flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
In my never-ending quest to get this instrument ticket REALLY wet... I went up to CWA last night. It's been super-mucky all week with a very slow-moving low hovering to the south and southeast pulling moisture from Lake Michigan. It finally cleared up this evening after being MVFR/IFR since last Thursday!
Forecast had clouds layered to 12,000 with ice from freezing level of 6-8000 on up. PIREPs all showed negative ice, however, so I filed for 6,000 and decided to keep an eye on the situation. MEA's well below the freezing level, and even 4,000 should work fine as an out. In the unlikely event that I encountered freezing rain, I'd have a decent chance to climb since I was in the 182 by myself.
I programmed the 430 and departed runway 32. Runway heading, and into the muck at 1500. As usual, Departure gave me a vector to join the airway and a climb to 6000.
Now, I've done some night IMC, but it's been with my CFII and hasn't been a 100% IMC flight for the most part, so I'm used to having the hood on. It's kind of freaky to see clouds coming at you in the landing light beam, but kinda cool too. I didn't find it disorienting at all, and I elected to leave the taxi light on for a large portion of the flight to make it easier to check for ice on the strut and windscreen. I also used my flashlight for that purpose quite a bit, and I was thankful for the autopilot to help keep me pointed in the right direction while inspecting the surfaces thoroughly.
What do you folks use to check for ice at night?
Anyway, I didn't encounter any ice on this trip. There was a little precip but I mean a little little! CWA ATIS said they were using the ILS 35 but the approach lights were OTS.
Weather there wasn't too bad, so I wasn't too worried about it but I did check the Inoperative Components Table. Hmm, add 1/4 mi vis. No problem. I began to brief the approach.
After being handed to Minneapolis Center, they asked if I could do the DME arc to the ILS 8. I told them that I could not do the DME arc (IFR GPS, no actual DME - Thanks Ron et al here!) but that I could go direct DANCI, or fly the ILS 35 that I'd been briefing. I got the ILS 35. 
Probably worked better for them anyway, as the RJ's and meSAABa (haha) flights were using the ILS 8 and a little flivver like me probably would have gotten in the way.
Just after crossing the FAF, I broke out into some pretty good vis and spotted the airport immediately. (It's not too hard when you're already perfectly lined up on final - Gotta love an ILS!)
For the trip back, something unusual happened. I was prepared!
j/k! I had called Green Bay Radio and they said I could contact Minne Center on the ground (Hm... OK) so I did. I was ready to go, just needed the clearance and such. Since ZMP was already dialed in on one of the coms in preparation for departure, Tower (well, CTAF this late) as well, and everything else was set up, all I had left to do was dial in the squawk. I called up for my clearance, and got:
"Skylane 271G, can you make a two-minute void time?"
I kind of balked at first... I'm not quite used to such a short time, but there was a plane on the way in so it was that or wait a while. Then I realized that I really was prepared and that it doesn't take two minutes to dial in a squawk, so I said OK.
"Skylane 271G, cleared tomadisonasfiledclimbfivemetwentyfoursixfivetwentysix void in two minutes."
"Uhh, can you repeat that just a hair slower for 271G?" It was actually the first time I'd not understood a quick-talking controller. He repeated the clearance, just barely slow enough to hear and with a void time of "one minute, thirty seconds." I read it back, dialed in the squawk, did my three mental pre-takeoff checklists as I rolled onto the runway, and poured it on. And believe it or not, I really didn't feel rushed, and I didn't forget a thing. Things are becoming more automatic now.
I was monitoring both frequencies and heard the inbound RJ just a few miles from DANCI as I climbed out. Center nervously (or was it suspiciously?) called "271Golf, did you make your void time?" "Center, 271G, off CWA at 13 past the hour, climbing through three thousand." I hit IMC a moment later.
Then, this flight got really cool. I caught a glimpse of a big, yellow full moon shining through a crack in the clouds as I neared 5,000 feet. I stayed at 5,000 for the time being and got established in cruise. When Minne Center handed me back to Chicago I checked in with "Chicago Center, Skylane 271G level 5000, request 7." I was assigned 7,000 and broke out on top of the layer I was in at about 6500. There was a chunk of a higher layer that blocked out the direct moonlight but there was enough of a glow to softly illuminate the tops of the clouds in the distance.
As I continued, eventually the higher layer thinned out to reveal a beautiful sight: The top half of the rising full moon was shrouded in a thin glowing veil, giving the man in the moon a more feminine look. The moon, combined with an oddly-shaped undercast, created a scene reminiscent of a sunrise over a glimmering fantasyland mountain range, its radiant beauty giving way to a turgid sea of darkness beneath me.
As I approached the "shore" I saw that I'd be going IMC again. This was a weird layer - I can only describe it as "Corrugated." I alternated between glimpses of lights on the ground, followed by 30 seconds of IMC, a flash of light from the moon, 30 more seconds in the dark, and ground contact. Funky!
Eventually both went away. Chicago dropped me down to 4,000 and vectored me around for the ILS 36. Annoyingly, they kept me at 4,000 even after I requested lower - They vectored me as if I was at 3,000 or 2,700 but kept me up high. The glideslope was full deflection down before I intercepted the localizer, so I ended up flying...
...Uh oh...
The dreaded Localizer 36. This is the approach that I screwed up TWICE, including my first IR checkride, and now I'm doing it in actual. No chance of making the same mistake and descending early, since when I did finally intercept the localizer, I dropped like a rock and was still at 3000 (500 feet above glideslope) when I crossed OZMIX. Well, OK, down to localizer mins then, 1280 feet. I did finally drop through the glideslope (didn't intercept it... Who knows if it's the right one?) and by the time I got to 1280 I was under the clouds and the airport was right in front of me. I landed, closed the flight plan, and another great flight is in the book!
