beestforwardspeed
Pre-takeoff checklist
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2013
- Messages
- 289
- Display Name
Display name:
CoopAir
HD Video of the flight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wx44ycMtog&feature=youtu.be
The forecast as early as 6 days out was hinting at a good chance for IMC for several days prior to Saturday so of course I was watching pretty much every run of the GFS, NAM and ECMWF (Euro) for most of last week, hoping that the forecast would hold up.
Come Friday afternoon, the TAF's are calling for 300 OVC later going up to 800 with the freezing level to the moon so I was jumping for joy!
Got out of bed early Sat AM to check again, and I get a bit more than I bargained for as everything is now below minimums. Being that it is forecast to go up to 500 ft and then 800, I drive up to BAF and figure I just wait till its above minimums to launch. I invited George who is a CFII up there to join me (as a pax, not a dual flight), as he loves that kind of weather too. Amazing, because he is twice my age and has about 20X more hours than I do!
When I get there, much to my shock, the plane is covered in about an inch of wet heavy snow, even though its 34 deg with a sharp inversion and the freezing level to 10,000. It takes me 45 min to get all the crap off the plane and I then learn that the airport is closed for snow removal.
Finally at 11 AM they open the field so we get the clearance depart on Rwy 2. Weather is now 300' and 1 mile vis, but enough since there is an ILS there. We start off with the ILS 5 at CEF and as we are being vectored on a left base, we notice at 3000 that the winds are at almost 60 its, but a pretty smooth ride mostly.
On the ILS 5 to start, we have a BIG tailwind and I have to bring the power back almost to idle to stay on the GS! At DH (250') we see a bit of ground, but nothing that counts so we go missed back to BAF.
Upon checking the ATIS, it has now dropped to 200' and 1/4 sm there so I tell George that we'll go to BDL if we can't get in. On a Saturday afternoon, I have nowhere to be, plus I brought everything I needed to stay overnight if need be, that way there is no pressure to get back.
Sure enough on the ILS 20 (where we have only 50 kts groundspeed!) we can barely see the ground at DH so we go missed not surprisingly and get vectored for the ILS 24 at BDL. They are reporting 300 OVC and 6000+ RVR so I'm very confident we'll get in since the lighting system is excellent there.
Surprisingly, we break out at 700 AGL on the approach and from there to touchdown, we have a very squirly wind and a lot of chop. Luckily, I touchdown pretty smoothly and head on over to TacAir to wait for the ceiling to come up.
An hour later, we even get some t-storms that quickly pass, and as luck would have it, the ceiling also comes up at BAF right after the boomers pass by as well so we launch for BAF again.
After departing Rwy 24, we are assigned a 360 HDG with puts up on the left downwind for the ILS 20. When the controller puts us on base, he gives us a 090 hdg and seems to not account for the wind so I ask him if he can turn us towards the FAF more and gives us a 40 deg right turn which is a nice base leg.
It is not until we are almost right on the LOC that we gives us our app clearance and then ships us off to BAF tower not long after.
When I check in with BAF tower, he gives me the RVR readout which is very low (under 1500 ft if I remember correctly), but tells me that he can see a lot further than that b/c the RVR sensor is just a few feet high and is picking up scud that even 10 ft up is not there!
Interesting.........
After flying the long and slowwww ILS 20, we break out at 100' above minimums and can see exactly what he is talking about as parts of the airport look like they have "scud" that doesnt really affect landing.
This is a great example of how, human observers are really the strong link in the chain when it comes to weather reporting, despite how high tech we want automated reports to be.
We make an uneventful landing and taxi back to the FBO. Once there, a few guys are anxious to hear all about our flight as they are pretty excited that we got the change to go up on a flyable IFR day in January without icing worries!
A great way to start off 2014!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wx44ycMtog&feature=youtu.be
The forecast as early as 6 days out was hinting at a good chance for IMC for several days prior to Saturday so of course I was watching pretty much every run of the GFS, NAM and ECMWF (Euro) for most of last week, hoping that the forecast would hold up.
Come Friday afternoon, the TAF's are calling for 300 OVC later going up to 800 with the freezing level to the moon so I was jumping for joy!
Got out of bed early Sat AM to check again, and I get a bit more than I bargained for as everything is now below minimums. Being that it is forecast to go up to 500 ft and then 800, I drive up to BAF and figure I just wait till its above minimums to launch. I invited George who is a CFII up there to join me (as a pax, not a dual flight), as he loves that kind of weather too. Amazing, because he is twice my age and has about 20X more hours than I do!
When I get there, much to my shock, the plane is covered in about an inch of wet heavy snow, even though its 34 deg with a sharp inversion and the freezing level to 10,000. It takes me 45 min to get all the crap off the plane and I then learn that the airport is closed for snow removal.
Finally at 11 AM they open the field so we get the clearance depart on Rwy 2. Weather is now 300' and 1 mile vis, but enough since there is an ILS there. We start off with the ILS 5 at CEF and as we are being vectored on a left base, we notice at 3000 that the winds are at almost 60 its, but a pretty smooth ride mostly.
On the ILS 5 to start, we have a BIG tailwind and I have to bring the power back almost to idle to stay on the GS! At DH (250') we see a bit of ground, but nothing that counts so we go missed back to BAF.
Upon checking the ATIS, it has now dropped to 200' and 1/4 sm there so I tell George that we'll go to BDL if we can't get in. On a Saturday afternoon, I have nowhere to be, plus I brought everything I needed to stay overnight if need be, that way there is no pressure to get back.
Sure enough on the ILS 20 (where we have only 50 kts groundspeed!) we can barely see the ground at DH so we go missed not surprisingly and get vectored for the ILS 24 at BDL. They are reporting 300 OVC and 6000+ RVR so I'm very confident we'll get in since the lighting system is excellent there.
Surprisingly, we break out at 700 AGL on the approach and from there to touchdown, we have a very squirly wind and a lot of chop. Luckily, I touchdown pretty smoothly and head on over to TacAir to wait for the ceiling to come up.
An hour later, we even get some t-storms that quickly pass, and as luck would have it, the ceiling also comes up at BAF right after the boomers pass by as well so we launch for BAF again.
After departing Rwy 24, we are assigned a 360 HDG with puts up on the left downwind for the ILS 20. When the controller puts us on base, he gives us a 090 hdg and seems to not account for the wind so I ask him if he can turn us towards the FAF more and gives us a 40 deg right turn which is a nice base leg.
It is not until we are almost right on the LOC that we gives us our app clearance and then ships us off to BAF tower not long after.
When I check in with BAF tower, he gives me the RVR readout which is very low (under 1500 ft if I remember correctly), but tells me that he can see a lot further than that b/c the RVR sensor is just a few feet high and is picking up scud that even 10 ft up is not there!
Interesting.........
After flying the long and slowwww ILS 20, we break out at 100' above minimums and can see exactly what he is talking about as parts of the airport look like they have "scud" that doesnt really affect landing.
This is a great example of how, human observers are really the strong link in the chain when it comes to weather reporting, despite how high tech we want automated reports to be.
We make an uneventful landing and taxi back to the FBO. Once there, a few guys are anxious to hear all about our flight as they are pretty excited that we got the change to go up on a flyable IFR day in January without icing worries!
A great way to start off 2014!!
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