Perspective....
An observation....
These "Lite IFR" debates come up from time to time, and in watching them over the years, I generally find that the folks who are against the term are very experienced airline pilots. Their experience is (needs to be) respected, but it also needs to be taken in context. Airline pilots go to the airport KNOWING that they have to get from point A to point B as part of the day's work (yes, there are times you get to exercise good judgment and simply say "no way", but in general, the question is not "am I going to get there?", but "how am I going to get there?") - and that means in whatever weather they find. And boy, it can get UGLY! I wouldn't want to fly in half the weather they have had to experience over their careers. Kudos! From this comes a healthy respect and a bit of fatigue over flying in weather. Having seen how bad it can be, it is easy to say "you guys don't know how bad it can get! And you want to be up there in a single engine plane with no de-icing and.....etc." Fair enough - good comments for that kind of flying.
But....GA pilots have it a bit different. We don't HAVE to be there - or HAVE to be flying. We decide "Nah....not going today" if it looks bad. You can set your minimums higher - say 1,000' and 3 miles for destination weather. And then, of course, you have to have the knowledge to KNOW that it isn't going to get worse and the DISCIPLINE not to talk yourself into believing a forecast that is better than it is. You have to understand how weather can change, and the quirks in a particular area.
Lite IFR? Yes, I believe it exists. You take off with a coastal marine layer and a destination that is 300 miles away in the desert and CAVU. You punch through a layer at 1,000' and come out sunny on top at 3,000, enjoy the sunny day and shoot a visual approach at the other end, or a GPS approach where you break out at 1500'. It DOES NOT include launching into weather that is deteriorating, or building convective activity. It does not include flying into areas where the temp/dew point spread is two degrees and night is falling. And it does NOT include flying into clouds in freezing conditions. It involves judgment.
Smart pilots do not get "ambushed" by bad weather. They don't expect to break out at 1,000' on an ILS, and get surprised to still be in the clouds at Decision Height. Come on folks, information is out there - you use it, and divert early. You carry enough fuel for every contingency, and have an ironclad alternate in your pocket. And you set minimums that are applicable to your skill level and airplane equipment.
In short, Lite IFR does exist if you use discipline. All the guys with tens of thousands of hours have flown in it. But they are worried about inexperienced pilots stumbling into conditions lower than they expect or are ready for, and that is a good thing to be worried about. I frequently tell new instrument pilots, or folks just working on their ratings, that they should be prepared to cancel as many trips after they get the rating as they did before if they are flying a typical GA single. but there are days when the rating will be useful to get them out of poor weather and fly to good.
It just takes discipline.
All my opinion, of course, and I am not picking on the high time guys at all. I am simply saying that perspectives are developed based on our backgrounds. And different viewpoints do exist. I have never flown for the airlines (and have the utmost respect for the guys that do) - I grew up in GA, trained into flight test and operations, and have seen equipment improve by leaps and bounds. A true student of aviation will find a lot of safe opportunities to use an instrument ticket....and recognize the times when it is silly to do so.
Paul
