Operation Butt Freeze

Thanks for dinner Tony. I'd love to come back to Stearman with Karen sometime and see you guys again. It was nice to meet Leah too!

Karen is nicer than I am. Haha. ;)

Spike, I definitely agree. Good folks here!

Somehow I never even noticed that Arc was "backwards". Looks like a bird. ;)

Tony, I missed saying goodnight because work had been calling on the cell. They didn't get the new on-call schedule for this week or something. I ended up having to explain how I was "in Nebraska" on vacation but was actually in Kansas. Ha!

Flying was a bit better. Starting to realize one problem is not being fast enough at briefing the approach, spending too much time heads down trying to interpret the plate.

Then I either try to speed it up by staying heads down too long or I never get it done and I'm trying to read it one step at a time while flying the approach which leads to also being unstable too much.

Even plates I've now flown multiple times I'm really slow reading them.

Jesse worked with me on the way back to get more practice at it.

But I'm getting ahead of the story. Ahh new things... Transitioning to cruise and dealing with trimming at the level off and speeding up a whole lot. This was the second time for that since we've been mostly local here at LNK due to the possibility of icing.

So in the 182... You trim. Then you trim some more. Then some more. Then some more. Heh. I do it automatically VFR but IFR it's... Different.

Both going down and coming back the controllers kept offering vectors direct. Lots of handheld GPSs out there for - ahem - situational awareness, apparently. They seem a bit shocked at "we will continue on own navigation if that's ok. We're slant Alpha". I'm, of course, flying with Location Services turned off on the iPad. Really. It's practice I need. I can see where it'll be GREAT later on, but it's interesting the controllers are surprised by it.

Flight down was good. Jesse pulled up his FARs on his iPad and quizzed me for oral questions all the way down.

We filed to KAAO because there are only RNAV approaches to 1K1. Controllers were great when we explained we wanted to go missed, stay IFR and land IFR with a Visual to 1K1 and cancel on the ground. Said they would prefer we file that to 1K1. Okay fine. I get it.

Missed off of AAO and we're quickly at 1K1 and way too high. Some creative maneuvering and we land. Taxi up along the ridiculously narrow taxiway to the restaurant where friends await. Thanks for coming out so late you guys!

Somehow it didn't click that 1V1 is the airport in the AOPA article a while back about the renovation until Tony mentions it. We talk gliders and flying and what not and I step outside and work calls. Dinner was over and I missed the goodbyes. Oh well. Jesse is hunting for me a few minutes later.

Fuel up at the self-serve and instead of dealing with the tiny taxiways in the dark, we back taxi 35 and depart.

Controller again offers a heading that would have basically been direct to LNK so we initially accept it thinking its a shallow intercept to the airway, but another teaching moment was set up. Jesse realizes before I do that we'll never intercept or it'll be past one of the doglegs in the airway. I get some practice figuring out where I will intercept. Thank goodness for real DME. Jesse could have failed it and made my life harder. He was kind. ;)

Got back here and did a full power descent keeping the speed up. We typically saw only about 110 knots coming back due to the headwinds so a little speed was good. Problem was, trimming that got me behind on briefing again. So I ended up chasing a bit on the Localizer 18. Crud. Better but not how it should have gone.

Okay. Missed and out to the VOR and the full procedure to the VOR 17. Better but still a little behind. Circle to land 35.

We got in so late here tonight we called off tomorrow morning and will fly again tomorrow night.

I'm going to spend some time completely finishing up the logbook catch-up (it's close now! Just need to enter things that are only electronically logged - and yes, I've given up my dream of only keeping an electronic log...), then looking at random plates tomorrow and trying to imagine looking down, reading a bit, looking up like I'm checking the instruments, looking back down reading more, looking back up.

My old brain just doesn't process as fast as Jesse's. I've got a 386 up there I think, judging by how slowly I read approach plates. ;)

It'll come around with more practice. When I know what's happening next, my flying is acceptable. If I get behind, I'm hosed. Flying an approach one thing at a time with your head going up and down isn't right. Need to visualize and get ahead better.

Learned something else tonight... I know my glasses prescription is right but maybe seeing that first twinge of presbyopia? Dunno.

Jesse was demonstrating how to look down, look up, look down and wanted me to follow along, but I couldn't read the small print on *his* iPad on his left knee. Brighter helps. Sigh.

It sucks getting old. :(

And I know that's just the tip of the iceberg... I have nothing to complain about, it was just odd that a) I couldn't read tiny stuff at three feet and b) that I noticed ... Oh well.

