When I was in high school, I did a project which involved interviewing military veterans. There were four veterans I interviewed – two who were in the Vietnam War and two in Korea (one was my grandfather). The main focus was to interview them about their personal experiences, and about combat. To do this I had to do research and create tactful, sensitive questions.

My project was successful and I learned a lot, mainly to honor our veterans for what they did. Each veteran was interviewed separately and they did not know each other. However, they all had one experience in common. They told me that their rigorous boot camp training was a major reason why they survived combat. During a firefight, their training with various weapons and scenarios was key to overcoming the potentially crippling fear of combat. When their adrenaline was rushing, hearts pounded, and overworked lungs were burning, their training took over almost like they were on autopilot.

As pilots, there are lessons to be learned from this description. Unless we are flying low over moonshine country, we have no one shooting at us, but these veterans also said their time in service involved very long periods of extreme boredom, followed by short periods of extreme chaos and fear. As pilots, we experience long periods with little to do but monitor instruments and equipment and take in the views (cruise flight), and short periods of high workloads (takeoff and landing). We shouldn’t experience fear unless something goes wrong, or something breaks. We should expect that our training  will take over and guide us through a particular event. If you were to experience a real emergency, do you feel confident your training has prepared you to handle it?

The PTS (practical test standards) book for every license spells out what’s expected from the student. It also spells out what’s expected of the examiner. The examiner is expected to, whenever possible, ask scenario based questions. They ask these during the oral, or give scenarios in flight for the student to work through. This shows the examiner that the student knows this task to the highest level of learning — correlation.

We all learn at different levels. The first level is rote learning. Examples of this level of learning would include memorizing aircraft V-speeds or limitations. Knowing why we use Vx to clear an obstacle or Vbg (best glide) in an engine-out emergency is the next level of learning — understanding.

The third level, application, is putting any knowledge to use in the airplane. The highest level of learning is when you realize how all the different areas of aviation (systems, limitations, weather, performance, regulations, etc.) relate to each other. You take everything into consideration when making decisions. This is called correlation. Scenario-based training encourages this highest level of learning to help you make safer decisions.

Scenario-based training should be a major part of your lessons, whether you’re a student or an instructor. For example, instead of reading and understanding the electric fire/failure checklist, practice it in the air. Once you secure the simulated fire, turn off the master switch (when in a non-congested area and not under a mode C veil), take off your headsets and work the problem to the ground (have a radio and speaker on for collision avoidance). Does your airplane require electric for flaps or gear when landing? Were you talking to ATC at the time? Now do this scenario at night, what changes? How does the workload increase? What about engine failure/fire to a forced landing?

Instead of taking the plane to 500 feet about the ground, try doing this by a runway or suitable grass strip and take the plane all the way to the ground. Talk about differences coping with abnormal or emergency procedures at night, over mountainous terrain or over an overcast layer. What about something slightly less dramatic like high oil temperature, a stuck throttle, a door opening in flight (if not a limitation)? Do this and watch you or your student’s confidence grow.

There are many different scenarios that can be created, mostly based around the aircraft’s emergency section in the operating handbook. There are also many scenarios that can occur that the manufacturer does not provide a checklist for.  It’s valuable to work through the less likely scenarios as well, but always with an instructor and never compromise safety.  This type of training should be done prior to the checkride. Not only to pass the examiner’s scenario-based questions and tasks, but for your personal growth and safety. Moreover, scenario-based training is the best preparation for after you receive your license. It keeps you current and safe and ensures you’re always learning.

If something goes wrong while flying and your adrenaline is rushing and your heart starts pounding, scenario-based training will be crucial to help get you over your fear, and work the problem to continue flying safely and to the nearest airport. Keep your instructor’s number close by to enlist his help and experience.

 

Learning about weather is one of the most important things you can do as a student pilot (or as an experienced pilot, for that matter). And one of the first weather products you’ll encounter is the Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF), which predicts the weather at specific times for many larger airports. This forecast includes wind, ceiling and visibility–sort of like a METAR in the future.

But just like any weather product, TAFs take some interpreting to get the most value out of them. With that in mind, here are some tips to keep in mind when reading a TAF.

