Mxsmanic wrote in
:

gatt writes:

My father-in-law (ANG helicopter crewman) takes "IFR" to mean "I
Follow Roads " (or rivers)

There is a sobering story right along those lines at

http://www.aopa.org/pilot/never_again/2008/na0801.html

I find it interesting that the author says this VFR flight scared him
more than any of his combat missions in Vietnam.

Sure. For example, Interstate 5 runs from Canada to Mexico, and the
stretch through most of Oregon looks like somebody drew a straight
line with a pencil across the landscape. If you were flying from
Portland (possible Seattle) to Eugene, Medford, Sacramento, etc, day
or note you could follow the freeway the entire route.

You'd still use your VFR navigation aids and checkpoints to make sure
know how far you are enroute, and also to avoid controlled airspace,
etc, but having that road, railroad, river makes for a more-enjoyable
flight.

Good. I wanted to make sure I'm not missing some risk or danger to
following highways. From the article above I learned that things like
wires and cables are a real risk if you're very close to the highway,
but only a helicopter would be that low.


Wow, hittign a virtual wire in a virtual airplane could really ruin your
day if you were insane!


Bertie