IFR in NC?

T

Taylor

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Taylor
This is a question for the North Carolina pilots on the board (all two or three of you :D).

My parents live in Raleigh and my mom recently told me that she is no longer going to continue training towards her Instrument Rating. Apparently, she scheduled a plane every Saturday and Sunday for December, January, and February and so far has only managed two flights with her instructor. She described NC weather as being either:

a) overcast days with low temps on the ground and thus ice in the clouds
b) clear skies but strong and gusty winds with wind shear
c) summer thunderstorms so you don’t fly in the clouds and stay VFR

If this is the case, how do you stay proficient flying instruments? Is an instrument rating useful? In California I am blessed with good flying weather and the IR is essential to getting into and out of my home airport. It is hard for me to imagine the IR not being useful, but perhaps it isn’t helpful in some areas?

Taylor
 
I live in the suburbs of Raleigh and there is a lot of flying I do that would be impossible without the IFR rating. There are many great flying days during the year, but some days are just rotten. In the winter there can be ice, but you can often work aroung this, in the spring there can be some real wicked winds, but I've seen high winds in other parts of the country as well. In the summer there can be some lines of thunderstorms, but you can usually work around them with short waits.

Tell your mom to not be discouraged and go ahead and get her instrument rating. It is well worth it and in this area it really opens up the opportunities to fly.
 
Taylor,

You can tell your mom that there will be plenty of days where VFR won't be possible but having the instrument ticket and being current will let her make the trip. Winter is tough due to icing, summer is second toughest with thunderstorms but there will be plenty of times when the ability to go IFR will come in handy.

Staying current is more about getting into a routine where you fly with a good instructor to actually be more than legally current and to expand skills.

Len
 
Taylor,
I find the Instrument Rating is a building block that changes the way you fly forever. Winter flying anywhere the temps approach freezing will have the same problem with training aircraft. Icing scares me more than any single weather feature. With the IR, summer haze isn't as much of an issue... spring/fall low ceilings, no problem. I love flying in the system, the precision of the flight itself and the situational awareness required are all a part of my love of IFR flight.

NC weather is changable, not as bad as New England however. We're on the corner of the jet stream and depending on where the systems end up, we can get some great IFR-able weather.

How do I keep current ? I did a lot of practice with safety pilots and instructors. I also fly within the system every chance I get, fly every approach even if it's VMC.

BTW, I think the aviation gods curse weekends. I started my IR at the end of March and finished it at the beginning of September.
 
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Taylor,

I live right outside Raleigh. I used to live in Westchester back in the day.

Tell your mom about the Kitty Hawk 99's...a bunch of women who fly....and they can give her lots of support, bc there are a few who are IR.

Goodluck to her, and tell her not to stop her IR training.
 
Taylor said:
This is a question for the North Carolina pilots on the board (all two or three of you :D).

My parents live in Raleigh and my mom recently told me that she is no longer going to continue training towards her Instrument Rating. Apparently, she scheduled a plane every Saturday and Sunday for December, January, and February and so far has only managed two flights with her instructor. She described NC weather as being either:

a) overcast days with low temps on the ground and thus ice in the clouds
b) clear skies but strong and gusty winds with wind shear
c) summer thunderstorms so you don’t fly in the clouds and stay VFR
Click to expand...

Not NC, but CHA is 40nm from the western border of NC, and the weather is similar.

We've had a lot of "a" in the last month, in fact, every weekend trip I've wanted to do has been cancelled by ceilings of 2000, surface temps near freezing, and airmet zulu's above. Yes, frustrating, but that is the deal.

And, with these fast moving lows, and abrupt temperature changes, we have been having a lot of "b" lately as well. I was out one evening after work with the club instructor in the Archer, and the winds were 33017G28, and the winds aloft were high. Depending on where she is on her IR training, this would be hard. I shot approaches to runway 20 that night, and the gusty xwind made for hard work on the approaches.

The summer can bring "c" in the form of imbedded TS, and yes, if you can't get high enough to see the buildups, you may be better off putting along at 3000msl so you can spot them that way. (or, invest in XM weather and stormscope)

So, it sounds like crap, eh? Not really, and the IR ticket can come in very useful. Typical summer vis is 3-4nm and haze (those from the clear west who went to Gastons learned of haze), which is VFR, but not very smart VFR. In those conditions before IR, I bumped along at 3000msl under the clouds sweating my butt off in the heat and getting beat up by the thermals so I could keep a discernable horizion and keep track of the ground. Oh, and hoping between flight following and the mod one mark zero eyeball I'd spot conflicting aircraft in that 3nm muck. Insane, actually.

This summer, I can't wait to be able to be in the system and climb up above the haze layer into the nice cool, calm air. CAN'T WAIT!!!
 
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I haven't used my IR in years. It's hardly a necessity. The question centers more on what kind of flying your mom intends to do.
 
I have been flying from Wilmington, NC to Raleigh & back every day but Sun since Sept.

I hit ice about 4 times & t-storms maybe 5 times.

The winds have been a little crazy this year, but not so much as to stop a 172.

Maybe you Mom should look for another instructor.

If the surface winds are bad, the CFI can do the 1 TO & Landing & your mom can do 1000 approaches in between. The wind shouldn't make it hard to control except maybe for landing or turbulance.

I did a lot of my IR training in IMC & other bad wx with my 2nd CFI II. The first one would not fly unless 10 mil vis & under 5 kt wind.

Are there any sims around???
 
Thanks for all of the replies.

