Without taking fuel burn into consideration, you can wind up in a situation where you no longer have enough fuel to fly to the alternate – and perhaps even the destination.As an instrument rated pilot, you know all about flying holding patterns and computing entries. But you can’t fly around in a holding pattern all day, sooner or later you’ll have to decide when to bug out and go to the alternate. It’s better to make this decision sooner than later, here’s how.

The fundamental problem with holding patterns is fuel. Here you are burning gas, but getting no closer to the airport. Without taking fuel burn into consideration, you can wind up in a situation where you no longer have enough fuel to fly to the alternate – and perhaps even the destination.

We need to put first things first: always fly the airplane. This is especially important in single pilot IFR with no autopilot. You don’t want your fuel planning to distract you from making a safe holding pattern entry or worse.

Determining your bug out time is as simple as 1, 2, 3.

1. Plan the diversion from the holding fix to the alternate airport.

This one should be easy – you were trained for it as a private pilot. Find a radio navigation As a pilot, you should feel uneasy about landing with anything less than your required reserve fuel, (45 minutes for IFR flight). That’s why I suggest planning to divert just before your fuel on board equals BURN + Reserveaid and course that will get you  to that alternate. You will also need to figure out the  distance to the alternate. All of this is almost automatic with the use of modern GPS systems, which typically provide a heading and distance at the very least.

2. Get the fuel burn to the alternate.

You might think that you’ve already done this in the preflight planning phase, but be careful. The alternate airport fuel burn on your flight plan is probably based on flying from the destination to the alternate. Alternate fuel burn will be different from the holding fix and this is especially critical if the alternate airport is beyond the destination.

"Captain, this primitive flight computer is most illogical"

Since most private pilots think of fuel on board in terms of minutes, this is actually pretty simple. Just spin the E6B flight computer (or cheat by looking at your GPS) and figure out the time from the holding fix to the alternate.

We’ll refer to this as BURN in step 3.

3. Figure out the bug out time.

As a pilot, you should feel uneasy about landing with anything less than your required reserve fuel, (45 minutes for IFR flight). That’s why I suggest planning to divert just before your fuel on board equals BURN + Reserve.

This sets us up to land with 45 minutes of gas in the tank at the alternate airport.

Continue to page two for an example ->

A favorite question among private pilots. Should I get my instrument rating? In short, the answer is a resounding yes! Pilots who continue their training are 52% less likely to have an accident. Not only are the statistics in your favor: imagine this.

Now if you had your instrument rating you could have easily made a routine
IFR flight with minimal “actual” conditions.

I’ll be the first to tell you that my instrument rating was one of the hardest
things I’ve done. My instructor was very demanding but it made me into a much better pilot.

I’m a firm believer that a good pilot is always learning! So why not step up to
the plate and make an appointment for your first or next instrument lesson.
Your instrument rating will not only make you a safer pilot but a more confident pilot.

There has been a lot of talk about the “point and wait” trick for cloud clearance since my first post on the subject. To clear up any questions on the matter, I went up and shot some video of this rule of thumb in action. Check it out and spread the word.

The task that befuddles most  instrument pilots in training doesn’t involve flying at all! Prior to taxi, and sometimes prior to engine start, we need to copy and read back an IFR clearance. This is generally the most complicated set of instructions issued by Air Traffic Control throughout the whole flight, and it usually comes fast enough to make any pilot’s head spin! But if you know what to listen for, you can copy even the most confusing clearances like a pro.

ATC Phrase	Shorthand / Symbol
Clear	C
Fly Runway Heading	RH
Turn Right/Left Heading #	← 330 or → 030
Climb and Maintain 3,000 Feet	↑ 3

There is no rule for ATC shorthand. Use whatever system makes sense to you, and change it as needed. Just make sure you can read it afterwords!

Be Prepared

When you make the initial call to pick up an IFR clearance, you have to be ready for it. Like I said, some controllers will read your clearance fast, so make sure you have a good pen and a piece of paper ready before keying the microphone.

