When All Else Fails, Try Another Day

I'm working with several private pilots now on their instrument ratings. One of them, Sam, is on the verge of finishing his rating... as is typical, he has to finish his written(!), needs to get comfortable and consistently competent handling multiple approaches at multiple airports in quick order and we need to do the required IFR dual cross country flight. This flight has to be at least 250NM cross country flying IFR "in the system" with three landings and three different types of approaches.

I devised a plan of three airports and three different approach types only 277NM (straight line distance). The VOR 19 at Paso Robles, the ILS at Castle AFB and last the GPS Z 31R at Reid-Hillview. We had the plane for today.. the weather looked good, if not great, and everything was good to go. Well, it was good to go as of Thursday mid-day anyway.

Thursday night I get a text. A private pilot student says he needs the plane we had reserved Saturday for his check ride. I've received many many texts like this before and 9 times out of 10 the person ends up not doing the ride. So I told him we wouldn't give up the reservation but if he actually was ready to go and the check ride would happen of course he could take the plane. Late Friday night I get the expected text that he wouldn't be doing the check ride. We were good to go again.

I get up and feel better than I had all week as I was recovering from a cold. I check the flight plans Sam emailed to me. I notice the first flight plan had San Lois Obispo indicated as an alternate. Hmmmm... the previous night Paso Robles was forecast to be VFR or at least high enough ceilings to do the VOR approach. I looked at the weather and Paso had ceilings below 200 feet and < 1/4 mile visibility and it wasn't forecast to get better. I messaged Sam told him to just file SBP instead of PRB since we knew PRB wasn't an option.

When I get to the airport Sam was ready to go, except he forgot to change the flight plan for the leg to Castle now that we were going to a different airport. No problem, he could cancel the plan and we could re-file once we got down there.

Then in a final scan of weather conditions I look at the satellite combined with the current conditions and realize 3/4 of the route to SBP and all of 7/8 of the route from SBP to MER was currently and, on a quick check of the TAFs, was forecast to be below minimums for the ILSs available on the route. The high pressure system that made this a great flying day also capped the fog and that, combined with calm winds, met the fog was not going to burn off as normal.

I told Sam it's not a great idea to fly over an entire 100s of miles over a couple valleys socked in with fog so low that you can't land an instrument approach - in a single engine airplane. We would have no options if we had an issue that required a landing en-route.

Not to be deterred we decided to try a northerly route. Santa Rosa to Chico to Reid-Hillview looked promising. Plenty of airports with plenty of approaches well above minimums along the route, more than enough distance, this would work! Sam cancelled the other flight plans and filed a new one going to Santa Rosa. We'd try for the ILS and take the VOR if we had to. We were good to go!

We get in the plane, it starts up strong. Get the weather and we're ready to go... Sam radios ground and as he starts his call it goes from very clear to broken and unreadable. I see the TX light flashing in time with the broken sounds coming from our plane. Ground said they didn't understand. He tried again with no difference. I do the call and my radio works great so we get our taxi clearance and I tell ground that we'll troubleshoot the issue with the other radio. I joke with Sam that I could do all the radio work - but we both know that's not a great idea. The last feature of my cold is a the occasional coughing fit - not something you want flying IFR in the system.

As we turn onto the taxi way I was thinking, we had a lot of issues and we haven't even gotten off the ground yet, maybe this is not a good day to fly. I said to Sam, "I'm thinking of invoking the 3 strikes rule." He let out a breath of air he seemed to be holding in and said, "I'm glad you said that. I was thinking the holes in the swiss cheese are starting to align." We agreed to see what the radio did in the run up before making a final decision.

We got to the run-up and before doing anything else Sam fiddled with the mike switch to see if he could get it working again. His first test call worked for 75% of the call. I had him to it again and it was broken and unreadable again. That was it. We decided today is not our day. I radioed ground and got permission to taxi back to Squadron 2.

