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AeroSports Update: IFR Procedures For Sport Pilots And Ultralight Operators

GPS Approaches Can Be Located At Almost Any Uncontrolled Airport And VFR Pilots Need To Know How To Mix With IFR Traffic.

We hope the title of this update got your attention. Of course, sport pilots and ultralight operators aren’t even supposed to think about IFR flying as an option, but knowing something about how instrument rated pilots operate around airports could be a life saver.



Did you know that hundreds of uncontrolled airports have instrument approaches? When you blast off in your powered parachute (okay, blast off may be a bit strong) at an uncontrolled airport in VFR conditions, you could be conflicting with IFR traffic. In short, knowing something about IFR airport procedures could help prevent a mid-air collision.

Non-instrument rated pilots may only fly in specified VFR weather minimums. It’s a common misconception that these minimum weather requirements are designed to prevent a non-instrument rated pilot from accidently entering instrument meteorological conditions. In actuality, the purpose of these rules is to separate VFR and IFR traffic.

When an instrument pilot breaks out of the clouds at an uncontrolled airport, the only assurance of traffic separation is that any VFR pilots in the pattern are far enough away from the clouds, and have good enough visibility that they will see each other. For a VFR pilot to be safe around IFR traffic, follow the VFR rules and know where instrument traffic is going to be located.

Let’s say you are operating out of a non-controlled airport located in class G (uncontrolled) airspace. The sectional chart Illustration shows Jones Memorial Airport in Bristow, Ok. The magenta color of the airport means there is no control tower, and the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) of 122.9 tells us there is no ground based radio. The airport symbol also indicates there is no fuel service available. This looks like a good little airport to avoid the possibility of IFR traffic, but that’s not the case.

The magenta shaded circle around the airport means the airport has at least one instrument approach. With the advent of GPS instrument approaches, new IFR approach procedures are popping up all around the country for airports even smaller than Jones Memorial.

A sport pilot must have at least 3 miles visibility to be legal at this airport, and a higher rated pilot is okay down to one mile visibility with no specified minimum ceiling. Ultralight operators may also fly in low visibility and no specified ceiling. The problem is, it’s possible to be legal but still be dangerous if you’re sharing the space with someone shooting an instrument approach that doesn’t know you’re there.

If you operate out of one of these little airports and are not sure about its status for instrument approaches and how you may be in conflict with an instrument pilot, get a little training about how the approaches work at this airport. You don’t need to be an IFR expert, you just need to know where to expect IFR traffic to be coming from. Being legally VFR doesn’t mean you’re safe from the sudden appearance of hidden traffic.

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