got my first taste of IMC.

rbridges

rbridges

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rbridges
flew to Gatlinburg following that nasty weather that hit the night before. Kept checking the weather and got a nice briefing before I left. It was a 1.25 hr flight, and probably 70% of that was IMC.

got to use foreflight with the stratus that belongs to a friend of mine. combined with a stormscope, it does give you a little more awareness. I know the shortcomings of both, but it's definitely better to have them than to be without.

anyway, it wasn't a bad ride. a little rain but very little turbulence. Trips like this making the instrument rating worth it's weight.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N6099Q/history/20131101/1230Z/KPXE/KGKT
 
Jealous!

Did you fly the approach in IMC as well? How far down?
 
ChrisK said:
Jealous!

Did you fly the approach in IMC as well? How far down?
Click to expand...


no, it was VFR as soon as I got to Gatlinburg. They keep you at 8000 ft and then you have to drop down quickly. I ended up getting vectored past the airport b/c a bank of clouds was near the mountain ridge. I was able to fly back underneath and land with a visual approach.
 
very nice. ive gotten really only 1 good/decent ifr flight since getting my rating. i flew from KFRG to KRIC and got to shoot the ILS into richmond with a 700 foot ceiling. ive been doing a lot of vfr lately because of freezing levels and icing but im hoping to get at least 2 ifr flights in before the crappy winter weather comes
 
Perfect flight for your first ,could have been a little better if you had to fly a little of the approach before breaking out.
 
Very cool. Congrats on getting your wings wet.

I flew a similar frontal system 2 fronts ago (Friday) going from my home base near RDU to CLT
Flight Track
I don't know how Flight Aware captures the radar situation so accurately but as you can see I waited for most of the front to pass through before taking off. We took off in a shower but could see a spot of blue sky to the west. Flew the edge of the storm with a beautiful array of grey rain clouds on one side and blue off our right. Only occasional IMC.

The end of this flight gave me a chance to replay a situation from a week before that I screwed up. Flying IFR at the end of a long day, I was guided into KHPN in night time VMC conditions. Traffic was heavy and I was sent around the airport before being cleared for the visual into 29. I was getting a bit brain dead and very much knew it. When asked how fast I could go, I said 160 without thinking thru exactly what was implied by the fast talking controller. He said follow the Citation at your 1:00. I was on downwind, the Citation on Base. I decided to follow the Citation by slowing and turning by keeping my nose behind him. That was not what was expected. On final as I watched the Citation touch down, the tower said, "we have traffic at 90 knots on final so Challenger XYZ, line up and wait and we'll get you off before he gets here". I had also dropped below the altitude for the ILS I wasn't cleared for. But even my wife knew that the idea was to keep up the speed, join the localizer behind the Citation and fly the ILS down. I knew it when the controller pointed out I was low and slow.

Very common to adhere to ILS min altitudes and fly the approach even when cleared for the visual at large busy airports.

At CLT, I was ready. When asked how fast I could fly the approach I said 150 and was told the follow Airbus. I was never cleared for the ILS but I was vectored to intercept the localizer, told to maintain 4k until over XYZ (just before GS intercept) then call the tower. There were still plenty of clouds and 3 parallel runways so a bit of precision was needed. We slid down at 150 knots until short final and made a normal landing with everything kept in sequence and moving. Sweet! Redemption from the other night. I felt better.
 
Bill Watson said:
Very cool. Congrats on getting your wings wet.

I flew a similar frontal system 2 fronts ago (Friday) going from my home base near RDU to CLT
Flight Track
I don't know how Flight Aware captures the radar situation so accurately but as you can see I waited for most of the front to pass through before taking off. We took off in a shower but could see a spot of blue sky to the west. Flew the edge of the storm with a beautiful array of grey rain clouds on one side and blue off our right. Only occasional IMC.

The end of this flight gave me a chance to replay a situation from a week before that I screwed up. Flying IFR at the end of a long day, I was guided into KHPN in night time VMC conditions. Traffic was heavy and I was sent around the airport before being cleared for the visual into 29. I was getting a bit brain dead and very much knew it. When asked how fast I could go, I said 160 without thinking thru exactly what was implied by the fast talking controller. He said follow the Citation at your 1:00. I was on downwind, the Citation on Base. I decided to follow the Citation by slowing and turning by keeping my nose behind him. That was not what was expected. On final as I watched the Citation touch down, the tower said, "we have traffic at 90 knots on final so Challenger XYZ, line up and wait and we'll get you off before he gets here". I had also dropped below the altitude for the ILS I wasn't cleared for. But even my wife knew that the idea was to keep up the speed, join the localizer behind the Citation and fly the ILS down. I knew it when the controller pointed out I was low and slow.

