IFR MASTERY SCENARIOS
This month's scenario Turkey Day Turbulence #195 | NOVEMBER 2026 A short IFR hop across Florida turns into a challenging IFR workout as the descent brings sharp wind shifts, turbulence. Do you try again where you just missed or divert somewhere less convenient, maybe even all the way back home to drive instead?Start scenario →
Nice Guy in Newport
Here’s a day when the safety of flight is never in doubt. However, the future of your pilot certificate could be if you make the wrong decision. Is there a way to save time and help another pilot, or are you captive to the whims of regulation and a controller’s limited access to weather information?
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Making It Up at Macon
Every airport with a published instrument approach has been surveyed for an instrument departure. One might assume that means entering the clouds after takeoff is a viable option. What will you do when you discover the published departure for IFR requires visual conditions far better than the current cloud decks?
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Missed Below The DA
Instrument pilots should assume the approach will end in a missed approach until a landing is assured. At the same time, all pilots should conduct a go-around—even into the flare—if the landing goes poorly. So what happens when your go-around requires a missed approach that should have started two miles behind you?
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Severely Shaken by Richmond
It’s been a brutal flight. Every smart move to evade the ice, and then the turbulence, worked at first and then fell apart. You make the smart move to divert, only to find the weather relents on final approach. Now you’re on the ground wondering if one more “smart” move would bring victory or catastrophe.
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Rocky Approach to Plymouth
The brand-new GPS with its full-color moving map should make RNAV approaches a piece of cake. This time when ATC clears you for the approach, the hi-res display shows you three different options for the course to join—and ATC is no help. Which one is the right approach course to join? Does it matter?
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Dataless Over the Dakotas
It was a sound plan: Use your onboard datalink to avoid the widely scattered thunderstorms embedded in the clouds. But now that a dead FIS-B receiver has torpedoed that idea and stopping could mean a day on the ground. Do you struggle on top, scud run down low, or put all your faith in ATC?
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Baffling Options at Bend
What will you prioritize: Chart notes that seem pointless (and are perhaps even wrong), or your personal preference for an approach procedure? Does it matter that the legal answer might be more personally hazardous? Does it matter that doing it the “right” way means an even longer flight to finish the day?
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A Handheld Approach
You understand that single-engine flight in the clouds requires some tolerance of risk. You only have one engine, one vacuum pump, and one alternator. That last liability is why you have some handheld navigation. So after a complete electrical failure in IMC, what combination of the iPad GPS and handheld NAV/COM will get you on the ground?
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The Walls Around Berlin
We trust our lives to the instrument procedures created by the experts in Oklahoma City. Life is better with technology that automatically downloads new procedures as they’re published. But what do you do when an updated procedure doesn’t look quite right—and you need it to safely navigate around the rocks you can’t see?
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VNAV Goes AWOL
You’re loving the upgraded avionics you use every day for work as a cargo pilot—until the GPS throws an error message you’ve never seen before. Suddenly, a successful approach is in doubt. With no time to troubleshoot and ceilings just above minimums, can you find a solution or must you give up on the mission?
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Wrong Way Out of Ramona
They say the short flights can be the toughest, so this 28-mile flight across a Class B could be a headache. Doing it IFR seemed like the way to simplify the flight—until your clearance comes back with a route that’s 40 miles in the wrong direction. Will you play along, or figure out a way to game the system?
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Zero Vis at Driggs
You’ve got a capable airplane and an important mission, but one small problem will make this landing a challenging one. If you can just get on the ground, you can get the problem fixed and everyone on their way. But how will you do that when you can’t see straight ahead?
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Agile in Montgomery
The flight was planned in a narrow zone above the MEAs but below the icing. That zone dwindles to zero just as the destination comes in reach, but you aren’t ATC’s priority. Then a controller offers you exactly what you want. Now you must ask yourself: Is it what you need?
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The Day ATC Went Zero
Instrument pilots train for all sorts of failures: communication, navigation, instrumentation, and even propulsion. But what about a failure of the entire ATC system for your sector? It doesn’t matter how cutting edge your navigation equipment might be if air traffic rules from 1951 keep you flying in circles unable to reach your destination.
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No VORs Today
You have somewhere to be, and one lousy antenna just broke on your airplane. What’s even more annoying is that you never use that system anyway. Is it reasonable to make this flight IFR? What about a shorter IFR or VFR flight to fix the problem? Or, is there perhaps another solution?
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Rapid Return in Portland
Whenever you depart into low IMC, you load the approach coming back in case you need a hasty return. Is a partial engine failure the time to execute that plan? Or is it so urgent, you need to reverse course and land against traffic? The plane has a parachute as well, but that presents its own problems.
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Boston Bait and Switch
You’re keeping your speed up until final at a busy Class B airport. Then ATC throws you a curveball: a visual approach to a crossing runway. You swing a tight downwind, base and final—only to go back in the clouds. But there’s no missed approach from a visual, so what will you do?
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Sucked into a Thunderstorm
After weaving around cells all morning, it’s time to call it a day. ATC turns you toward the approach for the nearest airport—and right into a cell that was not where it showed on your NEXRAD display. Will you do an about face to get out of it, or just cross over to the other side?
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Poor Choices over Richfield
With mountains below and icing above, you already have a narrow envelope for finishing this flight. Then a GPS issue leaves you with only four airports available for an approach—each of which lies in a different direction. How will you choose knowing that once you make the call you’re committed and there’s little leeway for a second try?
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Departing Under WATTR
A thin layer of IFR separates you from a trip home. The plane is legal, but the GPS database isn’t current and you’ve been assigned an RNAV departure. To make things worse, that’s the only published departure. Can you fly it safely? Can you fly it legally? Or, is it better to roll something of your own?
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