One of the most important skills pilots learn during flight training is sound decision-making. Every flight, regardless of the complexity of the airplane or the distance of the trip, is comprised of a continuous series of decisions involving a host of variables that the pilot must make in order to safely get from point A to point B.

In this PilotWorkshops IFR Mastery scenario, you own a Beech Sundowner equipped with upgraded instruments, an IFR GPS and an autopilot. The Sundowner will take you, your spouse and a family friend from Abilene, Texas (KABI) to McAlester, Oklahoma (KMLC). On approach to your destination, you execute a missed approach in low IFR conditions. Should you try this approach again or cut your losses and head to the alternate?

The flight will utilize and explain a Tower Enroute Control (TEC) route which is an FAA program of standard routes that keep a flight solely within approach control airspace instead of working with air route traffic control centers.