What instruments are required for IFR flight?
Professional Pilot Magazine (December, 2004) describes a near tragedy that occurred recently between a King Air and a flight of four USAF F-16s. The fighters were in level flight at 5,000 feet. The King Air was instructed to descend to 6,000 feet. The King Air pilot misunderstood his clearance and read back, “Descend and maintain 3,000 feet.” The controller did not catch the mistaken read back, nor did the F-16 crews who were operating on a UHF frequency. Within seconds, King Air passed only a few hundred feet in front of the four F-16s. A multiple midair collision was avoided by a whisker! Where did the error occur? Why did the King Air pilot hear something different from what the controller communicated to him? Why didn’t the controller pick up the error on the pilot read back? Lots of questions. Altitude deviations, for whatever reason, represent approximately 1/3 of all aviation incidents reported through the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) from 1995-97. This represent