Pulled up the plate on mine and was fine reading it in *my* lap, of course. But it ate up time Jesse was trying to show me something. Hmm.

I also want my panel lights fixed. The red overhead is fine but I miss my dial lights. More light is good. ;)

I tried turning on my headlamp on white on the panel once which I actually kinda liked (usually its on red), but I knew it was obnoxious for Jesse and asked, "That too much?" "Yeah, that's a bit much." Heh.

Maybe he could wear sunglasses. Hahahaha!

Oh and a side-note... That wonderful FAA PMA Approved #*=%#+=
 
That got cut off. I was finishing off bitching about my landing light which failed right on time at its PMA'd failure time of 25 hours. The 100 hour version is used on tractors. I can't use it even though it's safer and cheap. Sigh. Aviation.

The taxi light has been fine for everything. Even forgot it once. ;)

Okay whatever else got cut off and lost, I don't remember.

G'night all! Thanks for coming out Tony!!
 
If you feel bad about your approach briefing ask Jesse about mine. I would get so flustered on the briefing. I knew what the plate meant, but I couldn't put it in words.
 
SCCutler said:
Jesse thinks faster than all of us.

As for the light bulb - which bulb are you using? And what makes you think you cannot put in another bulb, really?
Click to expand...

After having to change a landing light at night at a strange airport in the cold wind with the FBOs ground crew laughing and refusing to help or loan me a philips screwdriver but were willing to charge me $35 for a $9 bulb (fortunately, I always carry a spare bulb for every lamp in the airplane), I spent the money for the Whelen LED landing light and have never regretted it.
 
Dinner meet-up pre-flight. A local pub called Luckies. I could use a little... ;)

I'll return it when I'm done with it. Ha. :D

I spent a couple hours pulling up random approach plates in the area and talking to myself, simulating look down, look up, look down.

I realized it's like sheet music. Don't ruin the performance by staring at the score!

Had nosegear strut serviced today with air and fluid, it was bottoming out on taxiway bumps if you didnt hold the yoke back.

Also got a lead from the mechanic here on a place in Alabama he likes that will re-chrome the piston to get rid of the rock pits that chew up the o-rings. A lot cheaper than replacing it. Cool.

Almost 100% on the logbook. Had to budget time and force myself to stop writing entries from LogTen into it so I'd have time to be one of the "Men Who Don't Stare At Plates." (Coming soon to a theatre near you!)

Jesse says he got a LogTen update today that somehow does electronic Endorsements. It doesn't appear that it's out for the iPhone yet.

I'm chicken to update either mobile device logging right at the moment so I'm holding off. Didn't check to see if the iPad version shows an available update on mine. I assume an update for the desktop version also has to go along with it too. ?

I'm not touching it! Not yet.

Will save that for when everything balances perfectly and I'm back home to my Time Capsule and a backup has been run. ;)

Chicken!!! Big logbook chicken!!!
 
denverpilot said:
Dinner meet-up pre-flight. A local pub called Luckies. I could use a little... ;)

I'll return it when I'm done with it. Ha. :D

I spent a couple hours pulling up random approach plates in the area and talking to myself, simulating look down, look up, look down.

I realized it's like sheet music. Don't ruin the performance by staring at the score!

Had nosegear strut serviced today with air and fluid, it was bottoming out on taxiway bumps if you didnt hold the yoke back.

Also got a lead from the mechanic here on a place in Alabama he likes that will re-chrome the piston to get rid of the rock pits that chew up the o-rings. A lot cheaper than replacing it. Cool.

Almost 100% on the logbook. Had to budget time and force myself to stop writing entries from LogTen into it so I'd have time to be one of the "Men Who Don't Stare At Plates." (Coming soon to a theatre near you!)

Jesse says he got a LogTen update today that somehow does electronic Endorsements. It doesn't appear that it's out for the iPhone yet.
Click to expand...
It's a paid update. (and a lot of money at that)

denverpilot said:
I'm chicken to update either mobile device logging right at the moment so I'm holding off. Didn't check to see if the iPad version shows an available update on mine. I assume an update for the desktop version also has to go along with it too. ?

I'm not touching it! Not yet.

Will save that for when everything balances perfectly and I'm back home to my Time Capsule and a backup has been run. ;)

Chicken!!! Big logbook chicken!!!
Click to expand...

That's what dropbox is for!
 
