Coms

Pilot’s Best Friend

I Absolutely love it (“Dog and Plane,” June 2021 Flight Training). Attaching a photo of ours, Rudder, with his headset!

W. Scott Schellhase
Kerrville, Texas

Real IFR

Really fine article in May (“Welcome to the Real World”). This is exactly how I waded into real IFR experience when I was first signed off a long time ago. Fast forward, after losing hangar access, I stepped away from owning and flying for several years, only deciding to get back into the air in 2020, when I “fully” retired after making a few attempts at it. The necessary flight review was pretty easy, but in addition to relearning the regs, and new GPS stuff, I’ve had to work fairly hard to recapture my IFR skills for an instrument proficiency check.

Living in the desert Southwest, very few of us ever have an opportunity to fly in real instrument conditions near home, but trips farther afield often include the opportunity to “get wet.” So, as I wade back into the wool, the process you’ve described is again, just what I’ve been using. My “minimums” are still pretty generous—2,000 feet and 3 miles—and will probably never get much lower (I am usually alone and don’t have an autopilot) but the ability to tackle marginal VFR safely greatly extends the envelope of my flying.

Mark Dankel
Las Cruces, New Mexico

We welcome your comments. Please email [email protected]. Comments will be edited for style and space.

Flight training online

Pilot to pilot

Add an AOPA Pilot subscription to your membership for information on aviation technique, aircraft, avionics, people, advocacy efforts, and more.
aopa.org/pilot

Ask the A&Ps

Expert mechanics answer your toughest aviation maintenance questions.
aopa.org/podcasts

RESOURCE

Get focused
The AOPA Air Safety Institute’s Focused Flight Reviews guide you and your instructor through profiles including positive aircraft control, mountain and backcountry flying, helicopters, and more.
focusedflightreview.org

Video: Night and day

IFR techniques—and the flying skills required—are strikingly dissimilar for glass-panel avionics compared to analog gauges.
aopa.org/ft/glasstechnique

Explore more training topics in our expanded online content hub aopa.org/ft