Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.") It's part of what makes aviation so exciting for all of us... just when you think you've seen it all, along comes a scenario you've never imagined.

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators, and as representatives of the flying community. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

It is our unabashed goal that "Aero-Tips" will help our readers become better, safer pilots -- as well as introducing our ground-bound readers to the concepts and principles that keep those strange aluminum-and-composite contraptions in the air... and allow them to soar magnificently through it.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you through the Aero-News Network. Suggestions for future Aero-Tips are always welcome, as are additions or discussion of each day's tips. Remember... when it comes to being better pilots, we're all in this together.

Aero-Tips 05.28.06

In a recent Aero-Tips article we discussed options for "picking up" an instrument clearance when departing a nontowered airport. One option:

Depart in visual conditions when you are assured you can remain in Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC), and contact Air Traffic Control (ATC) by radio to pick up your IFR clearance in the air.

Launching VFR on an IFR trip is not without risk, however. Read on...

From the NTSB:

The crew of a Beechjet 400A filed a flight plan for a 15-minute flight from Rome, Georgia to Huntsville, Alabama. It was a typical day of corporate flying for the professional crew, with seven executives of a grocery store chain on a fast-paced, multi-city facilities tour. There was no tower or Remote Communications Outlet (RCO) at Rome, so the crew elected to depart VFR under an overcast, planning to pick up their IFR clearance once they could make radio contact with ATC.

After departing the captain called Atlanta Center. There was another IFR airplane in the area that prevented Atlanta from issuing the Beechjet its clearance; the controller advised the crew to remain VFR. While waiting for their clearance the crew "became concerned about higher terrain" and began maneuvering to avoid hills as they climbed closer to the mountain-obscuring cloud layer. About four minutes after taking off the jet impacted a hill at 1580 feet, or roughly 900 feet above field elevation. All nine aboard the Beechjet perished and the airplane was destroyed.

Traffic

In controlled airspace without radar coverage only one IFR airplane can be admitted at a time. Taking off VFR means you must be able to remain VFR in the event you cannot pick up your clearance at all. Traffic in the area may prevent ATC from issuing you your clearance.

Airspace

There have been cases also where pilots launch VFR to pick up a clearance in the air, but either "bust" Class B, C or D airspace or fly into the ground trying to avoid the airspace bust. Don't plan to pick up your clearance in the air if you'll have to maneuver wildly to avoid airspace (or nearby traffic), especially at night or near rising terrain.

MVA

Here's a gotcha: ATC can't give you a clearance in the air unless you're at the Minimum Vectoring Altitude (MVA), the lowest level for reliable radar contact. In some areas this may be several thousand feet above ground level. MVAs are not published in sources available to pilots; if there's a mid-level cloud deck you might call the controlling ATC facility directly and ask for the MVA in your area.

Aero-tip of the day: Departing VFR to pick up an IFR clearance in the air is an expedient that works well in good VFR weather. Resist time pressure to use this technique, however, in areas of IFR weather or rising, obscured terrain.

FMI: Aero-Tips