How to **** yourself off: File IFR flight plan. Grab stuff to go pre-flight. Realize your flight bag is back at the hotel. :rofl:

Please feel free to assign whatever callsign to me from that if you so desire. Hahaha.
 
Saw a cool thing while back at the extended stay place. Have to explain a little.

These little suites here are one-room, weekly things. Lots of folks working construction jobs, other folks shall we say, transitioning to new lives, and a few of us are here for long-term business or stuff like I'm doing on a very reasonable weekly rate.

I pulled up to get the bag and there was a guy hunkered down fiddling with something at the side of the building. I was in a hurry but I'd said hi to him in the hall and knew he's first-generation Asian descent. Not sure what Country. I could make up things about my view of him like he's probably here, working hard to provide for someone, etc etc. honestly I don't know. I do know he's probably not a millionaire living here at this place, though.

Another key piece of info is that it's hovering around -5C here tonight and was -7C when we got back. The cold is back with crystal clear skies.

What he was doing was hiding outside wrapping a Christmas present for someone. Someone he cares about deeply enough to stand outside in -5C and fuss with wrapping paper and tape and scissors on the sidewalk next to the building.

He caught me looking as I got out of the car to run upstairs to grab the bag so I smiled a huge knowing smile and said, "Looks like Santa is working!" He smiled back warmly and I'm not sure his grasp of English but he looked a tiny but puzzled but nodded and went back to wrapping.

I grabbed the bag and dove back in the car and as I did, he was just finishing up the package grinning from ear to ear.

Just a story for the holidays. More on tonight's flight in the next post. Keeps it all real, for me in this whilwind of IFR flying, regs, logbooks and stuff. I'm glad I forgot the bag.

Merry Christmas to all.
 
Tonight's flight was away from Lincoln again. Earlier, the weather dictated that we hang here and not wander too far in case ice showed up.

First, let me say I got my ass handed to me in a big and good way. Jesse had instructed me to look up appropriate approaches in a reasonable radius around KLNK that my airplane could fly, and I built a favorites group in Foreflight of plates for three options. I had used those to do the plate reading practice for a couple of hours and mentally talking myself though how I'd get to any of them, navaids needed, etc. stuff you'd for any XC.

We decided on KOLU and Jesse had me file IFR with his iPad after the bag fiasco and we were off. Radios set, stuff was pretty good. We chose KOLU. Jesse said we'd shoot the VOR/DME 32 and to ask Minneapolis Center for that.

Minneapolis cleared us for the approach the instant I told them we wanted to do multiple approaches and gave us NOTAMs. I had read them all, or so I thought.

One said the pilot-controlled lighting was on an alternate freq. I thought it was cool I caught it. Also some unlit obstructions inside the MSA ring.

He rattled them all off to us again then added that the lights were OTS. Surprise! Real world, I'm probably looking for an alternate. Black holes at night are deadly. But we're training so prep to fly the approach...

(Continued next post. Not sure the size limit that jacks with Tapatalk.)
 
Things are generally fine and I'm pretty comfortable. The plate practice helped a lot.

Still chasing headings a bit with the slightly leaning AI and the airplane is slightly out of rig and requires a tiny left turn pressure to not turn. If you forget, every time you look down you're turning a tiny bit. But holding my own.

All that practice, all that thought and not a single thought of "he's going to fail instruments on me". How stupid.

I roll into the 90 degree left turn to intercept the arc, didn't start a timer for the turn, and Jesse nailed the AI and DG. "How are you going to know when to roll out?"

I went from fat dumb and happy to instantly supremely angry with myself. You dummy. Start timer, guess at turn stop point. And realize that with piles of "college level" simulator lab time years ago... I have absolutely no clue how to do a DME arc without a DG. Never seen it done. Holy crap. Game over. You lose. Real world it'd be level the wings, ask for a vector and buy some time to think. Lost Comm it'd be darn sporty. Maybe 7700 and hold. There's options but obviously this was intended to be continued.

I was so mad I just cussed out loud at one point. I mean really mad. He got me. All day long chair flying and not once did I think about that specific scenario. A vaccuum pump failure just killed me. Damn.

More...
 
Jesse patiently describes how to fly the Arc with timed turns and just working at keeping the groundspeed on the DME at zero.

I'm gone mentally and trying to recover. I'm really really mad at myself and not thinking much ahead anymore.

I'm doing a half-assed job of everything now and I barely get the approach briefing out of my mouth. We come on down the approach.

