Monday, September 20, 2010

Single Pilot IFR

The answer to the question of whether I would fly single pilot IFR is a simple one for me. No. The main reason that I say this is because I am currently not proficient, nor do I have any actual IMC time. These two factors combined or alone make for a very dangerous environment if you are single pilot IFR.  However, I do believe that my answer to this with more training and experience will become yes, because I believe that I will be able to do it safely with the correct knowledge and experience.
The SPIFR article was a very informative and helpful article to me, not only did it teach me things that I had never known before, but it also reminded me of many of the things I had forgotten.  One of these such things was how many tasks a normal person can hanle at once. For most 3 to 5 is the limit, however, if you exceed this limit or perhaps add an emergency or partial panel into the scenario, mistakes will start being made. This is why it is so important to stay ahead of the airplaneby AT LEAST two minutes. This will help to insure that when you do have an emergency you can focus your attention on it instead of scramling through your charts to find the right approach plate or frequency. 
Another thing that the article was trying to get across was how important practice is. Not only for newer pilots but also for experienced pilots especially in the SPIFR environment where you have to be perfect. Practicing flight planning and flying in PCATD's or whatever you can, even if it's just a chair, will all help to prepare you for the IFR environment so you can handle it when you are actually in it. It also has the benefit of making you more confident, efficient, and proficient.

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