Very common to adhere to ILS min altitudes and fly the approach even when cleared for the visual at large busy airports.

At CLT, I was ready. When asked how fast I could fly the approach I said 150 and was told the follow Airbus. I was never cleared for the ILS but I was vectored to intercept the localizer, told to maintain 4k until over XYZ (just before GS intercept) then call the tower. There were still plenty of clouds and 3 parallel runways so a bit of precision was needed. We slid down at 150 knots until short final and made a normal landing with everything kept in sequence and moving. Sweet! Redemption from the other night. I felt better.
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maybe it's my inexperience, but I still tend to get worked up when there's traffic.
 
Silly question.

Do you not see much low visibility weather in the central/eastern us?


Here in So. Cal we see fog (sometimes really bad) on a regular basis. It could be clear, sunny 90* one day and bad rainy 60* fog the next only to be clear and sunny the 3rd day. For example. Saturday was a beautiful 80* clear day. Took my mom flying at 6am. Yesterday foggy in the am but clear afternoon. Today, foggy/drizzle most of day. Tomorrow, supposed to be clear with 20mph winds.
 
GAZOO said:
Silly question.

Do you not see much low visibility weather in the central/eastern us?


Here in So. Cal we see fog (sometimes really bad) on a regular basis. It could be clear, sunny 90* one day and bad rainy 60* fog the next only to be clear and sunny the 3rd day. For example. Saturday was a beautiful 80* clear day. Took my mom flying at 6am. Yesterday foggy in the am but clear afternoon. Today, foggy/drizzle most of day. Tomorrow, supposed to be clear with 20mph winds.
Click to expand...
Ohio has plenty of low VIS and low ceiling days. Plenty.
 
GAZOO said:
Silly question.

Do you not see much low visibility weather in the central/eastern us?


Here in So. Cal we see fog (sometimes really bad) on a regular basis. It could be clear, sunny 90* one day and bad rainy 60* fog the next only to be clear and sunny the 3rd day. For example. Saturday was a beautiful 80* clear day. Took my mom flying at 6am. Yesterday foggy in the am but clear afternoon. Today, foggy/drizzle most of day. Tomorrow, supposed to be clear with 20mph winds.
Click to expand...

we get them, too, but I always thought CA was more prone to fog. I've read several pilot reports where people got in a jam because of fog rolling into the valleys. I know CA is a huge state, and this may just be around certain areas.
 
Congrats on your first IMC. There will be times where there's nothing like it - smooth and in and out of the beautiful clouds. Other times, you may get some good bumps as you pass through and can't see your prop. Then, there's those descending turns in turb and no vis, when you can't wait to break out. Currency and proficiency are imperative. You'll be amazed at how quickly you can become less than proficient, without recent practice.

I try to get some "practice" approaches in IMC whenever I can. I hate foggles. Nothing like breaking out close to mins. and seeing the rwy just ahead of you, where it's supposed to be.


GAZOO said:
Silly question.

Do you not see much low visibility weather in the central/eastern us?


Here in So. Cal we see fog (sometimes really bad) on a regular basis. It could be clear, sunny 90* one day and bad rainy 60* fog the next only to be clear and sunny the 3rd day. For example. Saturday was a beautiful 80* clear day. Took my mom flying at 6am. Yesterday foggy in the am but clear afternoon. Today, foggy/drizzle most of day. Tomorrow, supposed to be clear with 20mph winds.
Click to expand...

We get "easy" IMC, mostly. Not a lot of thunder storms in SoCal, but you do have to pay attentioin to ice in the winter months, primarily when trying to go out of the basin.

Most of what we get is "marine layer" that burns off by 10 or 11am. Having an IR means you can still make the departure at 8a by filing and getting on top (usually by 5,000ft or lower). Not many days that the fog is too dense, (especially at CCB :D) for an IFR departure.

I won't depart IFR though, unless I have minimums or above at departure and enroute airports, in case I need to make a hasty landing.
 
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