Instrument Rating: Use it to Your Advantage - Disciples of Flight - 0 views
-
I’ve heard many accomplished pilots with multiple ratings say they found the Instrument rating the most challenging to achieve. Getting an IFR ticket takes time, brains, and money. So I’m always surprised how many pilots, having gone through all the effort and expense to earn their instrument rating, fail to use it much.
-
There are times when you might consider using your IFR rating even when the weather is technically VFR. Filing, flying, and remaining IFR won’t just keep you proficient; it may someday save you from an FAA violation, spatial disorientation, or a tragic CFIT accident.
-
-
If you get your IFR rating, this article details a number of ways you can use it to help your flying.
-
- ...2 more annotations...
-
Enroute, even on a daytime VFR flight, you could encounter haze, smoke, marine layers, or flat light on snow-covered terrain, all of which can cause you to lose reference to the horizon. A fellow up here in Idaho was flying over a frozen, snow-covered lake on a gray day with no horizon and literally flew his plane into the snow. He had no idea how low he was, similar to a glassy-water situation for a seaplane. Fortunately, he was fine, although his plane was totaled.
-
Weather that is technically VFR but actually marginal can fool you on departure or arrival, as well.
