VFR MASTERY SCENARIOS
This month's scenario Look Out, Dear #99 | OCTOBER 2026 You and your spouse are flying your V35 Bonanza into the private strip at Windsock Village, NH to meet another couple who are based there. After an overnight stay you’ll all continue to Owl’s Head, ME for the weekend. On arrival, a miscommunication involving the words “gear” and “deer” leads to a late go-around … and a direct hit on a deer. You climb away safely, but you’re unsure what damage, if any, was done to the prop, nose gear, or engine. The couple on the ground confirm the deer strike, but say that the runway is clear, and that there’s no obvious damage to your (still down) landing gear. As the sun sets, you weigh your options: try to land here again, or head elsewhere for bigger runways and better services.Start scenario →
Jumpers Away
You’re in the descent to your destination airport, where you have an appointment for your first ever tandem jump skydive. As you plan to cross the airport and enter the pattern, you hear a call of “Jumpers away”—probably from over your head. Do you need to change plans, or is an evasive action the worst choice?
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Runway Roulette at Hobby
What started as a favor for a friend has turned into a confusing mess of ATC instructions and attempts at landing. How much PIC authority will it take to straighten this out? And more importantly: Which choice gets you down and safe without causing a pilot deviation—or turning you into a 737 hood ornament?
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Crippled Climb Out of Charleston
It’s just a short hop in a plane you’ve logged hundreds of hours flying. However, it’s not until rotation that you realize how poorly the airplane is performing. Now there’s not enough runway to put it back down, but barely enough climb to keep it in the air. Where will you go?
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That Erie Feeling
Lowering ceilings and patchy showers have you pushing the limits of VFR along the shore of Lake Erie. The weather is much better along the north shore, but that’s Canada, and you don’t have a passport or permission from Customs and Border protection. Will you press on, turn around, or cross the fence in clear—but foreign—airspace?
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Rough Running at Wauchula
What looks like a perfect partnership in a Cessna Cardinal gets a bit rough over unforgiving swampland. How will you resolve an engine issue and personality conflict when it’s not your airplane—even though your backside will be in just as much trouble if the motor quits completely? The alligators below await your choice.
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The Impossible Go-Around?
You’ve got the whole family on board for a great weekend by the ocean. However, the landing attempt on a runway that’s short and obstructed didn’t go so well. Now you have only a second to decide if an attempted go-around will safely clear the trees—or result in a catastrophe.
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Split Decision at Salt Lake
You’re almost home, but a thunderstorm will make that last dash tricky. Can you make the run to your destination safely, or do you take one of the longer routes which present their own challenges? Or do you land at the airport nearly below you, but into the maw of a second storm rapidly heading that way?
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Low Volts Over Eugene
After a great day at the beach, it’s only a 40-minute flight home. But the sun has long since set, and an uncooperative alternator makes even a short VFR flight complicated when you consider navigation, communication, and regulations. Even the simplest choice isn’t so simple when you look at the big picture, and the destination is so temptingly close.
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Which Way to Yellowstone?
It's a perfect day for a flight to Yellowstone National Park, but the choice of route is anything but clear. Will you go high or low? Will you go direct or take one of the long ways around? How will you weigh the risks and benefits for a flight out and back in the high country?
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No Leg to Stand On
One risk of retractable-gear aircraft is that the wheels might not come down no matter what you do. Now you're faced with picking the kind of gear-up landing you prefer: two wheels or none, grass or pavement? Don't think this one is just for retract pilots. Gear issues happen in all airplanes.
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Feet Wet or Dry?
Bang: You have no engine and no hope of getting it back. In the next 30 seconds, you must decide where to put this airplane down with your daughter, your dog, and all your gear aboard. Ditch it in the lake or fly it into the trees? Think fast, you get lower with each passing second.
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Pattern Problems in Astoria
The winds are favoring one runway, but the other pilots are using a different runway and a crosswind one at that. Will you forgo the normal traffic pattern entry and fly a straight-in, attempt a normal traffic pattern entry, or go against the flow of traffic and land on the runway no one else is using?
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Aromatic Issues Over St. Louis
Fire might be the most terrifying thing a pilot can face. Even the possibility of a fire is enough to warrant an immediate diversion. But what if the nearest place has no assurance of landing, and the surest one is practically your destination anyway? And what if it’s not fire but just the smell of fuel?
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Crossed Up at Four Corners
Sport planes and a Sport Pilot Certificate can be tools for real travel by air, with a few limitations. There's no night flight, usually no instrument flight, and light wing loading can make turbulence challenging. That means creativity might be required to complete the mission—or sometimes just to get back on the ground.
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All the Way to Jackson
Difficult situations can crop up on beautiful days and without anything actually going wrong. In fact, these might be the most insidious of traps because they lure you in. Watch how a series of reasonable decisions creates a tough conundrum. How would you handle a situation where every option leaves you feeling uncomfortable?
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A Short-Field Barbecue
A day of fair-weather flying, tailwinds, and an on-airport restaurant with the tastiest barbecue in the county: What could be better? The after-lunch departure, however, leaves you deciding between departing uphill and upwind, or downhill and downwind. Trees off one runway end complicate matters further. Don't wait too long; this fair weather won't last.
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Squeeze Play in Arkansas
VFR into IMC might be the deadliest trap for non-instrument pilots. It's easy to say you'd just turn around, but the reality of cross-country flying is that deteriorating weather lures even the most resolute souls when it occurs slowly, and with tempting options--that can vanish in moments if the conditions are right.
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Foggy Catalina
It's the perfect sunny day to take your new airplane and three friends for a day off the coast of California. The only catch is a bank of fog lingering just off your destination airport. The ASOS calls it IFR, but you see the runway in the clear. Will you still try and land?
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Holiday in Montpelier
A weekend reunion with family is only one short flight away. After a delayed start, things seem on track: You have the airport in sight from miles away, winds are right down the runway, all the airplane gauges are in the green. Yet something doesn’t seem right. What's that little voice inside trying to tell you?
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