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Old January 30th 04, 02:34 AM
Ron Garrison
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Good advice, thanks! Hand flying that ILS while having to look out for the
multiple VFR targets did more to keep me sharp than flying a coupled
autopilot approach to minimums in solid IMC from before the IAF.

The purpose of the question was to get a better understanding of what the
rules are, knowing that what is legal and what is safe are two different
things. Flying one ILS approach through a calm, thick overcast layer each
month, with one hold thrown in every six months, would keep me perfectly
legal, but the only thing that it would give me real confidence in is my
ability to fly an ILS on a calm day. I am still sorting out in my own mind
the difference between "flight in IFR conditions", which is clearly defined
as conditions below VMC minimums, and "flight by reference to instruments",
which is what gets logged and is vaguely defined at best.


"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Ron Garrison" wrote:

I had a 'first' last week, and I am looking for other peoples thoughts

on
this one. It was my first (I believe) loggable instrument approach in

what
was legally VMC. I was flying from the San Francisco bay area down to
Burbank. The reported conditions were sky clear, visibility 4 miles in

haze,
with the ILS 8 in use, no mention of visual approaches. The visibility

part
was right, from about 4,000 feet down to the surface there was about 4

miles
visibility based on when the runway appeared. I could see the ground

below
just fine the whole time, but looking forward there was no visible

horizon.

I considered the approach loggable because:
1) navigation aids were required to find the airport
2) There was no visible horizon so the attitude indicator was

required
to identify and maintain the desired aircraft attitude.

Any differing opinions on this one?



I can only repeat something I've said before. You can lie to your
instructor, you can lie to the FAA, and you can lie to your logbook.
But you can't lie to yourself.

Do you honestly feel the experience of flying the approach was such that
it helped keep your instrument skills sharp? If the answer is "yes",
then go ahead and log it with a clear conscience.