Breadcrumbs

In the spirit of always leaving an out, a technique I appreciate is “leaving breadcrumbs.“ In other words, marking an egress route over the same path flown, or air taxied into, when entering an obstacle rich environment (e.g., tight bay, valley, or river mouth) in conditions where visibility could decrease or is already low. “Breadcrumbs” increase situational awareness and can widen safety margins.  

To create an egress route, drop “mark” points at appropriate intervals during the ingress (e.g., every half mile and every turn) and enter them in the alternate (ALTN FPLN), in reverse order (i.e., the order pilots will need them in when they egress). Upon departing the tight area, the pilot can simply replace the current flight plan (FPLN) with the alternate and use the FPPs to provide situational awareness, in conjunction with the moving map and EOIR image, to back up visual references and RADAR. 

In the event of IIMC, depending on the circumstances, it could be best to climb on this FPLN, avoiding and creating more lateral separation from obstacles.