Radar approaches at U.S. military facilities offer the greatest precision for civilian operators.

By Jeff Pardo

When I took the oral exam just prior to my Instrument check ride, the examiner asked me a difficult question: What would I do when there were low ceilings everywhere, and the temperature-dew point spread was shrinking? My answer was that I wouldn’t take off in the first place with that kind of widespread moisture and cruddy weather. At first, I thought that probably sounded a bit evasive. However, it actually was the right answer for me, at that time, given what I was likely to be flying (single-engine airplanes, non-complex and not high-performance). …