Handheld for IFR?

Shame on you for encouraging pilots to use VFR GPS to file ‘direct’ under IFR

I read your article, “Simple Stack IFR” [Instrument Check, February], with great interest.

Although I have been flying for more than 35 years, I have never gotten my IFR rating. I am working on it, and right now with real incentive. Seems we are running out of insurance carriers who are willing to underwrite a non-IFR pilot flying a complex, high-performance single. The couple that are left are surcharging for the lack of the IFR rating.

My partner has his IFR rating, but has not had a proficiency check for years. The latest pre-policy data sheet sent by our insurance broker is, for the first time, asking the date of each pilot’s instrument currency. So the encouragement is there.

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