At the bottom Jesse says "Hood up". Now I'm a little confused.

That's usually the cue to find the runway and land. I know we're overhead because the VOR is on the field dead center. I'm looking down at a very dark runway environment thinking, "We aren't really landing here are we?"

Jesse says, "What do you see?"

"Nothing really." still confused. "It's way too dark to land here right now." I'm thinking my CFII has lost his mind.

"And what do we do when we see nothing?"

"Go missed!" I say... Not fully comprehending.

"Then DO it!"

Oh holy crap!

It was an opportunity for Jesse to show me exactly what it looks like if you forgot the lights or they don't work. In this case, the latter and I knew it.

Got me again. Damn. Power up and hood down. The climb is too shallow.

"Climb like you mean it. We're missed on a non-precision approach over a black hole!"

Puuuuuuulllll... Ok I've completely forgotten the missed approach procedure I just said out loud three minutes or so ago. Crap. Look down, read it but not far enough -- you've got to figure out the hold entry then. Not later.

Minneapolis is tied up. Wait. Jesse says, "What's next?". Crap crap crap.

More...
 
The hold is a parallel entry. I somehow manage to get that out of my mouth and get to the VOR. Tell MN that we're on the published missed. He replies, cleared for the approach. He wants nothing to do with us and obviously there's no other aircraft IFR around.

We do some laps around the hold. I screw up at entry and try to turn the wrong way. I'm really trying to catch up now and ****ed myself off again. Haha. It's just turned utterly sad at this point. A couple laps later things are "ok". Not great at all. Only the last lap is even acceptable to me. Somehow I've survived totally blowing an approach into a black hole.

Jesse cancels IFR. MN isn't helping anyway and somewhere outside my hood it's severe clear with a nice moon out. My brain fog is lifting a bit. I'm screwing around with altitude and power but settling down. My new fake controller in the right seat gives me a vector and tells me to intercept the 135 radial from OLU and that I'm cleared for the VOR/DME 32 at 93Y.

Ooh. I didn't put that one in my plates. Gotta type. And I have no idea where it is. The OLU plate is still up on my screen and for all I know it's already behind me. I scramble and get the other plate up and don't quite see what's going on here.

"Whats the initial approach fix?" I read it's name out loud, not getting it yet.

"And what navaid is it based off of?"

Ahhh! Lightbulb! I get it! Okay feeling better now. Struggle a bit through reading the plate and comprehending while flying. Jesse points out interesting things I've overlooked.

"What's the missed?" I rattle it off barely comprehending... "How far away?" Ahhh. All the way back to Columbus. Jesse jokes, "If you go missed its a long flight up there.

Managed to fly the approach and Jesse handled the PCL and later says, "Hood up." Now I'm really ready to go missed. I see another black hole.

"Look out your left window", he says.

Of course if you look at the plate, I'm midfield upwind on the right side. We enter the pattern staying low for the imaginary scud above me.

We land and poke around the heated building, look at old SAC bomber IR route maps on the wall, play with the real working pay phone on the wall to see if it really has dial tone, and we're off to Lincoln.

More...
 
I take my time setting up radios and choosing an approach. I'm ticked about all this manual timing stuff I'm blowing, and had explained on the ground to Jesse how angry I was in the air. I also explain I had NO idea how to fly that Arc partial panel, but I do get it now. We talked a bit about how useless my 40 hours of sim lab time in an aviation school was if they never showed a partial panel DME Arc.

He lets me pick my approach at KLNK. I choose the ILS 36. I want a dang DA instead of a clock running for the missed. I figure I'm not going to get the magic words, "Hood up". ;) ;) ;).

He agrees and I feel like I got off easy. He'll probably fail something on me, I think to myself. Ha.

I set up radios and stuff as much as possible and we're off. I even remembered the Tower closes at midnight so we'll be making CTAF announcements.

We call Omaha/Lincoln Approach airborne and ask for Vectors to the Approach. I manage to keep my own personal mental speed up and get through the brief and get to Lincoln.

I decide to keep the speed up whereas I'd peddled a little slowly in cruise going up to OLU on purpose to give myself some more time.

Jesse explains his technique and where he likes to slow down on vectors. That's helpful. I'm at 4000 and I've rarely seen my airplane push the bottom of the Yellow arc in cruise at my home altitudes. (The ILS 35R published procedure starts at 9000 MSL at home. The performance of the 182 down here is still freaking me out. I did a Vx climb tonight just to see it. Wow.) I know we're zipping along and I have to do a transition with the speed and trim. Okay. Get ahead of this, this time. I start reading the plate way out. I'm talking out loud to myself again. I seem to do better that way.