A beautiful flying day wasted. Or was it? Who knows why things happen the way they do. If there's one thing I've learned in aviation its do not try to force the issue. We have 4 alternate schedules set up for the required cross country flight. ONE of them will have to work. I hope. The initial forecast for our first attempt doesn't look great... but you never know what a week will bring.

Evolution of a Pilot

Yesterday my CFII and I were flying together again. The first time in a very long time. We've been working on preparing me for the CFI-Instrument rating for the last few months. After covering all of the Instrument ACS and the CFI-I PTS it was time to get flying again. To see if I can teach at the same time as I fly instrument.

After the first approach he said, "The good news is, it can only get better from here!" Yeah, it was a cluster f*ck. I put that behind me, flew and "taught" the missed and holding procedure. Then flew the same approach a second time and did better both teaching and flying.

It was our first time up with me teaching instrument and it was an eye opening experience to say the least. To really teach instrument flying you have to be waaaayyyy ahead of the airplane, the controllers and the student. I'm at the point where I'm ahead of the plane and the controllers 99% of the time when I fly instrument. However, adding teaching to the process adds a whole new level of difficulty. It means I have to know what's going to happen, what has to happen, how to make it happen, diagnose why it doesn't happen when the student screws it up ... and ... be able articulate all of that at the same time in complete sentences a human can understand. Hey, if I can learn enough to be a decent CFI, I will be able to do this. Just takes practice.

But that's not why I'm posting about this... yesterday's flight brought to mind my own evolution as a pilot. Yesterday highlighted to me some other areas of progress that I hadn't considered recently.

• Take off and climb out. On take off both he and I noticed the poor climb performance of the plane given the Vy airspeed. We both immediately figured the air speed indicator was off and when I adjusted the pitch for what looked like the proper Vy pitch. I got the right climb rate. I never thought I'd be able to do that when I started training... and now I tell my students that they need to do that!
• Over the mountains - we flew directly out over the hills and were in some turbulence. Turbulence that, when I started flying, would have had me very nervous. I barely noticed it aside from how it made it difficult to hold altitude. 
• I was muttering at myself whenever I didn't hold a heading or airspeed the way I was planning on it  - my standards for myself are going up significantly in what I consider good flying. At the same time I didn't let it bother me. 
• His comment about how it can only get better didn't bother me either. Years ago that sort of comment would have been immediate dark cloud over my head for at least a couple days. This time I just agreed and resolved to make it better quickly, which I actually did. 

On the return to RHV I was thinking of a flight we he and I did a couple years ago. When we went out to the valley for some instrument work and came back in just before they shut down the airport. It was an incredible entrance. Then he said how he was reminded of that same flight. Knowing what I know now about how flights (and students) tend to merge together in the CFI brain I was surprised but pleased that he remembered that entrance too.

Yesterday was a nice way to start the a new phase of my own evolution as an instructor pilot.

She Chose Wisely

20 minutes before this picture was taken it was blue skies over Oceano Airport

A "routine" flight on a beautiful winter weekend becomes a bit less than routine when weather intervenes. Last weekend Jeff and I and our friends Kim and Criag and Randy and Karen decided to head to Oceano for Valentine's Day weekend. We all had the weekend off and Monday off, we had time and airplanes were available. Randy made the initial plans and we all agreed to join. Randy and Karen and Craig and Kim flew down Friday evening and Jeff and I flew down the following Saturday evening after my lesson. Saturday evening's show and dinner were great and we were all tired when we got back to the hotel and decided to meet after everyone slept in the next morning for breakfast and then departure back north to RHV.

The next morning I slept as late as I could (8am!) and finally had to get up. I took my shower and made a cup of the hotel room "coffee" which I drank as I walked out to the airport, enjoying the sunny skies and light breeze. I did a quick pre-flight of my plane, loaded a bit of luggage and checked out the spinner on the plane Craig rented. That plane had begun leaking oil out the spinner on the prop and the A&P said it would be best not to fly it back without repair. We were down to two planes and 6 people but between the two planes we had plenty of capacity to fly everyone back.

