Greebo
N9017H - C172M (1976)
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2005
- Messages
- 10,976
- Location
- Baltimore, MD
- Display Name
Display name:
Retired Evil Overlord
So yesterday we were all set for a trip to Pittsburgh to visit friends and go to the Pgh. Renaissance Festival with them.
We departed Martin State at 11:00 EST into pretty good weather, very light winds, few clouds, but knowing that there are areas with heavy mist low to the ground en route. AGC, however, was in the clear and the plan was to head west, and if it got too bad enroute, we'd stop somewhere and wait a while.
Fortunately, the weather turned out to be no factor, other than once we hit the higher ridges of the Allegheny mountains we had to drop down to 4,500 to stay under a line of ridge clouds.
However, what was somewhat surprising was how busy the airspace was when we first were departing the Baltimore area. Turns out BWI and Dullas were both using northern approach paths pretty heavily that morning.
My plan was to pick up VFR advisories as soon as possible, but I wasn't able to get clear contact with Potomac until around Westminster, when I was sufficiently clear of the Baltimore Bravo to climb up to 4,500. Our adventure began then... The controller asked if I planned to stay at 4,500 and I told him I'd intended to climb to 6,500 at Frederick (I like extra room between me and big mountainous stretches of trees...)
Well we must have had a dozen traffic warnings, most of them heavies going north to south at 5k and 7k. I was apparently keeping this guy on his toes...although I did offer repeatedly to change altitude if it would help him.
But the most exciting moment (and you know how much pilots like excitement...) was when we were climbing from 4,500 to 6,500. The day was a bit warm and with my wife and I and our luggage, the climb rate at full power (yes, with leaning) was only about 300' when I was making 100kts. I was hoping to make a nice, gradual climb up to 6,500 while still making good forward speed. Right at 5,000ft the controller advises me of traffic, 12 o'clock, 7 miles, doing about 200kts. Ok, I'm looking, but I can't see a thing in front of me, but my wife spots a heavy WAY higher than us, and I lock onto it thinking "oh that must be it", so I tell the controller I see him but he's way higher. The controller is getting nervous, "No, thats not the contact, you've confused it with the heavy. Traffic now 3 miles, 12 oclock, if no contact turn right and descend 500", meanwhile I'm now up to 5,500 - and so is the contact. I look for about 3 seconds and think, "OH ****!" and cut power and nose her down and start to turn. I don't answer the controller, I'm busy looking and getting the hell out of dodge. Oh, and the controller had moved the contact to another freq so neither of us could hear the other.
It wasn't until I'm turned more to the north and descending until I call approach and tell them, "No contact, I'm getting out of the way" when I FINALLY see the contact. I don't know what it was - it was smallish, sleek, silvery, and FAST, and I only saw it because his strobes were blinking right at me alternating wing to wing. He was about 200' higher than me and right where I'd been just a moment ago. I let approach know that finally I had visual and eventually he asked me if I was going to resume my climb.
THis time, I wasted no time - pitched up to 80kts at full power and got up to 6,500 as fast as I could, and got a very strongly stated request from the controller to stay glued to that altitude because his separation was REALLY tight this morning what with me in the way.
Once we got west of Hagerstown, we were out of the approach path and had no further excitement, but that was just fine. We'd had plenty.
Moral of the story:
1) Don't dally when changing altitudes. Traffic can be coming the other way.
2) Use VFR advisories if you can get em, especially in busy places. I'm sure that if I hadn't used them, the controller would have had a much worse day, while I went blindly forth making a big VFR target that he had to move people WAY around. Being in contact let him slip me thru the cracks and let him keep his other traffic reasonably well uninterrupted.
We kept in contact all the way to AGC, where Corporate Air treated us wonderfully.
Have a safe flight - its a big sky, but it ain't empty.
We departed Martin State at 11:00 EST into pretty good weather, very light winds, few clouds, but knowing that there are areas with heavy mist low to the ground en route. AGC, however, was in the clear and the plan was to head west, and if it got too bad enroute, we'd stop somewhere and wait a while.
Fortunately, the weather turned out to be no factor, other than once we hit the higher ridges of the Allegheny mountains we had to drop down to 4,500 to stay under a line of ridge clouds.
However, what was somewhat surprising was how busy the airspace was when we first were departing the Baltimore area. Turns out BWI and Dullas were both using northern approach paths pretty heavily that morning.
My plan was to pick up VFR advisories as soon as possible, but I wasn't able to get clear contact with Potomac until around Westminster, when I was sufficiently clear of the Baltimore Bravo to climb up to 4,500. Our adventure began then... The controller asked if I planned to stay at 4,500 and I told him I'd intended to climb to 6,500 at Frederick (I like extra room between me and big mountainous stretches of trees...)
Well we must have had a dozen traffic warnings, most of them heavies going north to south at 5k and 7k. I was apparently keeping this guy on his toes...although I did offer repeatedly to change altitude if it would help him.
But the most exciting moment (and you know how much pilots like excitement...) was when we were climbing from 4,500 to 6,500. The day was a bit warm and with my wife and I and our luggage, the climb rate at full power (yes, with leaning) was only about 300' when I was making 100kts. I was hoping to make a nice, gradual climb up to 6,500 while still making good forward speed. Right at 5,000ft the controller advises me of traffic, 12 o'clock, 7 miles, doing about 200kts. Ok, I'm looking, but I can't see a thing in front of me, but my wife spots a heavy WAY higher than us, and I lock onto it thinking "oh that must be it", so I tell the controller I see him but he's way higher. The controller is getting nervous, "No, thats not the contact, you've confused it with the heavy. Traffic now 3 miles, 12 oclock, if no contact turn right and descend 500", meanwhile I'm now up to 5,500 - and so is the contact. I look for about 3 seconds and think, "OH ****!" and cut power and nose her down and start to turn. I don't answer the controller, I'm busy looking and getting the hell out of dodge. Oh, and the controller had moved the contact to another freq so neither of us could hear the other.
It wasn't until I'm turned more to the north and descending until I call approach and tell them, "No contact, I'm getting out of the way" when I FINALLY see the contact. I don't know what it was - it was smallish, sleek, silvery, and FAST, and I only saw it because his strobes were blinking right at me alternating wing to wing. He was about 200' higher than me and right where I'd been just a moment ago. I let approach know that finally I had visual and eventually he asked me if I was going to resume my climb.
THis time, I wasted no time - pitched up to 80kts at full power and got up to 6,500 as fast as I could, and got a very strongly stated request from the controller to stay glued to that altitude because his separation was REALLY tight this morning what with me in the way.
Once we got west of Hagerstown, we were out of the approach path and had no further excitement, but that was just fine. We'd had plenty.
Moral of the story:
1) Don't dally when changing altitudes. Traffic can be coming the other way.
2) Use VFR advisories if you can get em, especially in busy places. I'm sure that if I hadn't used them, the controller would have had a much worse day, while I went blindly forth making a big VFR target that he had to move people WAY around. Being in contact let him slip me thru the cracks and let him keep his other traffic reasonably well uninterrupted.
We kept in contact all the way to AGC, where Corporate Air treated us wonderfully.
Have a safe flight - its a big sky, but it ain't empty.
), and a handful of drops in other places.
