BrianR
Pre-takeoff checklist
A few things, actually. Decided to make a 40 minute flight to Glens Falls for lunch at the excellent on-field restaurant. I took along another pilot - the first time I've flown with another pilot, which proved to be a good idea.
There was some convective activity predicted, which was to remain well north of our destination until later in the day. It was one of those typical northeast summer days, clear in the early morning followed by the puffy white clouds forming by mid-morning. It was an uneventful flight over.
Enjoying lunch, we heard one of the waitresses comment, "Oh my God, it is black to the northwest." Unable to see in that direction from where we were seated, she got our immediate attention. Sure enough, it looked pretty foreboding, with lightning and obvious heavy rain in the distance. A quick glance at the NEXRAD returns confirmed what we could clearly see...a large red blob not far away and moving southeast, toward the airport.
However, the sky was clear and blue to the south. The area of thunderstorms and precipitation seemed to be progressively increasing in size, with more forming behind. Naturally, there was a strong desire to get out of town, as I had to work Saturday night, and neither of us wanted to be stuck three hours by ground from home. I asked the other pilot what he thought, and he said, "If we go right NOW, it should be fine." Now, this guy is very experienced and a very conservative, safety-minded pilot, so I agreed. Had I been alone, I'm not sure what I would have done.
So after the quickest preflight I've ever done, and a rolling runup, we launched on runway 1, right at the heart of the storm. At 400 feet I started a right turnout into a quick 180 as the rain started pouring from the sky. In a few miles we were in the clear, and circumnavigating the storm, headed southwest for home.
The thing is, I'm still not sure whether that was good aeronautical decision making, or just plain dumb.
It's by far the closest I've ever flown to convective activity. I suppose the strongest part of the cell was a few miles from the airport when we took off. But we had a good out, with no chance of our escape path closing off. Winds were about 15 kts when we departed, but aside from being a little bumpy on climbout, it wasn't a bad ride.
So with what I've presented, would you all do the same? Or am I a jerk for making a bad decision which fortunately worked out ok?
Anyway, on the way home I commented that I'd never landed on grass before. I've always wanted to, but it's just never worked out with any of my previous CFIs, for various reasons. I've mentioned this to one of the club CFIs (not you, Stefan :wink2
who said, in effect, "Just go do it. It's no big deal. Nail your approach speed and don't hesitate to go around."
So my right-seater, who has lots of time on grass, mentioned that a 2300 foot strip he flies to regularly was on our route home. It didn't take long for me to talk myself into it. The shortest paved runway I've landed on to date is 3600 feet. The grass strip was located in a valley, naturally with obstacles. On my first approach, I dumped in flaps 40 on final, which of course causes the 182 to drop like a cement truck. Adding a little power to arrest the sink rate, I ended up floating down the runway. About the time the right-seater said, "I think you should..." I had the throttle firewalled and was going around.
The second time, not wanting a repeat of the first, I arrived rather firmly on Earth, but was able to turn off in about 2/3 of the runway length. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, when some numbnut on the unicom commented to another pilot on the field, "Hey, that guy in the Skylane didn't do too well." Telling myself to keep my finger off the mike button and my mouth shut, I of course didn't listen, and had to reply. Oh well, it made me feel better.
All in all, I felt it was a pretty educational day, aviation-wise. I got to do two things I've never done before, I lived to tell about it, and I didn't break anything. In fact, I think I've learned more practical stuff from days like today and my long cross-country a couple weeks ago, than I have in months of flying friends around locally.
There was some convective activity predicted, which was to remain well north of our destination until later in the day. It was one of those typical northeast summer days, clear in the early morning followed by the puffy white clouds forming by mid-morning. It was an uneventful flight over.
Enjoying lunch, we heard one of the waitresses comment, "Oh my God, it is black to the northwest." Unable to see in that direction from where we were seated, she got our immediate attention. Sure enough, it looked pretty foreboding, with lightning and obvious heavy rain in the distance. A quick glance at the NEXRAD returns confirmed what we could clearly see...a large red blob not far away and moving southeast, toward the airport.
However, the sky was clear and blue to the south. The area of thunderstorms and precipitation seemed to be progressively increasing in size, with more forming behind. Naturally, there was a strong desire to get out of town, as I had to work Saturday night, and neither of us wanted to be stuck three hours by ground from home. I asked the other pilot what he thought, and he said, "If we go right NOW, it should be fine." Now, this guy is very experienced and a very conservative, safety-minded pilot, so I agreed. Had I been alone, I'm not sure what I would have done.
So after the quickest preflight I've ever done, and a rolling runup, we launched on runway 1, right at the heart of the storm. At 400 feet I started a right turnout into a quick 180 as the rain started pouring from the sky. In a few miles we were in the clear, and circumnavigating the storm, headed southwest for home.
The thing is, I'm still not sure whether that was good aeronautical decision making, or just plain dumb.
It's by far the closest I've ever flown to convective activity. I suppose the strongest part of the cell was a few miles from the airport when we took off. But we had a good out, with no chance of our escape path closing off. Winds were about 15 kts when we departed, but aside from being a little bumpy on climbout, it wasn't a bad ride.
So with what I've presented, would you all do the same? Or am I a jerk for making a bad decision which fortunately worked out ok?
Anyway, on the way home I commented that I'd never landed on grass before. I've always wanted to, but it's just never worked out with any of my previous CFIs, for various reasons. I've mentioned this to one of the club CFIs (not you, Stefan :wink2
who said, in effect, "Just go do it. It's no big deal. Nail your approach speed and don't hesitate to go around." So my right-seater, who has lots of time on grass, mentioned that a 2300 foot strip he flies to regularly was on our route home. It didn't take long for me to talk myself into it. The shortest paved runway I've landed on to date is 3600 feet. The grass strip was located in a valley, naturally with obstacles. On my first approach, I dumped in flaps 40 on final, which of course causes the 182 to drop like a cement truck. Adding a little power to arrest the sink rate, I ended up floating down the runway. About the time the right-seater said, "I think you should..." I had the throttle firewalled and was going around.
The second time, not wanting a repeat of the first, I arrived rather firmly on Earth, but was able to turn off in about 2/3 of the runway length. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, when some numbnut on the unicom commented to another pilot on the field, "Hey, that guy in the Skylane didn't do too well." Telling myself to keep my finger off the mike button and my mouth shut, I of course didn't listen, and had to reply. Oh well, it made me feel better.
All in all, I felt it was a pretty educational day, aviation-wise. I got to do two things I've never done before, I lived to tell about it, and I didn't break anything. In fact, I think I've learned more practical stuff from days like today and my long cross-country a couple weeks ago, than I have in months of flying friends around locally.