• TAFs are valid only for the airport area. An airport 25 miles away is pretty close in flying terms, but can be a million miles away in weather terms. Be careful not to extrapolate too much when reading a TAF–terrain or other local conditions may mean that nearby TAF is worthless for your flight. This is especially true with localized weather events, like ground fog or scattered thunderstorms. Technically, a TAF is only valid for the area within a 5 statute mile radius of the airport.
• Focus on the trend more than the exact times. The TAF says the ceiling will go from 800 feet to 5000 feet at precisely 10am. Does that mean that a 10:05 departure is a good idea? Probably not. It’s likely that the forecaster will get the trend right (i.e., improving ceilings), but nailing the timing is fiendishly difficult. Focus on the general trend you can expect, but be conservative with timing.
• Don’t pretend the weather is better than it is. Put another way, current weather information always trumps a forecast. So if the TAF suggested the wind wouldn’t pick up until later, but the latest METAR says it’s gusting to 25 knots, don’t ignore reality. It’s likely the forecast was wrong. Some pilots have been known to take off in poor weather conditions simply because the TAF (that could be hours old) promised it wouldn’t be that way. Be more skeptical.
• The age of a TAF matters. Related to the last point, the older a forecast, the less reliable it is. So the age of the TAF you’re reading matters (and is published right at the beginning of every one). Fortunately, TAFs are released on a regular schedule (0000Z, 0600Z, 1200Z, 1800Z), so you can plan when to check the weather. If it’s 1710Z, go ahead and read the TAF, but check back after the 1800Z forecast comes out. In particular, see what changes the forecaster made–is the trend getting better or worse since the last forecast?

Here’s one final tip–did you know that not all TAFs are created equal? Most TAFs forecast conditions for the 24 hours after issuance. But at certain large airports (usually commercial airports that get a lot of long-distance international flights), the forecast period is extended to 30 hours. This is needed for pre-flight planning when a flight could last 18 hours. Use this to your advantage–a longer range TAF can be helpful for planning the night before a flight.

Also, some airports–including Chicago, Atlanta and New York–update their TAFs every three hours instead of every six hours. This is because of the high volume of flights that use these airports, where a more precise and current forecast is essential for planning. Here again, as a general aviation pilot, you can use this to your advantage if you’re flying close to one of these airports.

TAFs are a valuable pre-flight planning tool, and they are created by experts who carefully consider a variety of different models and weather reports. But don’t be seduced by the precision of these forecasts. As you conduct your pre-flight weather briefing, consider the TAF a single data point, and nothing more. Also look at the weather synopsis, METARs, radar, satellite and Area Forecasts.

Too many pilots have learned the hard way that just because a TAF said it would be good weather, doesn’t mean it actually will be.

When stressed learning to fly approaches, it is very easy to get behind the airplane.  During my IFR training, it was not uncommon for my instructor to ask me, “What is the next thing to do?”  And sometimes it was difficult, if not impossible, to answer!  In any stressful situation, the human mind easily can become a blank slate.  Obviously, this can be a dangerous situation while flying an airplane in the clouds.

Staying ahead of the airplane is much easier if the IFR pilot realizes that 1) there is a generic basic flow to every IFR flight and 2) when the items in the basic flow are memorized, mistakes are minimized.   Furthermore, if the IFR pilot knows the items that are needed to fly a specific type of approach (e.g. GPS, VOR, or ILS), stress and mistakes are further minimized.   In my experience teaching IFR flying, requiring students to memorize these items results in students having less difficulty learning approaches.

 

BASIC FLOW OF ALL IFR FLIGHTS

Each IFR flight terminating in an approach has the same basic elements, as outlined below.

 

1. Get started.  Obtain clearance and follow ATC instructions for climbing to a specific altitude and heading.  Upon reaching desired altitude, level off and complete the cruise checklist.

 

2.  Run through the approach briefing.   Set up for the approach via an approach briefing.  Although there may be other useful checklists, my choice has been the WISP and ICE ATM checklists (see below).  Each checklist emphasizes different items and, therefore, it may be helpful to run through both checklists to double check that the set up for the approach has been thought through completely and properly.

– ICEATM:

I – Enter the Localizer or VOR frequencies and identify them via the Morse code or enter the approach into the GPS.

C – Set the inbound course using the OBS knob on the VOR or HSI.