I manage to get around to final at a reasonable speed and well enough ahead I'm okay. We're vectored 3 miles from the FAF.

I'm trying to nail down the needles and do pretty well around glideslope capture but fall a bit low on the glideslope coming down. The localizer isn't perfect but it's staying centered with a bit of s-turning. The airplane loves to lose 10 knots of it falls below 90 at all. Or should I say that I love to lose it. We know the power needed but if I get to overcontrolling in pitch the airspeed goes to crap.

I manage to catch it...
 
But don't quite add enough power. We're still low so another small power change. Still low. Again. I'm wondering why it won't come up at this point. Power is plenty high to climb but airspeed is still lower than 90.

Anyway. I'm set on a hair trigger to go around since Jesse didn't fail anything so far. He shocks me by saying "Hood up" a good 75' or more above DA.

The runway's CENTERED on the windscreen! I want to ask no one in
particular, "Hey! Do you see that?!" I'm impressed. Jesse of course is silently supportive but probably laughing his butt off inside. He knew I needed the confidence builder, I think. And I did.

My goal is always to make the CFI shut up. Fly so well they have nothing to say. It is an unattainable goal. There's always something they can say to put the fear of God back in ya. Ha. I missed a couple things on the ILS but it was the quietest approach yet. Heh heh.

I made a godawful landing again. (I'm putting power in for some reason. The Skylane flies fine power off. The runway is really wide and I'm flaring high in the dark. Normally my landings don't usually suck this bad, but the bad ones I'm making here are survivable I guess. Jesse doesn't say anything. Nice of him.)

We taxi up the taxiway that's part of the ANG ramp and gawk at the huge tankers in the dark and wonder how long it'd take for 18 year olds with M-16s to visit us if we turned right and taxied toward one of them. I slow up a bit and try to grab a photo. It's so cool.

aefd91a6-15fd-5d13.jpg


It didn't really come out. They're pointed at you and there's a tail in the middle if that helps.

A Citation is taxiing out for 35 and is noisy on the radio. He keeps asking where we're at... He can't hear our CTAF announcements from across the airport very well and he's about to launch off of 35. Worried that we'll make it there and try to cross, so we keep telling him we're over near 36. He finally gets it and we watch him climb out Eastbound. He's up and gone fast.

Lincoln is a big airport to be closed late at night. You feel like you're taxiing your toy airplane around on some giant oversized airport that's deserted. We make runway crossing announcements for 32/14 and 35/17 and when we're clear of each. It takes a while to get across.

On the taxi in we decide to hang it up for the night. I'm not getting to sleep too well after these late nights for a week (obviously... I'm posting this.) Jesse says we'll cancel tomorrow morning too since he'd rather I be sharp tomorrow night. I'll avoid screwing up and leaving the flight bag and we'll hit it hard on a Friday night.

(I have no idea how he survives a day at work after staying up with me doing this. I'm impressed. This old man would be asleep at his desk probably by a week into this.)

More...
 
In all... I need to speed up still some more. IFR flight is a lot more busy and continuously so when there's not much of a cruise segment or none at all when staying local. I need to embrace that level of busy.

Too many years feeling way ahead of the airplane VFR has me ultra-frustrated when I fall behind it by ten miles IFR.

It's all learning what and where things *have* to happen. I can tell I'm behind but not how much sometimes. It's getting better I think.

I got killed by a vacuum failure and a black hole tonight. Every flight is another example of how to kill yourself I think. Good motivation to think and act faster. Humbling as Jesse put it. I haven't been this angry at my performance in an airplane in many many years. It's really got my attention.

Jesse's really really good at this stuff. Like all CFIs he has that mind reader thing going for him. Or more accurately, he can make you think he can. Failing those instruments at that exact moment he knew long before I did that I was screwed.

He's making my brain get up there just like in VFR where watching for every open field and airport is second-nature. That darn CFI is going to kill the engine one of these days and it's going to bang and oil is going all over the windscreen and that cow pasture is going to be my only option.

In IFR your options are in your head. Think think think and while thinking ahead, fly the plane. It's tough. I like it. Incredibly challenging.

Good night, good morning. Whatever! Time's kinda blurry right now. Accelerated training is a blast. It's also the hardest thing this VFR bugsmashers has ever done. Little things are hugely rewarding.

