VFR MASTERY SCENARIOS
Look Out, Dear
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
Gauging Your Remaining Fuel
You’re in cruise above a marine layer when ATC relays that your FBO found a fuel cap on the ramp—and it may be one of yours. The gauges show half on one side, a bit less on the other. Do you continue to VFR? Turn around? Or declare an emergency and descend through the clouds without an Instrument Rating?
Start Scenario
Keeping Your Cool at Hot Springs
Two years ago, you bought a 172M with a 180 HP conversion a bit past TBO. After 100 hours you decided to overhaul, and added an engine monitor. That revealed consistently high CHTs, often hitting 430°F in the climb. Today you’re at Hot Springs, SD, with the family. It’s 85°F with density altitude near 6000′. You know that if you lean for best power the engine will get super hot. Maybe that’s fine for a short time. Or maybe keeping things cool matters more, and a full rich takeoff is safer as long as performance is adequate. Or is there a middle ground? If you wait for cooler weather, it’ll be awhile.
Start Scenario
Hat Trick
Your mostly grown children go to college or work in three states across the midwest. Visiting one by car is a long drive both ways, but you can plan a loop trip in your Mooney and get all three with ease. It’s your spouse’s birthday soon and you concoct a plan to meet each kid for dinner over a long weekend as a birthday surprise—if the weather cooperates. It’s July and convection plus your lagging IFR proficiency makes VFR a must. Cells will move through over the next three days, but there should be a sequence of destinations and a set of routes that will make this plan work, right?
Start Scenario
Iconic Adventure
You’re a sport pilot who took a friend for a day of splash and dashing in your Icon A5. After lunch, you met some folks with an XCub on amphibs, and your friend got some stick time with the pilot of that plane, who is also a CFI. Unfortunately, the XCub got stuck on the runway where you were supposed to swap passengers. After some loitering, there’s a plan to move it, but the clock is ticking toward civil twilight—after which you can’t legally fly. Pretty soon you won’t have time to get home. Is there a way to retrieve your friend without excessive risk or busting a reg?
Start Scenario
Gulf Coast Gauntlet
You’ve been dodging showery precipitation all the way home and you’ve got one area to bypass. The catch is the only VFR you can use is the peninsula on the west side of Tampa’s Class B, about 15 miles ahead. You stop and wait, but the only good airport is behind you and still IFR in showers. You circle to consider your options: VFR under the Bravo, VFR with a clearance through the Bravo, land without permission at a private airpark where no one seems to be monitoring the radio, or continue to circle, burning gas and hoping things improve.
Start Scenario
Orphan of the Magenta Line
Skirting the DC SFRA and Philadelphia Bravo with your iPad seemed simple, until that iPad displayed a low battery warning. You realize your charger has been dead the entire flight. You stop the music on your phone and check its battery … 2%. So much for redundancy. You’re just southeast of the SFRA, threading between restricted areas. You’ve flown this route before, so maybe you can make a plan to navigate with the limited juice you have left along with ATC assistance. Or is it smarter to land and recharge?
Start Scenario
Helo on the Go
A helicopter lingers over the runway during a stop-and-go and distracts—so much you almost stall. You recover and must go around—but how? Do you keep it simple and predictable? Do you keep the helicopter in sight? Or do you get completely out of the way? You can’t do all of them at once.
Start Scenario
Assuming Command
The Tecnam P2010 sitting on the ramp caught your attention, and its owner offered you a deal. Come for a flight as safety pilot for some IFR practice on a beautiful day? You can even both log the time, he says. Off you go in the first new GA airplane you've ever experienced ... but the situation is getting increasingly uncomfortable as there seems to be way more traffic than you'd expect in the spot this pilot chose for practice. It's his airplane and you have no idea how this IFR practice works. That said, is this situation dicey enough for you to speak up?
Start Scenario
A Flurry of Doubt
You know you can’t depart with contaminated wings—but what if you’re almost certain it will just blow off? And you have thousands of feet to abort if it’s not happening as expected? And you just watched almost the same airplane—but a version with less horsepower—depart with no issues whatsoever?
Start Scenario
Final Approach Throwdown
Everyone has their recipe for a perfect landing, and the mix of ingredients vary from plane to plane. The instructor recommendations are usually the best starting point when you’re checking out on a new model. What will you do when the CFI’s recommendations don’t make sense, but you still need that signoff to fly your new airplane?
Start Scenario
Uncivil Twilight
It’s a short flight on a clear morning, departing just before sunrise. It’s one of those mornings where things are running well and the tower controller has time to banter on the radio. The only other traffic is an airplane on approach to a nearby airport—or so everyone thought. Now it’s dead ahead and landing.
Start Scenario
Carb Heat Calculus
Is use of carb heat a routine procedure or a response to an emergency? You can remedy the situation, but it’s bound to return in the same conditions. POH guidance and tribal knowledge disagree on the best way to proceed. You’re alone at the controls with miles to go, so only you can decide.
Start Scenario
Let’s Not Have an Accident
Urgent situations come in all shapes and sizes. Of course, the small-sized people on our airplanes can create these in unexpected (and sudden) ways. No problem, there’s an airport nearby. The issue is the two other aircraft in position to land ahead of you—both of whom happen to be gliders.
Start Scenario
Déjà View at the Vineyard
You’re about to fly a route that’s infamous for one of GA’s best-known accidents. But this is different: You have more training, better equipment, and the benefit of knowing what could happen if things go wrong. Of course, that means things do go wrong, revealing an enormous hole in your safety net.
Start Scenario
MOA or Marathon?
The rules say you can fly through an MOA, but conventional wisdom is you should avoid one if it’s hot, right? Sometimes that’s inconvenient or downright impossible. What then? Is ATC your ally on this—or something to avoid? Surely they wouldn’t let you wander in if it was truly dangerous, but what are the consequences?
Start Scenario
Stuck Between the Showers
It really seemed like a sound plan at departure. Now you’re hemmed in by clouds above and terrain to all sides. To make matters worse, your weather sources are in complete disagreement as to which airport offers the best chance of finding safe ground before running into a thunderstorm or a hillside.
Start Scenario
A Stand-Up Emergency
It’s the beginning of a long flight when the engine informs you it has other plans. Now the windscreen is covered with oil and you must act fast. Do you have time to return to your departure airport? If so, how will you approach and land given your forward visibility just dropped to zero?
Start Scenario
Flight Following Failure
Flight following is the best way to get an extra set of eyes for traffic and keep in touch with ATC inside busy airspace. That’s why you planned your trip to use this valuable tool. So what’s your next move when ATC decides to cut you loose just when you need Flight Following the most?
Start Scenario
Aluminum Ridge
A smooth ride in clear skies takes a downturn when the airplane isn’t going to clear the next ridge. You can see the problem and know you must do something, but what will it be? Perhaps more importantly, what’s the best way to execute that plan?
Start Scenario