When do we need an alternate? | IFR Training

[@ColGoatBanger]

Concise and informative!

[@williamk5998]

Outstanding video, thank you. I'm working on my CFII. 2 questions if I may. If you are lost com do you have to fly to your filed alternate? W know that if you are not lost com you do not. My thought is that ATC wants you on the ground safely and as expeditiously as possible so I would fly to my best option available in real time. Perhaps somewhere nearby that is VFR. Lets say you are choosing an alternate and your plane is RNAV only, no ILS ability. Can you use the 600' minima in airport selection if your chosen filed alternate has an ILS but also an LPV which may have the same 200' AGL MDA? I'm not sure the answer to this one is published, it's esoteric, but it may come up on my oral... Thanks again!

[@FlywithClayton]

Thanks for the kind words! And also great questions! 1) If you are lost comms and in IMC, after attempting an approach at your original destination, you may continue to your alternate that you filed. The key to lost comms in IFR is being predictable since ATC has no way of knowing your intentions. That's why we fly to the filed alternate, again assuming we're in IMC. If you're in VMC conditions, utilize VFR lost comm procedures and land as soon as practical. 2) If you are RNAV only and can't conduct an ILS (first off, wow. What an interesting avionics setup), even if they airport has an LPV approach with the same minimums, you still have to treat it as a non-precision approach. What happens if there's a WAAS outage? Those lower minimums with the LPV wouldn't be possible without WAAS. So if you don't the ability to conduct an ILS approach, you cannot use the precision approach requirements when choosing an alternate. When it comes to planning and choosing an alternate, an LPV has to be treated as a non-precision approach. Great questions!

[@williamk5998]

@@FlywithClayton Thank you I appreciate the time. My Maule had a Garmin 175 touchscreen GPS and an Aspen glass display but no VOR/ILS radio. My COM is a Garmin 250 with a VFR GPS.