Know the Format

In almost all cases, IFR clearances are issued in the same order. This makes readback habitual (easy) once you get the hang of it. For this reason, a lot of CFI’s teach the CRAFT acronym.

It’s easy to use, just write CRAFT on your kneeboard vertically and copy your clearance in the order given:

Clearance Fix (usually the destination airport)
Route (typically “AF” for as-filed)
Altitude
Frequency (departure frequency to call once airborne)
Transponder

Putting it All Together

Suppose you receive the following clearance:

“Cessna 12345 cleared to Nashville as filed, fly runway heading, climb and maintain three thousand, expect seven thousand one zero minutes after departure, departure frequency one two four point six five, squawk two seven one three.”

Your kneeboard should look something like this:

C BNA
R AF RH
A ↑3     7     10
F 124.65
T 2713

Practice Makes Perfect

As I said, these clearances come fast and it takes some time getting used to the format. Luckily, there is a resource for web-savvy pilots to gain some practice. Visit LiveATC.net, a website that streams live air traffic control audio from major airports over the web. Try listening to Boston clearance  delivery with a paper and pencil. Copy and mentally read back clearances as they come and compare your response to that of other pilots! It’s a great way to gain months of free experience for just a few hours at home.

If you’re still having trouble, don’t be discouraged. Clearances are a common bump in the road for most pilots: it will all come to you with a little time and patience.

It’s a good idea to avoid the clouds as much as possible. For IFR pilots, you’ll typically find a smoother ride in the clear. VFR pilots have no choice on the matter: per cloud-clearance rules, it’s the law! But what about that cloud out on the horizon? You don’t need a Sporty’s sight-level to tell if you’re going to hit that puffy cumulus up ahead. All you need is a finger!

Point at the top of the cloud.

Step 1: Point
Take your pointer finger and literally point at the top of the cloud. Reach forward and physically touch the window at the top of the cloud.

Step 2: Wait
Keep your head and finger in the same position while maintaining unaccelerated flight: straight & level or steady & stabilized climb or descent.

Step 3: Observe
Observe the cloud’s motion relative to your finger.
If the cloud appears to move below your finger, you will pass above the cloud. But if the cloud moves above the finger, you can expect to go IMC in a few moments.

If cloud moves below your finger you will pass above.

If cloud moves above finger, you'll fly into the cloud.

This whole trick is based on the old collision-avoidance rule that any airplane with no apparent motion must be on a collision course. It’s easy to “eyeball” another airplane and detect relative motion.. Because of the slower closure rates and enormous size of some clouds, it is a lot more difficult to judge motion.

If you don’t mind writing on the windows, you can also use a dry-erase marker to free up your hand.

From the early days of instrument training, we are taught to expect to go missed at the conclusion of an instrument approach. I think we all understand why: the point is not to get too cocky, and to remind yourself that minimums are just that: minimums. Point well taken, but when things get real are you actually prepared to fly the missed approach?

To do all of this on the fly is to ask for trouble. Instead, plan ahead for the missed approach. Professional pilots make this part of a complete “approach briefing,” and it’s a good idea for private pilots to do the same.

During your initial approach preparation, take a good look at the published missed approach procedure. Get familiar with the chart and compute your holding pattern entry. Check out my post on Holding Patterns Entries Made Easy, it should help.

During the final segment of your approach, take a quick peek at your chart and memorize the first step of the missed approach. Usually this is just a heading and an altitude. Now would be a good time to set any altitude or heading bugs as a friendly reminder.

If you do get behind the airplane on an actual missed (hey, it happens!) do not just wing it! Confess your situation to the tower and ask for a vector and altitude. Remember: safety is the name of the game here. Contrary to popular belief, controllers do not carry pitchforks. They are there to help so ask for it if you need it.

Summer is upon us and with it comes the inevitable thunderstorm. This is especially true in the Southeast where the forecast for “vicinity thunderstorms” dominates nearly every TAF. Thunderstorms don’t always have to spell out a cancelled flight, but proper thunderstorm avoidance requires a heightened level of awareness from us as pilots.