I checked the tank times and fuel burn rates I recorded for the flight down to determine how much fuel we had left in the plane and how much fuel we would need for the flight back. The Arrow POH doesn't indicate the amount of fuel to allow for engine start or taxi so I assumed two gallons for that activity. Based on my calculations we would need to stop for more fuel if we didn't take on any fuel before takeoff. We wouldn't be able to carry both Craig and Kim with us if we added fuel. That wouldn't a problem however, King City airport was ideally situated and a fond memory for me. That would be my fuel stop.

I thoroughly enjoyed taking care of the plane and preparing for the upcoming flight in the cool morning air and bright sunlight. I think my favorite aviation moments are pre and post flight alone, on the ramp, with the aircraft. Eventually I wandered back to the hotel room where I found the other two couples were awake and ready to eat. Four of us checked out of the hotel and loaded the rest of our luggage into the aircraft. Then we all walked to a nearby diner and had a leisurely breakfast, deciding how we would split Craig and Kim between planes. We decided to put Craig in my plane and Kim in Randy's so we could add fuel to my plane before takeoff and remain within gross weight limits.

With breakfast done four of us went straight to the airport to complete pre-flight and waited for Randy and Karen to check out and grab their luggage. As we waited we watched with growing anxiousness as a very low cloud layer started to approach from the ocean at the West end of the airport property. In 20 minutes the skies went from clear blue to overcast. The last corner of blue sky disappeared just as Randy and Karen arrived with their luggage.

Everyone Else is Doing It

That was it. Conditions went from great VFR to low IFR in less than an hour. I was the only instrument rated pilot out of the four pilots in the group. My husband had just fueled the plane to the point where we couldn't take both Craig and Kim with us so our fates were all tied together. We would have to wait if we were all going to take off.

It was a hard wait.  We stared at the skies and looked for a hole large enough to fit a plane through. We watched as two planes took off into the low clouds and reported the tops were only 600' with clear skies all around the airport. It would be easy to take off and climb through a layer like that. Easy but not legal under visual flight rules (VFR). I doubted the planes that took off actually got an instrument clearance. As an instrument rated pilot it would be a very easy departure for me and just climb through that small cloud layer. I had no doubt I could do it but I decided not to. There was no fire burning at the airport or people threatening us with guns if we didn't take off. We had the day off the next day so no need to push it.

We sat at the airport a while longer, looking at satellite views of the area and hoping for a hole that we could take off through. The hole never came and eventually we gave up and reserved a night in the nearest Motel 6. Reservations made, the six of us turned it into an extra day of vacation by walking on the beach, getting some great BBQ and going out to see a movie.

More Choices

The next morning dawned cloudy again but the ceilings appeared higher than before and we saw hints of blue. I decided over night that I would be leaving by noon, clouds or no clouds. After all, that's what I got my instrument rating for, to depart airports when they were clouded in on otherwise nice weather days. I was ready. The night before I reviewed the rules for departing IFR from a non-towered airport with no takeoff minimums. Basically the rule was the pilot had to maintain their own obstacle clearance.

I developed my own "departure procedure" for the airport - planning to take off over the ocean and climb on a heading of 270 to 2500' before turning North on my route. I filed a flight plan for an 11:30 departure and was ready to go. I could take passenger in addition to my husband. The others would either drive or wait for a hole again.

When we got to the airport there were at least 3 other pilots all staring at the skies, waiting for a hole. Two were instrument rated but they had removed all of the "instrument stuff" from the planes they were flying. A local suggested taking off east and "as long as you clear the mesa at 500', someone could follow your beacon out". The ceilings were definitely higher than the day before, but without any weather reporting I wasn't going to assume that ceiling was actually higher than 500'. As we waited we saw a plane take off east and disappear into the distance. We didn't hear a crash so we assumed he made it.

The local bi-plane pilot started up his engine in preparation for air tours along the beach. That was a good sign, I thought, since he could only do a tour in VFR conditions. I forgot, for the moment, VFR for class G airspace was 1 statue mile and clear of clouds.

