Halfway there...

Thanks everyone!!!

Lance, who knows? It's winter... not too many opportunities to get the ticket really wet safely. I'm sure I'll file the next XC I do on a CAVU day though.

Liz, I might need that ride still -- I have a mx issue that I deferred to get the ride done. I asked my mech to do it now and try to be done by Sunday, but you never know. He hadn't started as of today.
 
azure said:
Thanks everyone!!!

Lance, who knows? It's winter... not too many opportunities to get the ticket really wet safely. I'm sure I'll file the next XC I do on a CAVU day though.
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Filing IFR on a trip in VMC is a good way to get more comfortable "in the system". OTOH, there will be many days when there's a fairly thin (e.g. 2000 ft thick) ice free stratus layer with low tops if you can stay away from open water.
 
Sigh. At this point I don't think I'd want to get into subfreezing clouds unless they were a lot thinner than 2000 feet -- maybe 500 or so. I really need to bite the bullet and buy Scott D's premium workshop on ice and go through it. Even so, it seems like so far this winter, EVERY time there are MVFR clouds over lower MI there's an airmet for ice.

The weather guessers are talking about a cloudy day Saturday with 8C temps at 850 mb, which is about 5000 MSL. IF my plane is ready by then and IF the ceilings aren't too low (I don't want to have to leave my plane at PTK), that MIGHT be my chance... if work duties allow.
 
I don't know from personal experience, but have read the Michigan and the area around the great lakes has some of the worst icing in the country. I wouldn't want to push my luck too much :). Be careful.
 
dell30rb said:
Congrats on your succesful checkride!

In your proposed scenario, I would have taken the straight in over the NoN precision.

Knowing your plane and having the ability to make a much tighter pattern than the minimum vis and ceiling for a CTL is a MUST. That makes the ctl an easy affair.

However, at night if the weather was close to mins for a CTL i'd choose not to attempt it and either land with the tailwind or go elsewhere.

My answer would have been - daytime, take the precision approach and circle. Night, either land with the tailwind or go somewhere else.

Thoughts?
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:popcorn::dunno:
 
somorris said:
I don't know from personal experience, but have read the Michigan and the area around the great lakes has some of the worst icing in the country. I wouldn't want to push my luck too much :). Be careful.
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Yes I believe that's true, and those are my thoughts exactly. :)

Note, however, that 8C is WELL above freezing, and as long as the entire column up to the altitudes I'd be flying at is above freezing (they're forecasting 55 or so for a high), I wouldn't be worried about ice on Saturday.
 
Completely off topic, every time I see this thread title I want to sing Bon Jovi

Whooooooooa, we're half way there,
Whoa-oh, livin' on a prayer.


You're welcome.
 
This is a first for me, looking outside and at the forecasts, seeing BAD weather, and wishing I could be in the air. This afternoon there will be a window where the ceilings are around 700-800 feet, no precip, and no chance of icing below about 8000 MSL. Sadly, I have to work. Drat. :mad:
 
azure said:
This is a first for me, looking outside and at the forecasts, seeing BAD weather, and wishing I could be in the air. This afternoon there will be a window where the ceilings are around 700-800 feet, no precip, and no chance of icing below about 8000 MSL. Sadly, I have to work. Drat. :mad:
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The weather gods definitely have an ironic nature. If your airplane was FIKI ready, and your schedule suggested a trip, there would be freezing precip in the forecast and pireps of severe icing.
 
It's not just the weather gods, Lance. Although I'd like my first solo experience in actual to be during the daytime, generally speaking, in terms of my work schedule late afternoons are more convenient for me and on most of my flights during the winter months, the final leg coming home is after dark. I got my ticket punched on Monday, and as of yesterday, both approaches here at home are NA at night because of long-standing obstacles penetrating the 20:1 GQS. So far we've heard nothing from the airport manager about what he intends to do to get the situation resolved, though at least two people in a position to carry some weight have made their voices heard.

I've come to feel that fate in general has a well-formed sense of irony.
 
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I returned yesterday from a dinner trip to KAZO (filed IFR, of course!) to find an envelope in my mailbox marked "Official Business Only". Inside was a green and white card with a picture of two guys on the back, my name and vital stats, and the words "INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE".

So my Temporary Airman's Certificate is void. Feels almost like I've been booted out of the League <sniff>. Then again, we're every one of us a Temporary Airman. :wink2:
 
Awesome! How long did it take? I can't wait for mine to come and it's only been a week.
 
azure said:
I returned yesterday from a dinner trip to KAZO (filed IFR, of course!) to find an envelope in my mailbox marked "Official Business Only". Inside was a green and white card with a picture of two guys on the back, my name and vital stats, and the words "INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE".

So my Temporary Airman's Certificate is void. Feels almost like I've been booted out of the League <sniff>. Then again, we're every one of us a Temporary Airman. :wink2:
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Congrats. It was a long road to that green card for you!
 
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