Tonight when I pitched ONCE to a level off altitude and held it dead-on with no movement of the needle at all, I got a "good job". I was almost so shocked it didn't register at first.
 
Nate, I enjoyed reading your posts. I'd say all your getting mad at yourself for forgetting simple stuff, knowing but not comprehending, not keeping organized, and getting behind...means you are right on track.

It should click any day now.
 
Richard said:
Nate, I enjoyed reading your posts. I'd say all your getting mad at yourself for forgetting simple stuff, knowing but not comprehending, not keeping organized, and getting behind...means you are right on track.

It should click any day now.
Click to expand...

:yeahthat:
 
Really enjoy reading your postings. I know it was alot of work to put that much stuff. Remember in 3 years from now you'll have it all documentated all the hard work you have done! :) How much more vacation time do you have? Going to extend for another week or call it quits after tonights flight?

~Sara
 
Jesse sounds like a very thorough CFII. You're getting a workout. The IR ride is going to be a walk in the park when he's finished with you. Thanks for posting.
 
Four loops in the hold...we'll get it...right............err....okay enough....on to next task....
 
LOL. Yep. Doc's got it.

Plan was for two flights tonight. First is down to KBIE for the VOR/DME 14.

Flight down I'm okay. On the missed I turned the wrong way. Crap. Dead again. :(

We go out to the hold on the published missed and it just wasn't working well. Jesse failed the DME which I kinda expected. Makes it a little too easy.

Anyway. Doc's right. Four laps and Jesse says to ask for a clearance to the next approach. I start down when not established on... Well anything really. Death number two.

Fly the VOR 18... Jesse says to tell the controller we'll be a full-stop. We kinda get wires crossed on what runway we're landing on but after a spectacular overhead break.... No, just kidding...

We land and chat. Jesse's pretty patient with me. Take a break. Look around. It's dark with a well-lit gas pump. There's a Tractor Suppy Company visible from the ramp. Ok, debrief done.

I get really screwed up doing multiple approaches at the same fix. We were chatting and it doesn't jive in my head well. I need more practice at getting assigned random stuff. Jesse looks at his charts

(We're running out of new VOR/DME, ILS approaches a /A can fly that aren't halfway across Nebraska or tucked in around Omaha. Maybe Lightsquared screws you GPS guys we can get some ground-based navaids back! Hahaha!)

Jesse says my departure is "Fly 280, climb to 4500." I get no other hints. Gotta figure it out and set it up in the air. No radio prep possible since I don't know where I'm going.

I'm looking forward to this...

(Next post.)
 
The airplane gremlin of Nebraska finally strikes.

We're cranked up, run-up complete, taxiing to Runway 32 for a wind that's 280. Jesse says, "Is the wind blowing that hard? What does your airspeed indicator say?"

We're dead stopped. It says 60 MPH.

During the run-up I had said, "Alternate Static Check, bounce, bounce... Hmm, that was slow..." The VSI had dropped to 500 ft/min down and slowly rose to zero. When I pushed it in, the opposite. 400 ft/min up, slowly back to zero. Jesse said he wasn't looking right at it at the time but what I had said was nagging him taxiing out. Then he saw the ASI before I did.

Pulling alternate static again, the ASI drops to zero. Static blockage? We talk for a minute and decide to do a high speed taxi but not a takeoff down 32 with normal static set.

We do. ASI is not right. Abort as planned and taxi in to think this over. As we're sitting there looking at things, the ASI is RISING. Always drops to zero when on static, but now we set field elevation and check the altimeter. It's about right but we note that every time we pull static or push to normal, it rises on the push, and falls on the pull and then the calibrated leak in the VSI let's things slowly stabilize at the correct altitude.

We climb under the panel looking for loose static connections and what-not. We taxiied out with pitot heat on and it's hot. We visually inspect drain ports, pitot, static ports.

We think some more. There has been condensation on the airplane because the FBO has been moving it around between hangars to keep frost off. Is something blocked by water that froze?

Meanwhile we note again that in standard static the ASI is climbing all on its own. In Alternate static, things look normal but we don't know for sure.
 
We decide to go with a takeoff on regular static to get more info but we can pull alternate and we'll fly power and one bar up on the AI no matter what the ASI does in the first couple of minutes.

Jesse and I agree if the ASI does anything weird, it gets ignored and we'll pull static open after the initial climb.

