as you would have done alone. We're just going to fly it a little differently. We'll fly the same 50 nautical miles out to visit your buddy at the airport he manages, north of here, drink a Styrofoam cup of his coffee, and then fly 50 miles back. But since this is not a discussion of instrument training, but rather the benefits of having gone through instrument training, we're going to look at the outing from the point of view of how an instrument-trained pilot might fly the trip under VFR, compared to the way you'd fly it VFR. Then ask yourself whose method is better.
The mental adjustment begins with preflight prep. And let's say the aircraft is legal and capable of IFR; perhaps it's even your future IFR trainer. Instrument pilots know that any flight could become an instrument flight. If you are current for IFR flight, the first thing that comes to mind as you scan the weather forecast is that rather than cancel, or change a destination out of concern that a 1,000-foot scattered cloud deck could go to overcast, now you can say, "Maybe it will, maybe it won't, no big deal." Bring along your approach plates and be ready to file IFR from the air if you have to. That doesn't happen often, but it is an option if you need it.
Now we'll choose an altitude. Let's unfold the IFR low altitude en route chart for the same leg and see what it recommends. Looks like there's an airway on the route from airport to airport, and the minimum en route altitude (MEA) is 2,500 feet. That MEA guarantees you 1,000 feet of obstacle clearance along the airway; in mountainous areas that figure doubles. Different, isn't it, from your usual habit of flying at the maximum elevation figure plus whatever feels good? Having such a specific navigation plan for this flight may not seem like a new idea, but we'll go about planning it in a more disciplined manner. The plan is to fly on that airway, at a VFR-appropriate altitude at or above the MEA. Hold that altitude precisely, as we would if we were flying in the clouds under the gaze of air traffic control, whose job it is to keep us from colliding with anyone. Probably on a routine VFR flight you'd just dial in the inbound course to the VOR from your present position after departure and track whatever radial centered your VOR needle-and yes, that method would get you to the VOR. Then you'd hang a left and head for the airport. But the airway and its safety margin use a specific radial, and so will we. There's also a procedure for finding the airport, if needed, by flying a published instrument approach.
How do we get onto the airway? By intercepting it from our present position. Orient yourself, then choose a moderate intercept angle, say 30 degrees, to get established on the airway without unnecessary maneuvering. That technique reduces the chance you'll fly through the course if you're distracted. Think of it as similar to merging onto a highway from an on-ramp.
We'll adopt the IFR technique of using standard-rate turns for all departure and en route course changes. Turning at the standard rate gives three degrees of heading change per second. The bank is shallow to moderate, allowing you to plan ahead and roll out precisely on desired headings, which you will then maintain precisely. Those mild banks are appreciated by passengers. These no-drama turns are a life-saving benefit of instrument training. Why? They minimize the risk of spatial disorientation and loss of control when the flying is in the clouds.
Any VFR pilot who has proudly carried off a cross-country with accuracy, but at the end of it sits there wondering, "Where's the airport?" can retire that problem forever. Fly the published instrument transition from the airway system, or an instrument approach procedure, at the conclusion of the flight. Yes, flying instrument approaches under VFR is kosher. But in the traffic pattern at a nontowered airport, it is recommended to do as the Romans are doing rather than, say, fly straight in and do a go-around to the opposite end of the runway in use.
So, if this is your first time visiting, say, the Norridgewock, Maine, airport (KOWK), and a wooded, hilly region populated with skinny lakes offends your sense of pilotage-or if it's your first night VFR arrival there-use a local instrument approach as a framework for arriving in the airport's vicinity. Mining information from the VOR/DME Runway 3 approach plate, you see that you can fly to the AUG VOR, then fly outbound toward KOWK on the AUG 010-degree radial. Maintain at least 2,200 feet until reaching DOPEE intersection, which, since this is VFR flying, you can identify either on your DME, GPS, or by recognizing the appropriate lake below. Continue stepping down on the final approach course to no lower than 1,140 feet mean sea level (msl) at 21 DME, then to no lower than 1,080 feet msl at 23.5 nm from AUG. At that point, the approach end of Runway 3 should be visible under the nose.
If you were receiving radar flight following en route, inform the controller that you want to fly a practice instrument approach on arrival. Just make it clear that you will be doing so under VFR; expect the controller to remind you to "maintain VFR at all times." Alternatively, you could remain at 2,200 feet while tracking the radial, then sight the airport and maneuver for a normal pattern entry.
There are other instrument protocols adaptable for VFR use. For instrument flight in the true murk, the rules require the selection of appropriately instrument-capable airports as alternates. There's no reason not to have a good alternate up your sleeve for VFR. Weather's not the only reason. Fuel requirements for instrument flying necessitate having enough on board to reach the planned alternate, plus a reserve. If more VFR pilots planned that way, we'd have fewer cases of fuel exhaustion and the associated off-airport landings. Partial-panel training, which simulates instrument or vacuum-system failure, teaches alternative scanning methods, embedding the methods firmly in your pilot brain. VFR pilots who lose an instrument often get flustered, and they seldom think to cover the offending gauge.
More on weather: VFR pilots rarely concern themselves with freezing levels, because they have no plans to fly in the clouds. Instrument pilots make it a habit to know where the freezing level is-useful if clouds develop unexpectedly. Then, in flight, IFR aviators keep an eye on the outside air temperature (OAT) gauge. To strictly-VFR pilots, the OAT unit is a novelty item. But since the best escape from an icing encounter is avoidance, knowing the freezing level might be the shred of information that keeps you out of big trouble some uncooperative weather day.
It's my opinion that, for many general aviation pilots, earning an instrument rating is the most challenging and rigorous training program they will pursue. Even if you have no plans to buy a complex single or a twin and fly to business meetings or far-away vacations under IFR, the training will raise your skill level, give you comfort interacting with air traffic control, and teach you how to tap new resources-instrument approach procedures, MEAs, sophisticated weather analysis, and more-to bolster any flight.
Just as instrument flights operating in visual conditions borrow the best practices from VFR by keeping a visual watch for traffic, visual pilots can borrow safety and efficiency concepts from their instrument-pilot peers. Having an instrument ticket in hand when flying VFR truly is the best of both worlds.
Dan Namowitz is an aviation writer and flight instructor. A pilot since 1985 and an instructor since 1990, he resides in Maine.
Related Articles
