Ifr Question...
 

When Do We Need A Departure Alternate???

It's depends on whether you're talking 91, 135, or 121.

The basic rule of thumb is: if you cannot land at your departure airport, you need a takeoff alternate. That's the simple easy short answer. There are longer ones.:D

nice avatar otto, i liked that movie .

Part 91 does not require any takeoff mins under IFR. Legally you can take off in zero/zero. There is a line between being legal and common sense. As a good rule of thumb, if the ceiling and visibility are lower than the minimums published in an instrument approach back into your departure airport then it's probably not a good idea to take off right away. 91.175(f)

Part 135 says that you cannot takeoff under IFR from an airport where weather conditions are at or above takeoff minimums but are below authorized IFR landing minimums unless there is an alternate airport within 1 hour's flying time of the departure airport. 135.217

Single-engine return
 

As I recall, our procedures required a takeoff alternate if the wx was below Cat I, allowing for the loss of an engine. (Single-engine coupled approaches weren't authorized.) That was a "gotcha" on almost every recurrent simulator check. Interestingly, an instructor said that the MD-88 was quite capable of such an approach, but Delta didn't "buy the certification" for it.

Also remember that if you take off with very poor weather conditions (even 91) and were to say go off the side of the runway you can still get sited under 91.14 (reckless and careless).

Stupid and ignorant operation of an airplane is 91.13

Another Ifr Question
 

My CFII checkride is this Friday, no worries. This question came up yesterday when I was flying this approach in a Frasca 242 sim.

Why is there a "3200" and a "3300" listed for the glideslop intercept altitude? Which do you use, and why are their two altitudes listed here? It is the same on the Jeppesen approach plate I was using.

Thanks in advance

Here is the link: http://edj.net/cgi-bin/echoplate.pl?...ALW_i_lr20.gif

Been a while since I've looked at NOS plates (and I don't have the Jepps for WA), but here's what I think: 3300 is the GS intercept altitude, as shown by the lightening bolt. 3200 is the minimum altitude for that segment when not using the GS (as shown by the *LOC only notation).