We start rolling and it looks normal at first. Then at a speed too fast to abort, it gives a drastic drop. Ignore it, let the airplane fly off and pitch and power. That works fine and we climb to 4500' and pull static. Everything looks normal.

We call Approach and tell 'em we're VFR wanting FF to Lincoln. They assign a squawk (they're probably surprised we don't want a million approaches) and I get my first view of Lincoln from the air at night (without fog covering it!). It's nice.

I play around with the regular and static and let the controller know we had a static system issue and ask him to confirm that the altitude encoder matches what we're seeing, just in case it's one of the static line T connectors that goes to the encoder causing the problem. They match.

We land uneventfully at KLNK and the good work is obviously over. We're not doing approaches in the dark with a suspicious altimeter, VSI, and ASI.

We need some daylight to sort this one out. Everything seems normal on return to Lincoln. Jesse remarks that he wishes it had happened to me in flight under the hood. Haha. Yep. That would have been interesting.
 
The Nebraska airplane gypsies got ya. Prolly a little blockage in the static line somewhere. Gene is a good mechanic and his whole crew does great work, you're in good hands.
 
Now the eerie part if you're superstitious.

There's a message on my phone when we get out.

My cat, 21 years and around 9 months, has passed away peacefully at home. My wife's in tears on the phone.

We're definitely done flying for tonight. We tell the line guys to top her off and put her away. We'll reassess in the morning. See what it's doing when it's warmer that -1C.

I talk to my wife for a bit and let her go for a minute to let Jesse know what's up. Fill out logbook and back on the phone. Jesse mentions something about needing a beer and I offer to buy but still dealing with phone calls.

We joke about getting a late start tomorrow for the bottle-to-throttle rule and I realize that I'm going to have to get back on the phone for moral support. I tell Jesse I'll see him in the morning when I realize the line guys are so efficient that they filled the bird, towed it away somewhere unknown, and they're nowhere to be seen... And my iPad is still in it.

I hang out for a long while and finally decide I'd better call the main number. They probably forward to a cell. I was right. The night guy zips over in the truck and gives me a ride to the hangar they'd stashed the airplane in. I grab the iPad and ride back.

Back at the main building, I realize the car has frosted over. Start it up, scrape the ice, and head for the extended stay. Call wife, phone goes dead. Great.

Plug in phone, call again. Reminisce about our kitty a bit and catch up on her week. Other than the cat, it's been good. All is well now. She got sleepy, the cat's stashed in the cold garage and she's got a plan on disposal, etc.

So that's the story from tonight. Training flights derailed by life. It happens.

We'll see what it's doing tomorrow when it warms up. Since it behaved pretty normally on both settings flying back, whatever was blocking the static system may have cleared in flight. It may also continue behaving weirdly.

The pressure isn't changing enough to explain the ASI going up when not moving. The theory we came up with was that the hot engine/cabin is heating the static

Oh well. Mm
 
Nate is headed back to Denver today - we got quite a bit done in the last week and he is pretty close - we simply ran out of time and I couldn't' get anything worked out with a DPE since it's the holidays.

34 hours of flying
1.1 in the PCATD
7.1 hours of actual instrument conditions
10 hours of cross country
17 hours of night
If it is in the PTS we did it and a whole lot more.
Several approaches gone missed in IMC at the MAP or DA

Yesterday we flew 5.5 hours doing approaches all over Nebraska (KLNK - KOLU - KSCB - KSUX - KOFK - KOLU - KLNK). I wouldn't even tell him where we were headed, instead would just give him a takeoff heading and altitude and eventually I'd tell him he was cleared for some random approach at some random airport that he had never heard of and he'd have to figure out how to get to the IAF as /A and fly the approach. It really helped sharpen some things up for him and we ended the week on a very well-done approach that without a doubt exceeded the PTS.

At one point Lincoln Approach asked if we were a new rental plane as they were seeing way more of us than the local rental fleet.
 
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Yeah that was funny.

I'm safely on the ground in Denver. Absolutely gorgeous VFR day here! I could see Pikes Peak from all the way out at the Thurman VOR. Peddled upstream all the way home with a headwind.

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Now time to see if I remember how to put 79M in the hangar! ;)
 
jesse said:
I wouldn't even tell him where we were headed, instead would just give him a takeoff heading and altitude and eventually I'd tell him he was cleared for some random approach at some random airport that he had never heard of and he'd have to figure out how to get to the IAF as /A and fly the approach.
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:rofl:

Way to go Nate! Glad you made it home safely today. After all that Jesse put you through you gotta be a much better pilot than you were a couple of weeks ago! I might just have to visit Jesse when it's time for my next IPC and combine it with a BFR. Sounds like a fun workout.
 
