{"id":9889,"date":"2024-05-24T05:46:28","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T12:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/?p=9889"},"modified":"2024-05-24T05:46:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T12:46:28","slug":"ifr-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/?p=9889","title":{"rendered":"IFR tips"},"content":{"rendered":"https:\/\/airfactsjournal.com\/2024\/02\/art-instrument-approaches-7-tips\/

1. Be comfortable at the final approach fix or go missed. Descending from the final approach fix towards the runway is a critical time in the life of an instrument pilot, since you are deliberately flying low to the ground without any visual references. Before you cross that fix and start the descent, take a deep breath and be absolutely certain that all is well. Are the avionics set up just right? Do you know your MDA or DH? Are the needles reasonably steady? Do you feel like you\u2019re in control of the situation? If the answer is no to any of these questions, execute the missed approach and get things squared away before trying it again. It\u2019s far easier and safer to go around at 3000 ft. than 300 ft.

2. Have a heading hypothesis and test it \u2013 don\u2019t chase needles. When you\u2019re flying an instrument approach, ultimately the goal is to keep the needles crossed, but the polished instrument pilot doesn\u2019t blindly chase the gauges. Instead, he will start the approach with a hypothesis in mind: \u201cgiven the strong wind from the west, I\u2019m going to start with a 15 degree wind correction to the right of the 190 inbound course.\u201d He will fly that heading and see what the result is, then adjust his hypothesis given the new evidence. Too much of a correction? Try cutting that angle in half. This approach is subtly different compared to the needle chaser, but it\u2019s supremely important when the weather really stinks. Fly a heading you think will work, and observe the trend \u2013 you\u2019ll learn a lot.

3. Make small heading changes with rudder only. Inside the final approach fix, most heading corrections are small (see above). If you\u2019re only taking out 5 degrees of crab angle, try a little rudder pressure instead of rolling into a bank, then rolling out. Most airplanes respond quite well to this trick, it\u2019s more stable and it will prevent you from over-controlling. This is especially true as you get close to the runway on an ILS \u2013 a one dot correction is tiny.

4. Know your profiles. This goes right along with the advice about having a heading in mind before you start the approach: don\u2019t chase airspeed and sink rate. Instead, you should know the profile ahead of time (power setting, flaps\/gear configuration, sink rate and airspeed) for both a non-precision approach and a precision approach. Start with that known profile, then adjust as needed. Strong headwind today? Add an inch of manifold pressure or 100 RPM. But don\u2019t be a throttle jockey.
I34 approach plate

MDA or DH? Make sure you know before you start down.

5. Brief every approach \u2013 even if it\u2019s to yourself. 400 ft. AGL is no place to be reading an approach plate. Take the time in cruise to read over the chart and memorize (or at least highlight) important numbers: minimums, missed approach procedure and minimum safe altitude. This is especially true for WAAS approaches, where the type of minimum (precision approach with a DA or non-precision with an MDA) is critically important. If you have a co-pilot or passenger, talk this through with your right seater. If not, brief yourself out loud.

6. When you break out, do nothing for a second. After a well-executed approach, there\u2019s no better feeling than seeing the runway lights emerge from the gray. But many pilots get so excited at the sight that they duck under the glide path and get perilously close to trees or other obstacles. It\u2019s a hard reaction to fight, so the best advice is to do nothing for just a second. If you flew a good approach, your airplane should be on glide path and on speed \u2013 so why mess with it?

7. Practice missed approaches \u2013 after using the autopilot. Lots of pilots practice flying missed approaches, but most often this is after a hand flown approach. A more realistic scenario is one where the autopilot flies the approach but you have to take the controls at minimums when you start the missed approach (most autopilots won\u2019t fly a coupled go around). Do you know how your autopilot reacts? Do you know what it feels like to punch off the autopilot and start hand flying at low level? It\u2019s worth practicing.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/airfactsjournal.com\/2024\/02\/art-instrument-approaches-7-tips\/ 1. Be comfortable at the final approach fix or go missed. Descending from the final approach fix towards the runway is a critical time in the life of an instrument pilot, since you are deliberately flying low to the ground without any visual references. Before you cross that fix and start the descent, take … Continue reading IFR tips<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9890,"href":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9889\/revisions\/9890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.austinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}