dmccormack
Touchdown! Greaser!
- Joined
- May 11, 2007
- Messages
- 10,945
- Location
- Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
- Display Name
Display name:
Dan Mc
Yesterday was an interesting weather day. There was a relatively weak high over PA, NJ, southern NY.
I woke up at 0530 to fog -- enough where I could not see the road 650' away from the front of the house.
We drove up to the airport for the planned 0900 Departure, The fog was gradually lifting. I decided to launch for the first short leg when AGC reported 3 mile vis and 500' clg.
The ILS 26 into AGC was ok -- I gave myself a 80% on that one. We broke out about 600' AGl so the lifting was happening as expected.
Still, the early AM fog lifted late, preventing the rapid uplift of all that moisture and thus keeping the CU to big, but not quite baby CB size.
I flew IFR east to TEB in the AM and after we cleared the fog and low cloud layer at about 5,000 and were over everything at 9,000.
Unfortunately NY Approach needed us lower so we descended to 5,000 over Wilkes Barre area and bumped our way through the uplift (lots of building cumulus) from there until mid-NJ, when we were able to descend below the bases.
Vis was 10 -- barely -- in haze.
We had a short turnaround (after watching the parade of millionaire babes with surgical endowment traipse through the lobby) and we taxied and waited in line with all the Bizjets. 15 minutes of idling and then Position and Hold.
The TEB 5 Departure requires an immediate right turn to 280 at 1500' to avoid the Newark Traffic. We bumped out way up into the clouds with bases about 4500'.
We had to remain at 5,000 (again!) until near the East Texas VOR, and then we climbed to filed altitude of 8000.
The Clouds were building, though, and so we climbed even higher to 10, then 12. At 12 we were still in and out of cloud, so those would have been Thunderstorms if they had been able to start building earlier. By now it was 1500 EST or so so the energy potential (heat) was no longer increasing.
We crossed HAR, the groundspeed on the GPS indicating 99 Knots (with 140 TAS). I asked for lower. We descended to 8, then 6, and we were in cloud -- the bumpy, hot, just-about-to-rain-really-dark kind all the way to Latrobe.
The Home airport was reporting "Clear Below 12,000" which I knew was due to a hole in the sky -- not reality.
CLE CTR kept us high (they ALWAYS do) before the handoff to PIT APP, where we were allowed to descend and get below the bases.
Bump, bump, bump and then look, look, look as PIT reminded me the airport was "12 O'clock and 10 miles," "12 O'clock and 7 miles..."
Yeah, yeah -- well, YOU might be able to see it but I'm not canceling until I know I have the airport in sight!
Finally, about 6 out I spotted it and positive ID -- ok, cancel..
No one in the pattern (never is in wx like this) and straight in for 26.
Push the plane in and RACE to the restaurant to celebrate our 27th Anniversary.
Whew!
I woke up at 0530 to fog -- enough where I could not see the road 650' away from the front of the house.
We drove up to the airport for the planned 0900 Departure, The fog was gradually lifting. I decided to launch for the first short leg when AGC reported 3 mile vis and 500' clg.
The ILS 26 into AGC was ok -- I gave myself a 80% on that one. We broke out about 600' AGl so the lifting was happening as expected.
Still, the early AM fog lifted late, preventing the rapid uplift of all that moisture and thus keeping the CU to big, but not quite baby CB size.
I flew IFR east to TEB in the AM and after we cleared the fog and low cloud layer at about 5,000 and were over everything at 9,000.
Unfortunately NY Approach needed us lower so we descended to 5,000 over Wilkes Barre area and bumped our way through the uplift (lots of building cumulus) from there until mid-NJ, when we were able to descend below the bases.
Vis was 10 -- barely -- in haze.
We had a short turnaround (after watching the parade of millionaire babes with surgical endowment traipse through the lobby) and we taxied and waited in line with all the Bizjets. 15 minutes of idling and then Position and Hold.
The TEB 5 Departure requires an immediate right turn to 280 at 1500' to avoid the Newark Traffic. We bumped out way up into the clouds with bases about 4500'.
We had to remain at 5,000 (again!) until near the East Texas VOR, and then we climbed to filed altitude of 8000.
The Clouds were building, though, and so we climbed even higher to 10, then 12. At 12 we were still in and out of cloud, so those would have been Thunderstorms if they had been able to start building earlier. By now it was 1500 EST or so so the energy potential (heat) was no longer increasing.
We crossed HAR, the groundspeed on the GPS indicating 99 Knots (with 140 TAS). I asked for lower. We descended to 8, then 6, and we were in cloud -- the bumpy, hot, just-about-to-rain-really-dark kind all the way to Latrobe.
The Home airport was reporting "Clear Below 12,000" which I knew was due to a hole in the sky -- not reality.
CLE CTR kept us high (they ALWAYS do) before the handoff to PIT APP, where we were allowed to descend and get below the bases.
Bump, bump, bump and then look, look, look as PIT reminded me the airport was "12 O'clock and 10 miles," "12 O'clock and 7 miles..."
Yeah, yeah -- well, YOU might be able to see it but I'm not canceling until I know I have the airport in sight!
Finally, about 6 out I spotted it and positive ID -- ok, cancel..
No one in the pattern (never is in wx like this) and straight in for 26.
Push the plane in and RACE to the restaurant to celebrate our 27th Anniversary.
Whew!
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