Ceiling Descent Flight Plan 
Plane and Pilot
AUGUST 6, 2024
Maybe it’s the Georgia flying weather, or maybe it’s the ever-increasing emphasis on “old” pilot instead of “bold” pilot, but it seems that flight planning these days is a lot more about if and when than about route and altitude. It’s only two hours by RV-9A, but there are gotchas lurking in the flight planning.
Flying Magazine
MAY 30, 2025
He lost 200 feet before even noticing the descent. One of the most essential tools for staying ahead of the airplane is the electronic flight bag (EFB). You likely became introduced to an EFB as a student pilot and probably use one for basic flight planning tasks as a VFR pilot, but using one in instrument flight is different.
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Air Facts
MAY 5, 2025
The Cessna 150 Since I was the only instrument rated pilot on the team, and the weather was marginal VFR, I chose to fly the 172, N7358G, up to Fairfield on an IFR flight plan above the clouds at 7,000 feet. My IFR flight plan called for a climb through some 4,000′ of clouds up to a cruise altitude of 7,000 feet.
Flight Training Central
FEBRUARY 12, 2024
However, during the descent on an ILS approach, you encounter VMC prior to reaching the initial approach fix. To log the approach toward instrument currency the flight must remain on an IFR flight plan throughout the approach and landing. For a flight in VFR conditions while on an IFR flight plan.
Fear of Landing
DECEMBER 6, 2024
A few hours later, the pilot obtained a weather briefing and filed an IFR flight plan before departing Westchester to fly back to Montgomery County. By now, it was dark and the weather in Gaithersburg had deteriorated with fog and low cloud ceilings. Montgomery County Airpark (GAI) is at about 540 feet above mean sea level.
Northstar VFR
JANUARY 4, 2023
Flight planning becomes more advanced than before, flying SIDs and STARs, and instrument approaches. But a crucial part of this flight planning is planning for the worst case scenario: What if you can’t land at your original destination? When MUST I Plan for an Alternate?
Plane and Pilot
NOVEMBER 27, 2024
Often, turbulence is the harbinger of mountain waves, not the ideal ceiling—and visibility unlimited—day. Flight idle and nose down, which normally produced a 2,000-3,000-feet descent rate, resulted in a 2,000-feet-per-minute climb. We continued our descent into Great Falls, leaving “the wave” behind and above.
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