E  – State method of approach entry (full or vectored) and make sure it is properly entered in the GPS if flying a GPS approach.   If a full approach, make sure to run through the entire procedure (holding pattern, DME arc, etc).

A – Run through the altitudes used in the approach, i.e. 1) initial altitude at start of approach, 2) step down altitudes if present, and 3) MDA or DA altitudes.

T – Is the timer needed – is it a timed approach?

M – Run through the missed approach instructions.

This list is followed by the nice-to-dos, such as: listen to the weather, make sure the marker beacon is on if needed, and make sure the CDI of the VOR or HSI is slaved appropriately to either the VOR or the GPS.

WISP:

W – Obtain the weather.

I – Make sure your flight instruments are set correctly (e.g. set barometric pressure, and CDI correctly).

S – Go through the avionics stack from top to bottom and make sure everything is set correctly (e.g. slave the CDI to the GPS or VOR, activate the marker beacon, tune in radio frequencies, tune in and identify VOR frequencies, or load the GPS approach into the GPS).

P – Run through the approach procedure, including the missed approach directions.

 

 

3. Expect missed approach instructions.  Expect ATC to deliver these instructions prior to joining the approach course.  Be ready to copy them down.

 

4. Join approach course.   Anticipate joining the initial or final approach course.  Instrument scan elements that need particular attention include, 1) distance to IAF or FAF shown on the GPS, and 2) CDI movement.  Vocalizing the distance to the IAF or FAF aloud each time the eyes look at the GPS during the instrument scan is very helpful in maintaining focus on the IAF or FAF.  This minimizes flying past these fixes without realizing it.  If flying a full approach, once the IAF has been reached, running through the five Ts is helpful (as it is when passing any waypoint) (see below for the five Ts).  For this portion of the approach, the clock becomes a necessary part of the instrument scan.  When the time is vocalized aloud each time the eyes look at the clock during the instrument scan, the pilot remains focused on the endpoint of the leg being flown.  Again, the mistake of flying past the waypoint and not realizing it is minimized using this technique.

Time – start the clock (or note the time)

Turn – turn to the new heading

Twist – turn the OBS to desired course

Throttle – change power setting if needed

Talk – talk to ATC if necessary

 

5.  Run through the SADS checklist 2 miles prior to reaching the FAF.  Two miles prior to reaching the FAF, it is prudent to run through this checklist to ensure a smooth transition to the approach course.

S – Slow down to appropriate speed (e.g. 90 kts for Cessna 172).  Incorporate looking at the distance to the FAF into the instrument scan and say the distance aloud each time the eyes look at the GPS during the instrument scan.  Again, this keeps the focus on the FAF, making it difficult to fly past it without starting the descent on time.

A – Altitude check.  Is the current altitude the altitude allowed in this segment of the approach (i.e. is a descent allowed to a lower altitude?) and reread the DA or MDA.

D – Descent checklist.  Perform the descent checklist.

S – Set-up for descent.  When arriving at either 1) the FAF for a nonprecision approach (VOR, nonprecision GPS, localizer, or NDB approach), 2) the glideslope of a precision ILS approach, or 3) the glide path for an APV approach, lower the flaps, decrease the power and pitch down to attain the proper descent rate for the approach leg.  The pilot should know the approximate pitch and power settings that will result in the airspeed/descent rate needed for a precision and nonprecision approach (e.g. in a Cessna 172 put in 10 degrees of flaps, pull the power back to about 1600 RPMs and pitch down about 4 degrees to maintain 90 kts while descending in a precision approach).

 

6.  Descend to MDA or DA.  The instrument scan now should include calling out altitudes as the descent is made down to the MDA of a nonprecision approach or a DA of a precision approach.  If the airport environment is not detected at the DA, a missed approach should be initiated.  If flying a nonprecision approach, once the MDA has been reached, 1) the distance to the MAP or 2) the clock (if a timed approach) should be included in the scan.  As stated previously, it is helpful to say aloud the distance or the time each time the pilot looks at the GPS or clock so that the pilot does not fly past the MAP.

 

Staying ahead of the airplane is key to reducing stress and successfully completing an IFR approach to a runway environment.  Use of the above techniques aid in minimizing errors in flying approaches and similar techniques can be useful in flying holds, as well.

 

Wishing you safe and enjoyable IFR flights!