Exec Flight Services

✈️ Aviation Brief — Issue #51

Weekly insights for student pilots and the instructors who train them.

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC

IA.I.A — Instrument Flight Rules (Instrument Rating ACS)

### 1. ACS STANDARDS SUMMARY

Per the FAA Airman Certification Standards (ACS) for Instrument Rating (IA.I.A), the applicant must demonstrate knowledge of instrument flight rule (IFR) requirements by explaining:

- Privileges and limitations of an instrument rating.

- IFR weather minimums (e.g., 1-1-3 rule for basic areas: 1 statute mile visibility, 1,000 ft ceiling below, 2,000 ft above MEA, and 3 NM from destination).

- IFR procedures, including departure planning, cross-country flight planning, alternate airport requirements (e.g., 1-2-3 rule), NOTAMs, and sources of weather information.

The examiner expects the pilot to clearly describe these elements without prompts, applying them to a realistic scenario like planning a cross-country IFR flight.

### 2. THREE COMMON STUDENT MISTAKES

- **Misapplying weather minimums**: Students often confuse the 1-1-3 rule for destination weather with alternate requirements (1-2-3 rule), leading them to file an alternate when it's not needed or skip one when it is—checkride busts happen when they can't explain why.

- **Overlooking departure obstacles**: Forgetting to reference the standard instrument departure (SID) or obstacle departure procedures (ODPs) in the chart supplement, resulting in unrealistic "IFR from anywhere" assumptions during oral questioning.

- **Incomplete alternate planning**: Stating an alternate is required based only on forecast visibility but ignoring ceiling or arrival time windows (forecast must allow approaches beginning 1 hour before to 1 hour after ETA).

### 3. CFI PRO TIP

Before every lesson, have your student pull up a real-world IFR flight plan on ForeFlight or FltPlan.com using today's weather—walk through it step-by-step, verbalizing each decision (e.g., "Does this TAF trigger an alternate? Why?"). This builds muscle memory for checkride orals and turns abstract regs into "what I'd actually do tomorrow."

### 4. SAFETY SPOTLIGHT

NTSB data shows that inadequate IFR flight planning, particularly ignoring alternate airport requirements, contributes to fuel exhaustion accidents—e.g., a 2019 Cessna 172 incident (NTSB ERA19FA145) where pilots pressed on to a marginal destination without a viable alternate, running bingo fuel in IMC. Always verify your alternate allows all approaches to minimums; ASRS reports highlight how "just one more approach" mindset turns planning errors into emergencies.

### 5. DID YOU KNOW

You can cancel your IFR clearance once in VFR conditions without landing, but only after reaching your clearance limit or as directed by ATC (FAR 91.173)—this "pop-up VFR" option has saved countless flights from unnecessary approaches in improving weather.

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Exec Flight Services | execflightservices.com | [email protected]

Based in Las Vegas, NV

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