I called flight services for a weather briefing for my flight. The briefer said the cloud tops should be 500' in our area and aside from the low clouds on the coastline it was a beautiful VFR day.  I considered once again not getting an instrument clearance on the ground and just taking off and climbing through what should be a few seconds of clouds. It seemed like a lot of work to contact ATC and pick up a clearance, possibly waiting for some time to get a release, just to fly through a hundred feet of cloud. On the other hand, I thought, I hadn't gotten a clearance on the ground at a non-towered airport since my instrument training. I decided it would be good practice for me even if I was only actually in the clouds for a couple seconds.

It was decided that Kim would fly with us and we'd depart IFR as scheduled. Craig would ride with Randy if a hole opened up or rent a car and drive back to meet up with Kim. I let the other waiting pilots know that I'd radio back a clouds and tops report after take off. We watched as the bi-plane pilot loaded up his passengers and taxied towards the end of the runway and then pulled out my plane for start up.

I started up the plane and prepared to taxi to the run-up area. We saw the bi-plane take off and fly out over the water, just under the clouds. The clouds were definitely higher than the previous day. In the run-up area I completed the run-up and then contacted ATC for my instrument clearance. I was cleared as filed and told to wait up to 5 minutes to allow an instrument approach to complete at the nearby San Lois Obispo Airport. The bi-plane did a low pass over the runway and then came back and landed. About the time he landed I was cleared to take off with a clearance void time 3 minutes later.  It was that quick and easy.

We took the runway and climbed straight into the clouds. The bases were about 600' and I stayed on instruments and waited for the tops which I was sure were soon. I contacted ATC when over 1000'. The tops didn't come as quickly as suggested by the briefer. Less than 3 minutes after I took the runway we did break out of the clouds at 1600'.  I continued to climb to 2000' and then turned north direct to the Morro Bay VOR as my flight plan dictated. Once I had a break I radioed back to the pilots waiting in Oceano with the base and top report. I hoped that report that would keep everyone from trying to take off unless they actually were instrument rated. That cloud layer was deep enough that someone could kill themselves if they didn't know what they were doing.

With my rating and clearance it was a non-event but I imagined how stressed I would have been if I had taken off, expecting a 200' cloud layer, finding a much deeper layer and trying to pick up a clearance in the air. I remembered a Raiders of the Lost Ark movie where the ancient knight judged adventurer's selections of the appropriate grail cup. When someone chose poorly they died. When someone chose wisely, they lived. Yes, I thought, I chose wisely.

Instrument Practice Adventure

Yesterday my husband and I went out to do some practice approaches so I could improve my instrument proficiency before a potential instrument flight to Willows next weekend. I was going to do a modified "milk run" three approaches at the same airports (Tracy, Stockton and Livermore) I used for my instrument check ride and preparing for the ride. As seems to happen in aviation, when one expects a routine flight, one gets an adventure.

First approach was into Tracy airport, KTCY. I got cleared for the GPS 12 into Tracy. Did the procedure turn at OYOSO and was inbound on the approach when the GPS failed. Not the first time its failed on me in the middle of a GPS approach in this particular plane. It came back eventually and started working again.

GPS 29R into Stockton was uneventful, aside from the actual level of visibility. It was so hazy at ground level I got to log a little actual on that approach. The GPS worked just fine.

The transition to Livermore was rough. The sun angle from SCK at that time must have been right between 220 and 230. On climb out the switched me to 220, and then cleared my direct to TRACY (roughly 230) to intercept the localizer. The sun was exactly in my face and the glare made the top three instruments practically unreadable, I had to shield my eyes to see the whisky compass to reset the heading indicator.

Not like I hadn't flown to the initial approach fix for the ILS to Livermore with the sun in my eyes dozens of times before when working on my instrument rating, but I had a perfect storm this time. I overshot my target altitude by 200', so I was pitching down to return to 4000'. At the same time the first real turbulence of the trip kicked up so the turn coordinator was flopping around and the bonanza boogie got going. To top it off, the turn coordinator in that plane shows wings level when actually in a slight left turn, the AI is accurate, but I couldn't see it. All of that at once got me the most dizzy I'd ever been in real or simulated instrument.

