Long-@ss description of "the flight"
jdwatson said:
Ben,
Tell us more about your 3000nm odessey. What route ? Did you file IFR ? Details !
Just remember, you asked for it.
The trip was a trip I wanted to make, to visit family, and to help them, as well. I needed to do it last September. Even though this was a bit early for a long X-C, I thought it would be a learning experience. It was, and then some. My CFII had me do the X-C planning. It took me about half an hour just to figure out which plates and IFR and VFR charts I would need. Those alone took half of a bag!
First I elicited some help from people on the old AOPA webboard. I got a lot of help in the form of personal emails with suggestions on fuel stops, eateries, etc. Then, I went online to research the same sort of stuff. From that, I found my initial routing with possible stops. It was at this point that I went over the rough plan with my CFII. After he made his comments, I finalized everything, put highlighting on the charts, and made a very long X-C planner.
The aircraft we chose for the trip was a beautiful 1988 Piper Saratoga, with Mode S, HSI, 430, stormscope, etc. We also brought two handheld GPSs and a handheld radio. All of our planning was conservative: takeoff at least 100 lbs underweight, and land with at least two hours of fuel (which always more than satisfied IFR fuel requirements).
The first leg was the "short" one. We flew KBWI - KDDH (Morse State, in Bennington, VT). We got just the slightest bit of light IMC in the form of little puffy CU. I had chosen a route around NYC, that my CFII recommended. We visited my mother in Vermont and had a nice little picnic lunch right on the property. I did the VOR approach there (I think it used to be a VOR-A). That was about 350 n.m., as I remember.
From there, we took off for Dallas. Our route took us over a long, nearly great-circle line to Dallas. We knew we wouldn't get there in one day. We made a fuel stop in - - gosh, I can't remember! I think it was near XUB (Yellow Bud). I remember we did a hold and a localizer approach. After a quick turn, quick pee, and quick coke, we were back in business and on our way to KLHQ where we spent the night in a reasonably good hotel. I did the localizer approach there. The staff at the airport were very friendly, and lent us a car for the night! We had flown about 500 miles from Vermont, and about 800 miles for the day.
The next morning, we were off to Dallas with a stop in Hot Springs, Arkansas. (Watch out for that mountain!) True to its name, Hot Springs was hot as the devil! Climbing out, I got a strong dose of IMC with lots of bumps, showers--the works! I stayed in the clouds for about an hour. Finally, we popped out just before Texarkana. We got direct to KTKI, which we took with pleasure. I did the ILS there, and taxied to parking having flown another 600 miles, or so. My brother and his wife met us, and the family and my CFII had a fine dinner (and BEER!) together. We stayed in Dallas a few days, relaxing.
Then came the big trip back home--about 1100 n.m. We filed and flew a DP, which was a blast to do. (Believe it or not, class B KBWI doesn't every assign us a DP.) If we didn't have that headwind, we might have been able to do the thing in one shot. But my CFII wanted me to do at least two approaches, anyway. The fun part about this leg was that we got direct to our intermediate stop from about 400 miles out! It was very clear, so my CFII had me fly as closely to the GPS-generated centerline as possible. I had fun trying to keep it within 100 FEET! We stopped at K20, Hazard, Kentucky, where I did the VOR approach. Mountains! Gotta be careful! Very nice folks there lent us a car to go into town for a bite to eat.
The final leg home was to be the most challenging. The last hour and a half would see us flying in gusty, bumpy conditions, with plenty of rain, and in darkness. This was the real world, man, and it was time to see how I would do. We had filed a STAR, so we knew what to expect. With all those bumps, though, it was really wild at times. Try reading a DP (even Jepp!) with night cockpit lighting, with big bumps and loud rain tearing at the airframe! We were assigned the ILS 15R approach. This time my CFII was nice enough to let me accept VTF! We broke out under the clouds at around 1100' AGL, but we only had about 2 miles vis, with lots of scud. As we continued down the rails, we suddenly got very good visibility at about 600' AGL (don't know why). We landed back home in gusty conditions, but I was EXTREEMELY pumped and happy!
My wife met us at Signature where we relaxed and chat for a bit. I had learnt so much, and was unspeakably thankful for my teacher's guidance and instruction. We drove my CFII to his house, and then went home for a good dinner. I slept like a baby that night.
It was after this flight that I started to feel like a real IFR pilot.
