WannFly
Final Approach
Yesterday I took the opportunity of getting hold of my CFI and go for a IFR XC, there was a stationary front on the ND, MN border and KFAR was IFR with 900 ft reported ceiling. things were VFR as we get closer to MSP Bravo.
filed IFR direct to KSTP, St. Paul. took off and before i knew it went into the clouds, it wasnt thick at all, broke out at 2800 MSL, but there was another layer on top. no wonder we couldnt find any pireps for tops.
Lesson #1 - i can see how us low VFR pilots can get into trouble on top, there was no reference of horizon what so ever, the clouds below looked like a sea on white stuff and there was no blue sky above my for a while.
I had filed at 7k, but asked for 9K to get above the 7K layer.
Lesson #2 - it gets really bumpy right at cloud tops. Single person IFR (CFI just sat there and did pretty much nothing) without AP is a lot of work - i wanted to hand fly
most of the flight until i reached close to MSP bravo was on top. never heard cleared to enter Bravo, but flew in Bravo getting vectored around the inner circle of MSP. set up for ILS on 14 at STP. man those towers right before FAF are TALL and center was advising everyone about it to ensure they have visual on it. there was another scattered later at 4k and we were getting bumped around pretty bad.
Lesson #3 - holding the needle while getting tossed around is not easy
After STP, we filed IFR to KFCM for a low approach and then VFR to Crystal. i wanted to get some VFR under Bravo experience. center flew us right over MSP International at4k as the big irons were taking off and landing. THAT WAS AWESOME. thats the MSP international pic below
after doing a low approach at Flying Cloud, i was asked to fly SW and remain clear of Bravo to Crystal. i took flight following and it helped a lot. had my share of Oh F&^K moment at Crystal.
Filed IFR back to Fargo again and flew through the front, there were some build ups that we had to navigate and few we just punched through. while crossing the front, in the cloud, i saw the airspeed go up to 135 and then down to 90 in matter of seconds.. that was interesting to see.
Lesson #4 - while getting in and out of Clouds it is much easier if you keep focused inside. in previous flights i tried to balance in and out and that ended up being disorienting.
Lesson #5 - choosing which cloud to punch through and which to go around can only be learned from experience (unless they are big build ups)
overall awesome experience, 5.3 total, 3 in actual with 3 approaches. now i need to get off my arse and get the written out of the way...
filed IFR direct to KSTP, St. Paul. took off and before i knew it went into the clouds, it wasnt thick at all, broke out at 2800 MSL, but there was another layer on top. no wonder we couldnt find any pireps for tops.
Lesson #1 - i can see how us low VFR pilots can get into trouble on top, there was no reference of horizon what so ever, the clouds below looked like a sea on white stuff and there was no blue sky above my for a while.
I had filed at 7k, but asked for 9K to get above the 7K layer.
Lesson #2 - it gets really bumpy right at cloud tops. Single person IFR (CFI just sat there and did pretty much nothing) without AP is a lot of work - i wanted to hand fly
most of the flight until i reached close to MSP bravo was on top. never heard cleared to enter Bravo, but flew in Bravo getting vectored around the inner circle of MSP. set up for ILS on 14 at STP. man those towers right before FAF are TALL and center was advising everyone about it to ensure they have visual on it. there was another scattered later at 4k and we were getting bumped around pretty bad.
Lesson #3 - holding the needle while getting tossed around is not easy
After STP, we filed IFR to KFCM for a low approach and then VFR to Crystal. i wanted to get some VFR under Bravo experience. center flew us right over MSP International at4k as the big irons were taking off and landing. THAT WAS AWESOME. thats the MSP international pic below
after doing a low approach at Flying Cloud, i was asked to fly SW and remain clear of Bravo to Crystal. i took flight following and it helped a lot. had my share of Oh F&^K moment at Crystal.
Filed IFR back to Fargo again and flew through the front, there were some build ups that we had to navigate and few we just punched through. while crossing the front, in the cloud, i saw the airspeed go up to 135 and then down to 90 in matter of seconds.. that was interesting to see.
Lesson #4 - while getting in and out of Clouds it is much easier if you keep focused inside. in previous flights i tried to balance in and out and that ended up being disorienting.
Lesson #5 - choosing which cloud to punch through and which to go around can only be learned from experience (unless they are big build ups)
overall awesome experience, 5.3 total, 3 in actual with 3 approaches. now i need to get off my arse and get the written out of the way...
