Featuring Doug Stewart -
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Mark:
"One issue that comes up, Doug,
is when pilots depart VFR and try and pick up their IFR clearance in the
air. What are your thoughts on that?"
Doug:
"Well you know, if it's severe
clear there's really nothing wrong with that. Some Tracons are not really
happy if you do it. But they'll usually help you out with it. But again the
real issue there - is it severe clear? There are a lot of dead pilots that
took off in marginal conditions trying to avoid a void time or avoiding that
15-minute wait for the Citation to come in, figuring well, we'll pick our
clearance up in the air.
Take me at Columbia County. I'm
departing off to the west on Vector 270. I've got some mountains out there.
If those Catskills are obscured and I'm trying to be out there and get that
clearance, I can't climb yet. And all of a sudden once I've got the
clearance now I try to climb. But I'm already too close to the hills; the
next thing I'm a dead pilot. So yes, you can pick the clearance up in the
air, but if it isn't severe clear, I really recommend that you don't do it."
Next week's tip: low level
maneuvering
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