Hello everyone, I'm about a week away from taking my instrument checkride, but I'm lacking in one area I thought would be a breeze. After spending months practicing holds, approaches & arcs I was double-checking the PTS and realised that we had not practised unusual attitudes. My CFII told me they...

Apparently, if you file IFR HPN - MMU, you get a clearance which starts "CMK CMK275R SAX039R SAX" (i.e. fly outbound on the CMK 275 until you intercept the SAX 039, then fly that inbound to SAX). In the good old days of 2 VOR receivers, this is trivial to fly; the radios don't know or care that...

I picked up a cheap infarred themometer a few days ago and discovered that it will happily tell me the temperature of the clouds if they are low. It seems to me that the temp gradiant from the ground is well known and if its consistant, this device combined with a table could tell me how low the...

OK, I'm flying my local VOR-A which calls for an outbound heading of 252, then I'm suppoosed to turn 45 deg to 207 to begin the PT. But there is a STRONG x-wind and I am already crabbed to about 215 to hold the 252 outbound course. I assume I turn to something not quite approaching 170 (45 deg...

I'm currently flying VFR in a vfr equipped plane. What would be the lowest cost GPS based instrument system I could install and be legal for IFR flying? I looked through the last six months of this newsgroup, but didn't see a FAQ or the answer to the above, so I hope it won't be something that...

A question: the landing minimums section for ILS CAT-III approaches may have separate lines for A, B, and C. In some cases the C line has an "NA" for visibility, and on some other plates the whole C line is missing. So, what's the difference? Does "NA" mean "not authorized", i.e. CAT-IIIC cannot be...

I would be interested in getting opinions about backup systems for a vacuum pump failure and/or AI failure. I have a 172P with a single vacuum pump system, standard instruments otherwise, and a Garmin 430. I am most concerned about having a good backup if I lose a vacuum pump or AI in IMC. I have...

How many times do you get a cruise clearance. Ever get "unable" Lets say the cloud layers are 4000 to 5200. You are cleared to 5000, but want to climb to 5300 or above. Is it possible to get a "cruise" clearance to stay above the layers? What about over class B?

On Saturday my instructor and I flew to Stewart International in Newburg, NY for a few approaches. The plan was to fly out and do the VOR -27 partial panel a couple of times, followed by an ILS. After that we planned to fly to 4N1, Greenwood Lake, before returning to CDW. Partial panel holding had...

Hello, Here's a situation that keeps coming up: I'm coming home to SQL and want to fly the GPS30 approach. Like many GPS approaches, this one looks like the letter "L". The corner of the L is AMEBY, and 5 miles later after that is the FAF, CUZUP. AMEBY is not an IAF, but that doesn't stop...

I have a VFR only 172 and I am considering IFR training. I am looking for the most practical way to make my plane IFR certified and useful. At first glance, it appears to me that the Garmin 430 provides a LOT of useful information for relatively not much money. I have 2 questions though....

Question A: I'm trying to get fast and accurate at programming routes (and possible reroutes) into the KLN94 and G1000 navigators our club planes are equipped with. I was wondering, does ATC usually give you the VOR 3 letter ID or the full name? If it's the full name and it's unfamiliar...

I have a trip for my boss starting on Sunday July 10, through Sunday July 17. My usual Co-Pilot is not going to be able to do the trip. The trip will start in Santa Barbara, CA and we will fly to Auckland, New Zealand (NZAA). We will overnight for two days, then head over to Tokyo (RJAA), and then...

I was just reading Don Brown's latest (6/22) on avweb: http://www.avweb.com/news/columns/189944-1.html This column is about NORDO IFR procedures. I like Don's columns and find their nitpickiness to be consistent with safe flying, if a little bit annoying. But in this column, two things stuck out...

Hello all, I've made the appointment for my IR checkride, although it's still a ways out, and had a couple things on my mind. 1) Concerning the heading standards (+- 10 degrees, of course), I find that I still, at this point, _occasionally_ exceed them, _especially_ in prepping for an approach...

When the weather is bad and the examiner gives you the option of delaying for better weather, don't say "Well, if I can't pass my checkride in IMC I'm probably not qualified for the IFR rating." First attempt at the checkride. Icing forecast at 6,000. Examiner said "No problem. We probably...

I'm going to be flying from ROC to BAF weekend after next. Just plugging the end points into Aeroplanner gives me a nice simple route V2 ALB V146, but I see that BAF has a STAR, SWEDE ONE. It's a bit longer than the simple route, and since I've never flown that direction I don't know if I should...

Chicagoans...please advise ... What about flying from North to South along the shore. Then cross between Midway and O'Hare at 1500MSL. Then continue south, after flipping the bird to Mayor Dick Daley. Is this the way, or is there something like the Hudson river VFR corridor ?

I've been doing most of my GPS flying with a CNX-80, which doesn't seem to suffer from loss of RAIM. Last night I was flying with a GX-60, and got a RAIM warning when commencing an approach. The GX-60 manual isn't real illuminating on what you're supposed to do at this point. Presumably,...

Yesterday I played with the parallel track function in the CNX-80 for the first time. I was introducing the CNX-80 to a student and I had planned a VFR flight via airways. My student (rightfully) questioned the wisdom of an over-water segment, so we decided to fly that segment on a 5-mile offset...