That being said, we can’t let a little thing like scattered thunderstorms cancel our plans all the time. Scattered cumulonimbus clouds tend to be few and far apart, making it easy pilots to pick their way around the weather. There are two schools of thought on this.

Rainshafts and virga extend from a dissipating thunderstorm

A lot of VFR pilots prefer to stay down low and avoid the rain shafts by a healthy margin. Although this method does work, it has its drawbacks. First off, it’s mighty bumpy down low with all that convective activity going on. Furthermore, a thick haze layer could obstruct your vision just enough to lure you into the weather. Flying around under the clouds with increasing weather can even tempt the most disciplined pilot into scud-running, which is always a bad idea.

Perhaps the best way to dodge weather is to get on top and visually weave your aircraft around the buildups. After flying a variety of aircraft with anything from onboard radar to XM satellite weather, I can personally vouch for Richard L. Collins’ statement that the best weather avoidance tools are your own eyes, or the “Mark II Eyeball,” as he calls it.

My eyeballs tell me I don't want to fly through that.

Visually dodging works great, but piston driven (and even turboprop) aircraft can’t always stay out of the muck. That’s right, the instrument rated pilot might find himself blindly flying towards embedded thunderstorms! Without onboard weather radar, this is a very dicey proposition and serious thought should be given to landing and reevaluating your options.

If you are continuing (are you sure this is such a good idea?) then it would be prudent to make full use of air traffic control and local flight service stations. You might be blind, but the controllers and FSS personnel may be able to suggest alternate routing that will keep you out of the worst of it. Sure, there are no guarantees, but it’s better than nothing.

The darker areas will usually have more severe turbulence.

Even in the clouds, the window can play a role in thunderstorm avoidance. Near nasty weather, it is not uncommon to see gradients of white and grey in the windshield. As a rule of thumb, avoid the dark patches for the smoothest ride and don’t ask, but tell the controllers what you need in terms of heading and altitude.

Thunderstorms are serious business, and ought to be avoided at all costs. This doesn’t mean that you can’t fly, but it does mean that you have to be careful. Visual avoidance is always your best bet, and the decision to enter a region of thunderstorms in IMC needs to be well thought out. Use all available resources to plan and reevaluate your flight, and know that there is no shame in landing and waiting out the storm.

I’m sure all of you IFR types know the drill. ATC assigns you a holding pattern and it is up to you to enter that hold in one of three ways: parallel, direct, or teardrop. Which entry do you choose? Well it all depends upon your intercept angle with the holding pattern… or something like that. Truth be told, I have no idea! But wait, how can you fly a holding pattern if you can’t do the mental math to compute your entry? It’s quite simple really: I do it visually.

Holding Pattern

That’s right, I barely even think about my entry. I just visualize the holding pattern, look at it, and visualize the appropriate entry. It’s quite simple really, lets look at a typical holding pattern. There are three possible holding pattern entries, all of which depend on where our airplane will be after crossing the holding fix. The trick is to remember three simple rules; after passing the fix, if the airplane is:

1. Inside the hold, perform a teardrop entry.
   Given the hold in the picture, if we approach the holding fix from the Northwest, then our airplane will be inside of the holding pattern (between the inbound and outbound legs).
2. Outside the hold, perform a parallel entry.
   Again, look at the picture, if we arrive from the East, the airplane will be outside of the holding pattern. We must turn to our outbound heading (180 in this case) and begin a parallel entry.
3. With the hold, perform a direct entry.
   This is the no-brainer. If you are heading in the same general direction as the inbound leg, just make that initial (in this case right) turn and fly the outbound leg.

This method sure beats doing a bunch of mental math whilst flying an airplane, and seriously reduces the chance of error. It is worth nothing that air traffic controllers don’t really care what kind of entry you make, so long as the airplane remains on the safe side (that’s the same side as the outbound leg). If you get all garbled up, just stick to the safe side and make it work!

