Sawhill current IFR

Hmmm he was in Waukesha, and didn't tell the WI PoAers???
 
Richard said:
Is it pronounced, Wah KEE shah or WOK ah shaw?
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The latter. And just to be inconsistent Waukegan is pronounced Wah KEE gun. Then there's the issue of Des Plaines Illinois which is pronounced Dez Planes ILL ah NOY
 
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Matt Sawhill may be having too much fun:smile:
 
:yikes:In and out for meetings. The best the airlines could do cost significantly more time and money, so I took matters into my own hands.

Great opportunity to make use of the smarts I gleaned from Scott Dennstaedt's Skew-T Diagram training CD.

It was a classic warm sector winter flying day. Headwinds cost me dearly on the outbound trip - probably averaged 78kt in the 172. Can't wait to finish the RV4! Made up for it a little bit on the trip home - 140kt in a 172 isn't too bad.

The return trip was interesting. The Flightaware trace shows that I was in a streak of light rain for most of the trip, with no radar returns 10 miles north or south. My 496 XMWX confirmed this during the flight. Generally, I was just below cloudbase, in light rain. Temps on the surface were uniformly at about 8C, but at 4000 it slowly dropped to -1 as I approached the halfway point of the trip. Rain from aloft and metars in the area told me temps were warmer above and below, but I was in a "cold nose" in VMC and picking up trace to light clear ice. I'd done my homework and knew my options (including lower altitudes - I asked about it after each ATC handoff).

It turned out to be a perfect laboratory for exploring icing, as I have relatively little experience with it. Throughout the flight, I never noticed a significant decrease in performance, and I was constantly cross-checking the instruments with my GPS. Still, I probably accumulated 1/16" or so on the leading edges, with streaks back to the strut. The "ice detectors" (i.e., steps on the strut) never picked up anything.

As expected, it didn't last long after I descended to 3000 on my approach into DSM. But at 4000 and 0 deg enroute it wasn't going anywhere. Hearing it break off on descent was entertaining and insightful. A good thing to know, for sure.

All in all, WX tracked very closely to forecast, and this turned out to be an awesome trip for someone still learning the nuances of winter IFR flying!

Next time I overnight in that area and have a window of opportunity, I'll definitely ping the POA crowd. I travel all the time and all over the place, but it's pretty unusual for me to have unstructured time to hang out with friends.

M


The sounding over DBQ tells all - see attached.
 
uh, guess I don't know how to post a picture.
 

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foka4 said:
:yikes:In and out for meetings. The best the airlines could do cost significantly more time and money, so I took matters into my own hands.

Great opportunity to make use of the smarts I gleaned from Scott Dennstaedt's Skew-T Diagram training CD.

It was a classic warm sector winter flying day. Headwinds cost me dearly on the outbound trip - probably averaged 78kt in the 172. Can't wait to finish the RV4! Made up for it a little bit on the trip home - 140kt in a 172 isn't too bad.

The return trip was interesting. The Flightaware trace shows that I was in a streak of light rain for most of the trip, with no radar returns 10 miles north or south. My 496 XMWX confirmed this during the flight. Generally, I was just below cloudbase, in light rain. Temps on the surface were uniformly at about 8C, but at 4000 it slowly dropped to -1 as I approached the halfway point of the trip. Rain from aloft and metars in the area told me temps were warmer above and below, but I was in a "cold nose" in VMC and picking up trace to light clear ice. I'd done my homework and knew my options (including lower altitudes - I asked about it after each ATC handoff).

It turned out to be a perfect laboratory for exploring icing, as I have relatively little experience with it. Throughout the flight, I never noticed a significant decrease in performance, and I was constantly cross-checking the instruments with my GPS. Still, I probably accumulated 1/16" or so on the leading edges, with streaks back to the strut. The "ice detectors" (i.e., steps on the strut) never picked up anything.

As expected, it didn't last long after I descended to 3000 on my approach into DSM. But at 4000 and 0 deg enroute it wasn't going anywhere. Hearing it break off on descent was entertaining and insightful. A good thing to know, for sure.

All in all, WX tracked very closely to forecast, and this turned out to be an awesome trip for someone still learning the nuances of winter IFR flying!

Next time I overnight in that area and have a window of opportunity, I'll definitely ping the POA crowd. I travel all the time and all over the place, but it's pretty unusual for me to have unstructured time to hang out with friends.

M


The sounding over DBQ tells all - see attached.
Click to expand...

It would have been interesting to see if you could get through the inversion (above 4000) to the warmer air between 4000 and 7000-8000. Of course that warmer air might have been below 0C further north. The diagram also indicates that tops should have been around 10,000. Were conditions similar in eastern WI?
 
A descending Citation in the RFD area confirmed tops around 10.

I was tempted to try 6000, but it didn't look like winds would have been any better for me than staying at 4 or going to 3 (as had been approved by ATC), so I didn't waste the gas.

Temps, winds, and cloud cover were very similar along the whole route of flight, since the dominant influence was the strong stationary low in SE Missouri. There was some lake effect scud, but it disappeared just west of Waukesha.

I think north would have been a good option because temps were similar but vis was better and no precip was showing on radar. It's nice to have left, right, up and down all good options when you're picking up a little ice.
 
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Very interesting, Matt. Sounds like a good learning experience!

For what it's worth, these planes that have the aerodynamics of a Steinway seem to be reasonably forgiving to light ice buildup. Even getting about an inch of rime on the Aztec on my way out to Iowa last month, I didn't notice any decrease in performance (the ice was pretty much in form with the rest of the plane). The main thing was that the stabilator got a bit heavier, and when playing with the rudder I noticed slightly less rudder authority. I can't see the rudder from the cockpit, but I can see the stabilator, and was able to see the ice buildup on it.

Definitely would've been neat to see if you could've gotten yourself into more favorable conditions by climbing. Heading out to Iowa, I found that from Wisconsin on I was best off climbing to get above the layer.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Definitely would've been neat to see if you could've gotten yourself into more favorable conditions by climbing. Heading out to Iowa, I found that from Wisconsin on I was best off climbing to get above the layer.
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I think it would have been especially enlightening to determine whether or not the 172 could actually manage to climb to 10,000 with ice. It's often the case that the first thing you lose is the ability to climb when ice starts to accumulate. It's far safer to learn such things when there's plenty of warm air below. In Matt's situation, the Skew-T shows a band of warmer air above 4000 sitting under more clouds below freezing from 7000-10000 or so.
 
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