Dang, it sure looks FLAT in those pics...like the San Joaquin Valley in California. Nice flying weather though. Cold, clear winter days are awesome.

Nate, when is the next round in the Jesse Chamber of Horrors?
 
jesse said:
I wouldn't even tell him where we were headed, instead would just give him a takeoff heading and altitude and eventually I'd tell him he was cleared for some random approach at some random airport that he had never heard of and he'd have to figure out how to get to the IAF as /A and fly the approach.
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Now that's just harassment
 
Naah. What's harassment is a BEAUTIFUL day to be flying, and we CFIIs put a paper bag over your head.....
 
bbchien said:
Naah. What's harassment is a BEAUTIFUL day to be flying, and we CFIIs put a paper bag over your head.....
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Or what I am told was the beautiful night last winter when we did my long XC. Couldn't prove it by me. :D
 
What Jesse didn't mention was that I know Morse Code.

For some reason though, I couldn't figure out the "U" in SUX... Took me about three or four rounds to copy it.

Then I looked at the chart and said, "Oh! Sioux City!"

Sure makes "tune and identify" easier. ;)

Flying the plane and copying that ungodly slow CW is kinda hard though. ILS code speed is more my pace. Never did copy at 20 WPM though. I sit around 10, maybe 15 on a good day.

VORs are so slow I have to listen to the character and then speed it up in my head or tone it out loud faster. CW that slow isn't a language anymore, it's dots and dashes which sounds more like someone tuning up to me than characters.

Only later did I realize that all I had to do was copy the first character then look for VORs within a certain distance. Ha. "S" would have covered it. I was sitting there saying, "S"... Something... "X"...

Certain characters I stumble over. "J" has always flummoxed me for some reason. No idea why.

I can't believe I couldn't figure out "U" ... Especially since I chat with Scott W0KU on his repeater all the time.

He's the CW guy in our gang. I remember one time when we were VHF contesting and a weak signal switched from voice to CW, I peeled the headset off my head and stuck it over his ears to complete the contact. Haha.

Also shows how little brain bandwidth I have left over right now. It'll continue to get easier with practice!

Working on about three different ideas for finishing up. Will post more about the week later... I'm zonked.

Played with the pulse-OX on the way home today. 3.7 hours at 9500' MSL and O2 was 92%. Heart rate was way up though. I'm always a bit high. Interesting. Going to have to take the O2 bottle up sometime and see what changes.
 
denverpilot said:
I play around with the regular and static and let the controller know we had a static system issue and ask him to confirm that the altitude encoder matches what we're seeing, just in case it's one of the static line T connectors that goes to the encoder causing the problem. They match.
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FWIW, if you do have a static problem, the correlation between ATC's readout from your encoder and your altimeter will be unaffected. IOW if the altimeter is reading 3000 ft when you actually are at 5000, ATC will show you at the same 3000 as you see on your altimeter.
 
gismo said:
FWIW, if you do have a static problem, the correlation between ATC's readout from your encoder and your altimeter will be unaffected. IOW if the altimeter is reading 3000 ft when you actually are at 5000, ATC will show you at the same 3000 as you see on your altimeter.
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I suspect that really would depend on where the issue in the static system was.
 
Forgot to mention:

Static system worked completely normally today in (much) warmer temperatures. I'm suspecting frozen water/condensation from the aircraft going from warm hangars to super cold ramp and flying.

The night we had the problem I had to take a towel to the windshield during the pre-flight at dusk and then temps plunged to -2C at the surface. I don't know if it was colder aloft or if there was an inversion layer.

Definitely odd. The aircraft has two static ports on opposite sides and if one's plugged the other should keep the system at ambient. It would have had to be in the T connector which is under the panel in the cockpit which was still easily way above 0F.

The climbing ASI makes sense if there was a warm static line that was plugged. The air cooling down as the cockpit cooled would have lowered the static pressure the altimeter was seeing and it would have made the differential between (zero) ram air pressure and static greater.

Will certainly keep an eye on it. Alternate static always seemed to work correctly. VSI is a little slow to recover when alternate static valve is pushed or pulled. Could be a partial blockage of the calibrated leak in the instrument, a plugged filter, bug or debris in something.

Standard static ports played just fine all the way home today.
 
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