grattonja
Line Up and Wait
We talk a lot on this forum about approaches down to minimums, "hard" IFR, thunderstorms, ice, etc. But I was reminded this weekend why I got the IR, why it is cool, and what it can do for you.
My wife wanted to go to a Vassar reunion, her mother's 50th, actually. Time with the grandchild and we get to wander campus for the day. It was Saturday though, and, in Central PA, Saturday was 600 foot ceilings and drizzle. Warm and no boomers though. I was a bit nervous. My personal take off minimums out of Smoketown involve being able to make an approach into LNS if something goes haywire, but not bad enough to make an emergency landing. We were close to those minimums, with the ILS out of service. But, we were above my minimums, and that was good enough.
The delay with FSS getting filed should have told me something was afoot, and the clearance confirmed it. First of all, I FINALLY got a decent clearance eastbound. We wanted LRP ETX V162 HUO direct POU and we got it. I was figuring to get routed up to Scranton, Lake Henry, the usual New England routing, which I think is ugly for single engine IFR. But, when it came time to read back and get my departure window out of Smoketown, they changed it, made me go direct to Geeri intersection and said something about talking to them in the air, with a faint mumbling about "then as filed". I knew we could go to Geeri but wasn't sure beyond that.
Well, once we got on the radio I realized that everyone and his brother was trying to get to the AOPA flyin. Harrisburg approach was as busy as I have ever seen. They sent us to Geeri because they had several planes already en route to or parked at LRP, and it was jammed up. Pilots were trying to get to Frederick and being told that wasn't going to happen.
It was simply GREAT to climb to 1000 MSL and get eaten by the clouds! I love the feeling of transitioning into IMC, particularly on a calm day like Saturday. We were in the clouds for a while, during which we finally got routed direct to ETX. Thank you, /G. At about 4000 we broke out and stayed on top after that, sometimes with a visible horizon and sometimes not. My wife, taking IFR training, was asking questions and watching everything. For once, the dang needles got centered and stayed that way. I felt like a total pro as we droned along, east bound. Got about .8 of actual. When I got on with Allentown approach, I asked to confirm routing, before we got to ETX. They came back shortly and confirmed what I had received on the ground.
East of ABE, it basically cleared out. We stayed IFR though all the way, to keep up the practice and to help dodge traffic. New York Approach had one of the most stressed sounding controllers that I have heard in a while. He failed to respond to my first two call ins, and two from a 'Bo as well. Finally he got me and immediately told me to descend to 4K. We were something like 50 miles from the airport, so I asked Janet to check elevations. Every traffic call I heard him make was a TRAFFIC ALERT, with the same tone that the media says BOMB THREAT. It seemed that he had a lot of traffic conflicting around the Hudson River Valley, and he made me nervous. So we watched every instruction carefully, but it all went fine.
We finally made a visual 24 to POU. Other than too much speed on final (I made a short approach due to other landing traffic), it was a decent trip.
It was truly IFR Lite though. No approach and basically using the IR to get above the clouds. But, without the IR there was no way we could have departed Smoketown. It was too low to scud run, even if I had the inclination. And it would have been a hellish 4 hour car trip to Poughkeepsie if we stayed on the ground.
Now I am feeling the itch to get out and shoot some real approaches, not the foggles kind. And I feel great about my flying skills. I really love flying IFR, and I forget just how much until these little trips. I find the intellectual pursuit of the needles in clouds to be true enjoyment. The more I do it the better my altitude and heading holding skills are. The more I fly IFR the better I am at it, and the more I like it.
Happy flying all
Jim G
My wife wanted to go to a Vassar reunion, her mother's 50th, actually. Time with the grandchild and we get to wander campus for the day. It was Saturday though, and, in Central PA, Saturday was 600 foot ceilings and drizzle. Warm and no boomers though. I was a bit nervous. My personal take off minimums out of Smoketown involve being able to make an approach into LNS if something goes haywire, but not bad enough to make an emergency landing. We were close to those minimums, with the ILS out of service. But, we were above my minimums, and that was good enough.
The delay with FSS getting filed should have told me something was afoot, and the clearance confirmed it. First of all, I FINALLY got a decent clearance eastbound. We wanted LRP ETX V162 HUO direct POU and we got it. I was figuring to get routed up to Scranton, Lake Henry, the usual New England routing, which I think is ugly for single engine IFR. But, when it came time to read back and get my departure window out of Smoketown, they changed it, made me go direct to Geeri intersection and said something about talking to them in the air, with a faint mumbling about "then as filed". I knew we could go to Geeri but wasn't sure beyond that.
Well, once we got on the radio I realized that everyone and his brother was trying to get to the AOPA flyin. Harrisburg approach was as busy as I have ever seen. They sent us to Geeri because they had several planes already en route to or parked at LRP, and it was jammed up. Pilots were trying to get to Frederick and being told that wasn't going to happen.
It was simply GREAT to climb to 1000 MSL and get eaten by the clouds! I love the feeling of transitioning into IMC, particularly on a calm day like Saturday. We were in the clouds for a while, during which we finally got routed direct to ETX. Thank you, /G. At about 4000 we broke out and stayed on top after that, sometimes with a visible horizon and sometimes not. My wife, taking IFR training, was asking questions and watching everything. For once, the dang needles got centered and stayed that way. I felt like a total pro as we droned along, east bound. Got about .8 of actual. When I got on with Allentown approach, I asked to confirm routing, before we got to ETX. They came back shortly and confirmed what I had received on the ground.
East of ABE, it basically cleared out. We stayed IFR though all the way, to keep up the practice and to help dodge traffic. New York Approach had one of the most stressed sounding controllers that I have heard in a while. He failed to respond to my first two call ins, and two from a 'Bo as well. Finally he got me and immediately told me to descend to 4K. We were something like 50 miles from the airport, so I asked Janet to check elevations. Every traffic call I heard him make was a TRAFFIC ALERT, with the same tone that the media says BOMB THREAT. It seemed that he had a lot of traffic conflicting around the Hudson River Valley, and he made me nervous. So we watched every instruction carefully, but it all went fine.
We finally made a visual 24 to POU. Other than too much speed on final (I made a short approach due to other landing traffic), it was a decent trip.
It was truly IFR Lite though. No approach and basically using the IR to get above the clouds. But, without the IR there was no way we could have departed Smoketown. It was too low to scud run, even if I had the inclination. And it would have been a hellish 4 hour car trip to Poughkeepsie if we stayed on the ground.
Now I am feeling the itch to get out and shoot some real approaches, not the foggles kind. And I feel great about my flying skills. I really love flying IFR, and I forget just how much until these little trips. I find the intellectual pursuit of the needles in clouds to be true enjoyment. The more I do it the better my altitude and heading holding skills are. The more I fly IFR the better I am at it, and the more I like it.
Happy flying all
Jim G
After that, I will have to carry a quarter in my flight bag for standard coin tosses to determine who gets to fly.