Forecast had clouds layered to 12,000 with ice from freezing level of 6-8000 on up. PIREPs all showed negative ice, however, so I filed for 6,000 and decided to keep an eye on the situation. MEA's well below the freezing level, and even 4,000 should work fine as an out. In the unlikely event that I encountered freezing rain, I'd have a decent chance to climb since I was in the 182 by myself.
I programmed the 430 and departed runway 32. Runway heading, and into the muck at 1500. As usual, Departure gave me a vector to join the airway and a climb to 6000.
Now, I've done some night IMC, but it's been with my CFII and hasn't been a 100% IMC flight for the most part, so I'm used to having the hood on. It's kind of freaky to see clouds coming at you in the landing light beam, but kinda cool too. I didn't find it disorienting at all, and I elected to leave the taxi light on for a large portion of the flight to make it easier to check for ice on the strut and windscreen. I also used my flashlight for that purpose quite a bit, and I was thankful for the autopilot to help keep me pointed in the right direction while inspecting the surfaces thoroughly.
What do you folks use to check for ice at night?
Anyway, I didn't encounter any ice on this trip. There was a little precip but I mean a little little! CWA ATIS said they were using the ILS 35 but the approach lights were OTS.
Weather there wasn't too bad, so I wasn't too worried about it but I did check the Inoperative Components Table. Hmm, add 1/4 mi vis. No problem. I began to brief the approach.After being handed to Minneapolis Center, they asked if I could do the DME arc to the ILS 8.
I told them that I could not do the DME arc (IFR GPS, no actual DME - Thanks Ron et al here!) but that I could go direct DANCI, or fly the ILS 35 that I'd been briefing. I got the ILS 35. Probably worked better for them anyway, as the RJ's and meSAABa (haha) flights were using the ILS 8 and a little flivver like me probably would have gotten in the way.Just after crossing the FAF, I broke out into some pretty good vis and spotted the airport immediately. (It's not too hard when you're already perfectly lined up on final - Gotta love an ILS!)
For the trip back, something unusual happened. I was prepared!
j/k! I had called Green Bay Radio and they said I could contact Minne Center on the ground (Hm... OK) so I did. I was ready to go, just needed the clearance and such. Since ZMP was already dialed in on one of the coms in preparation for departure, Tower (well, CTAF this late) as well, and everything else was set up, all I had left to do was dial in the squawk. I called up for my clearance, and got:"Skylane 271G, can you make a two-minute void time?"
I kind of balked at first... I'm not quite used to such a short time, but there was a plane on the way in so it was that or wait a while. Then I realized that I really was prepared and that it doesn't take two minutes to dial in a squawk, so I said OK.
"Skylane 271G, cleared tomadisonasfiledclimbfivemetwentyfoursixfivetwentysix void in two minutes."
"Uhh, can you repeat that just a hair slower for 271G?" It was actually the first time I'd not understood a quick-talking controller. He repeated the clearance, just barely slow enough to hear and with a void time of "one minute, thirty seconds." I read it back, dialed in the squawk, did my three mental pre-takeoff checklists as I rolled onto the runway, and poured it on. And believe it or not, I really didn't feel rushed, and I didn't forget a thing. Things are becoming more automatic now.
I was monitoring both frequencies and heard the inbound RJ just a few miles from DANCI as I climbed out. Center nervously (or was it suspiciously?) called "271Golf, did you make your void time?" "Center, 271G, off CWA at 13 past the hour, climbing through three thousand." I hit IMC a moment later.
Then, this flight got really cool. I caught a glimpse of a big, yellow full moon shining through a crack in the clouds as I neared 5,000 feet. I stayed at 5,000 for the time being and got established in cruise. When Minne Center handed me back to Chicago I checked in with "Chicago Center, Skylane 271G level 5000, request 7." I was assigned 7,000 and broke out on top of the layer I was in at about 6500. There was a chunk of a higher layer that blocked out the direct moonlight but there was enough of a glow to softly illuminate the tops of the clouds in the distance.
As I continued, eventually the higher layer thinned out to reveal a beautiful sight: The top half of the rising full moon was shrouded in a thin glowing veil, giving the man in the moon a more feminine look. The moon, combined with an oddly-shaped undercast, created a scene reminiscent of a sunrise over a glimmering fantasyland mountain range, its radiant beauty giving way to a turgid sea of darkness beneath me.
As I approached the "shore" I saw that I'd be going IMC again. This was a weird layer - I can only describe it as "Corrugated."
I alternated between glimpses of lights on the ground, followed by 30 seconds of IMC, a flash of light from the moon, 30 more seconds in the dark, and ground contact. Funky!Eventually both went away. Chicago dropped me down to 4,000 and vectored me around for the ILS 36. Annoyingly, they kept me at 4,000 even after I requested lower - They vectored me as if I was at 3,000 or 2,700 but kept me up high. The glideslope was full deflection down before I intercepted the localizer, so I ended up flying...
...Uh oh...
The dreaded Localizer 36. This is the approach that I screwed up TWICE, including my first IR checkride, and now I'm doing it in actual. No chance of making the same mistake and descending early, since when I did finally intercept the localizer, I dropped like a rock and was still at 3000 (500 feet above glideslope) when I crossed OZMIX. Well, OK, down to localizer mins then, 1280 feet. I did finally drop through the glideslope (didn't intercept it... Who knows if it's the right one?) and by the time I got to 1280 I was under the clouds and the airport was right in front of me. I landed, closed the flight plan, and another great flight is in the book!