I have not met my Mom’s current instructor. Her last one was really good, but he has been hired by an airline. Perhaps her instructor is too timid with regards to weather. I know that my mom is a very conservative pilot, so if her instructor is also, that might explain it.

It sounds like you guys (and girls) have been able to fly enough to keep current this winter. Are you relying on simulators a lot?

I’ve offered to have her come out here and finish up her rating quickly and then go back to NC and just try to get up with her instructor enough to remain current until better instrument flying weather arrives in NC. She started this rating last fall and I know she didn’t think that it would take this long. I’ll see if she takes me up on the offer.

I’ll let her know about the 99s. Perhaps finding a safety pilot who can fly with her when her instructor can’t would help keep her flying.

Taylor
 
Taylor said:
It sounds like you guys (and girls) have been able to fly enough to keep current this winter. Are you relying on simulators a lot?
Click to expand...

No, just trying to get out as much as I can. Lately, only one 1.2hr or so flight a week, and each of those has been all simulated approaches with a safety pilot.

She started this rating last fall and I know she didn’t think that it would take this long. I’ll see if she takes me up on the offer.
Click to expand...

When in the fall? I started last June, and did the ride in December, so that was 7 months. Even so, I scheduled the plane 4 days/week and flew as often as weather would allow, and this is how it worked out. If she started in October, then she would finish up in April, based on the same time.

If she went out there, I assume your husband (sorry, I can't remember the spelling of his name) would finish her up?

I’ll let her know about the 99s. Perhaps finding a safety pilot who can fly with her when her instructor can’t would help keep her flying.
Click to expand...

I did a good bit of flying with a safety pilot, got more time in (when my II wasn't available) and saved some ca$h.
 
I fly to/from Chapel Hill many times per year (daughter in school at UNC-CH) and I would say that ~30-50% of the arrivals/departures into Chapel Hill require IFR during the climb/descent, but only ~1% involve a thunderstorm or ice (ice is a flight canceling item).
 
I had a great CFII, also joined the Airline ranks. We agreed that, embedded T-storms and ice were out. Most IFR training is done in VFR conditions. It can be a little dodgy practicing approaches with a new student in IMC. VFR helps the instructor keep tabs on things.

The winds have been very March-like all winter. Nothing hones your holding abilities like a good wind. My IFR checkride had a good 10-15kt NW wind. I was grateful that we made the effort to go out on some lumpy & breezy days. Winter flying is challenging, the sun seems to be low in the sky at both ends of the day, winds are constantly changing, precip is common and in NC you have to watch the freezing levels. One day it's at the surface, the next it's at 12,000'.

Your Mom's instructor might be just fine. Can she do training during the week ? How often is she flying at all ? I started off kind of casually, but quickly realize that unless *I* flew often we were spending 40-60% retracing previous lessons. Even just flying VFR X-Cs but holding headings, altitudes, flying the airways... basically flying IFR without the clearance and the IMC kept my in the game.
 
I flew charter out of JQF for 3 years, and the 1 thing I learned was in NC you get many diff. types of WX and WX can Stall out due to the MTNs blocking and then Eastern flow from the Atlantic. When that happens....it gets stagnant, foggy, can get ice. I grew up in the Mid West where we had lines of fast moving thunderstorms and squall lines that were easy to naviagte and predict although very ferricous. My experiecn with thunderstorms in NC was a little diff. Occasionally there were squall lines or lines BUT most of the time it was popcorn stuff or little organizaitons of cells moving in different directons. I felt like a pinball in a pinball machince vectoring arround in between and under cells often to just find another right behind. So little different WX fundamentals due to the geography. Not to mention the coastal WX and how the 2 combine to make some interesting WX in the middle of the state.

Is the WX worse than Scottsdale AZ, WX or the WX at Edwards Air Force base...yeah probably. But in my opinion its just a little unique to the area, just like the WX everywhere else. Its not impossilbe to train in though but it does require some planning and opportunites may be difficult at times.

Perhaps try a different instructor, and increase the frequency of training no matter what. Last minute flexability is important too. I used to encourge my IR students to fly twice a week and once on the weekend. The middle flight didn't need to me long, just 1 appch or 1 skill or technique. Maybe .7 on the hobbs. Frequecny is the key!
 
Taylor said:
This is a question for the North Carolina pilots on the board (all two or three of you :D).

My parents live in Raleigh and my mom recently told me that she is no longer going to continue training towards her Instrument Rating. Apparently, she scheduled a plane every Saturday and Sunday for December, January, and February and so far has only managed two flights with her instructor. She described NC weather as being either:

a) overcast days with low temps on the ground and thus ice in the clouds
b) clear skies but strong and gusty winds with wind shear
c) summer thunderstorms so you don’t fly in the clouds and stay VFR

If this is the case, how do you stay proficient flying instruments? Is an instrument rating useful? In California I am blessed with good flying weather and the IR is essential to getting into and out of my home airport. It is hard for me to imagine the IR not being useful, but perhaps it isn’t helpful in some areas?

Taylor
Click to expand...

Taylor, having grown up in Raleigh, I understand about the weather. I think the problem is more related to the season than the Piedmont. There will be many great IR training days to come in the spring and early summer.
To stay proficient, I file and practice approaches in HKY, UKF, and GEV when the weather is MVFR or IFR with a ceiling high enough to get me back home to NC14. Sometimes I snag a pilot buddy to ride SP for me when the weather's good. And yes, an IR is darn useful around here. I can't remember when I made a VFR X-country.
Tell your mom not to give up.
Bill
 
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