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Old January 30th 04, 01:23 PM
Gary Drescher
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"Ross Oliver" wrote in message
...
Ron Garrison wrote:
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?


Well, I believe the FARs differ:

FAR 61.51(g) Logging instrument flight time
(1) A person may log instrument time only for that flight time when
the person operates the aircraft solely by reference to instruments
under actual or simulated instrument conditions.

IMHO, the key word is "solely." Since you say: "I could see the ground
below just fine the whole time," you were not operating solely by

reference
to instruments, and therefore the flight time and approach cannot legally
be counted toward instrument currency.


Seeing the ground doesn't necessarily mean you're operating the aircraft by
reference to the ground at all. You could fly an approach with visibility
of, say, 0.5 sm (and therefore be solidly in IMC), and still see be able to
the ground the whole time. But you wouldn't necessarily be using that view
to aviate or navigate.

--Gary

Setting aside the legalities, from a practical standpoint:

Roy Smith wrote:
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.


I would apply a more stringent test: if you flew six approaches ONLY
in these conditions, would you feel your instrument skills would be
sufficiently current to fly in your personal IMC minimums?


Ross Oliver