Practice IFR Flight

[troopernflight]

When you guys are conducting a practice IFR XC with a student, how do you handle clouds this time of the year when it's too cold to fly through them? Do you ask ATC for deviation due to weather? Or do you explain that you will pick up ice and need to deviate around a cloud?

 

[JustinS]

When you guys are conducting a practice IFR XC with a student, how do you handle clouds this time of the year when it's too cold to fly through them? Do you ask ATC for deviation due to weather? Or do you explain that you will pick up ice and need to deviate around a cloud?

Honestly, if I can't maintain an altitude on an IFR clearance that will keep me out of icing then I won't even bother flying. It's not worth the hassle. I've only ever deviated for precip and thunderstorms. If the clouds were FEW, and it was basically clear blue skies, and I was flying at an altitude where ice could form if I hit a cloud, then sure I may deviate, but if it's much more than FEW, it's really not worth it.

 

[NewYorkophile]

When you guys are conducting a practice IFR XC with a student, how do you handle clouds this time of the year when it's too cold to fly through them? Do you ask ATC for deviation due to weather? Or do you explain that you will pick up ice and need to deviate around a cloud?

Depends how thick the clouds are and ice potential. Also keep in mind that deviations for weather happen all the time, every day. Might be a good teaching point to say "Yes, it's ok to tell ATC and avoid a hazardous weather condition" for your student.

 

[nosehair]

Yes. Make it the teaching point. To stay away from the freezing level, or if you accept it in the clear, be prepared to ask for deviations, which is common, but be ready to cancel ifr and maintain vfr and make your own deviation or get a new clearance if possible.
That's how you have to do it in a light airplane with no icing equipment. That's real life training.