I know holding patterns are a very abstract concept and can be difficult to envision. Please comment on this post if you need clarification on visually computing holding pattern entries.

How often do you shoot an instrument approach? Chances are that it is not very often. Most of us have the good sense to stay out of the weather when conditions are marginal. Furthermore, in most parts of the world, the weather is usually conducive to a visual approach. This is good news for VFR pilots, but it can make the instrument rated aviator more than a bit rusty.

Airline pilots do this sort of thing on nearly every flight. When the ATIS indicates a visual approach is in use, flight crews typically brief that “this will be a visual, backed up by the ILS.” This means that we will plan on making a visual approach, while preparing for the instrument approach. This dual visual/instrument approach has several advantages.

First, the pilot’s situational awareness is boosted by the use of radio aids. We’ve all lost sight of the runway at some time or another, but a quick check of the localizer needle can provide an at-a-glance reassurance that you haven’t blown through the final approach course! Furthermore, GPS systems can be configured to display instrument approaches (and even visual approaches in some cases) as an extended centerline miles away from the runway. So long as you can fly the airplane to that line and make the turn, you ought to find the runway right in front of the nose.

Another advantage of backing up the visual with an instrument approach is that it simultaneously sharpens both visual and instrument skills. By monitoring the CDI and glideslope indicator, the pilot is more likely to maintain the perfect site-picture for a stellar landing (so long as speed control is right on!). Furthermore, the pilot’s mind will be forced to interpret and understand localizer and/or glideslope indications, leading to greater skill and confidence when landing in actual instrument conditions.

For IFR traffic operating into busy towered airports, it is strongly recommended that pilots be prepared for the most likely instrument approach as controllers may issue clearances and speed restrictions to specific approach fixes. For example, a pilot may be “cleared for the visual 18L, maintain 140 knots to RONEE, contact tower 119.7 at RONEE.” The prepared pilot will already have configured for the ILS and is already in a position to identify RONEE without scrambling for charts in a high-workload environment.

It is important to note that backing up a visual approach with an instrument approach is not the same thing as flying an actual instrument approach. These approaches cannot be logged as instrument approaches for the sake of maintaining currency unless it is done under a training hood with a qualified safety pilot.

At all times, the pilot should keep in mind that he is flying a visual approach, which does not have a published missed approach procedure. In the event of a go-around, entering the traffic pattern would be the appropriate maneuver unless otherwise directed by air traffic control.

Contrary to popular belief, air traffic controllers do not have hooves and pitchforks. Nothing befumbles private pilots more than communicating with air traffic control. Many of us simply don’t fly ‘in the system’ often enough to be comfortable with the lingo, while others have a genuine fear of messing up a radio call. Read on for a few simple tips to help you in your communication with ATC.

1. Don’t Rush. Radio calls are supposed to be concise, but they should also be clear. Don’t talk at 100 miles per hour.
2. Be Concise. Leave off unnecessary words and phrases. Instead of “Approach, 456TA ‘with you at’ three-thousand-five-hundred,” say “Approach, 456TA, three-thousand-five-hundred.”
3. Think. Before checking in or making a request, think about what you are going to say and phrase it in your mind.
4. Listen. Before checking in on a new frequency or making a request, stop and listen so as not to step on anyone else.
5. Respond Quickly. When a controller issues a new heading or altitude, respond quickly before the controller has a chance to forget the exact clearance that was issued.
6. Carry a Pen and Paper. Always have a pen and paper on hand to copy ATIS and amendments to your route.
7. Ask. Never be afraid to ask for clarification if you have the slightest doubt about an ATC instruction or clearance.
8. Use Reminders. Always set your bugs to your newly assigned heading and altitude. If your airplane doesn’t have one, write it down.
9. Be Honest. If you are unable to comply with an instruction for any reason, let the controller know.
10. Remember Who’s Boss. You are the PIC. Never accept a clearance that will endanger the safety of flight or lead to a violation of the FARs.