I realized what was happening, and told myself repeatedly to slow it down. My husband says I said that out loud a couple times. I stopped the boogie, slowed down my scan, and used the heading indicator to tell if wings were level and the vertical speed indicator to ensure I wasn't climbing or descending anymore. Once I got the wings level and plane stabilized the dizziness stopped. Then I got the plane back on altitude and dialed in for the rest of the flight to the IAF for the ILS 25R into Livermore.

Once I turned onto the localizer the sun was enough out of my eyes I could actually use all of my instruments again. The actual approach was good. Nice how no flaps, 15" MP and gear down gives a perfect 3 degree glide slope descent in a Bonanza.

Never know what I'm going to get when I go flying. My trip up to Willows next weekend for the 25 hour race may be IFR. Fortunately there's a VOR approach there as well as the GPS approach. This little practice adventure was good preparation for that one I think.

One Yellow Piece of Paper

I guess I'm a bit of a dinosaur, but I use paper and pen and a kneeboard to write down all information when in the plane. Be it clearances, weather, frequencies, or whatever I may need. Looking at my most recent piece of paper from my most recent flight, from Montgomery Field in San Diego to Reid-Hillview in San Jose, I see a full record of that flight. Step by Step. So please allow me to geek out a bit and walk you through a 2.9 hour flight described in one piece of yellow paper.

1) Tail Number, departure and destination

2) Hobbs and tach readings at start and finish of the flight and total hobbs time

3) My initial clearance and two modified clearances received during the flight

4) Frequencies and altitudes assigned to me by ATC on the way

5) Descent plan

6) ATIS at my departure and destination airports

7) Oil and gas used for the flight

All of this information, a rather complete description of my flight, captured on one piece of yellow paper. I think it's pretty cool.

DSWT Day 6 - IMC Up, IMC Down - VNY > MYF

Busy Airport

The next morning the clouds were low at both my departure and destination airports. The clouds were forecast to be low enough at MYF that I had to file an alternate. They were low enough to not be VFR, but they were high enough they met my personal minimums for instrument flying.

Lineman waits patiently as we get
our clearances and program flight plans

On this leg I wouldn't be flying alone. My friend Rick would fly down with me. His CFI, Paul, would fly down ahead of us in a Lancair. Then Paul would fly Rick back to Van Nuys. This was going to be fun! For one thing it would be great to fly with a friend and for the second thing its always fun to fly with other planes, even if it isn't a formation flight. We weren't in a hurry to leave and both Paul and I are instrument rated so we didn't have to worry about the clouds being there or not. We all met for breakfast at a nearby diner and had fun joking and teasing each other. When we got back to the airport we saw a large twin, maybe a 12 passenger plane, break out of the clouds obviously high over the runway. He did a go around and circled back for landing on 16R.

It was time to go, I did my preflight and called for a weather briefing while the guys waited patiently. Then Paul started up the Lancair first and contacted clearance delivery for his clearance so I could hear the clearance he'd get. It was exactly what he told me to expect. It's always nice to fly with a pilot knowledgeable about the area. Then I got my clearance which was the same as Paul's. There is no run up area with the construction going on at Van Nuys so we did our run ups on the taxi way. Then we contacted the tower for our instrument release. The tower told Paul to pull up to the hold short line. I was told to wait where I was when I contacted the tower. 

Lancair interior, complete with "smoke on"
button on the stick.

We waited and waited for release. A large jet taxied up going the opposite direction, I figured he was waiting for an instrument release too. Behind me a Baron pulled into the "run up" and began his preparations.  This was a very busy airport! The tower contacted me and told me to pull up into the runway hold short area beside the Lancair. Fortunately, my high wings overlapped his low wings with plenty of clearance. That let the jet taxi past us. The tower told us to expect another 4 minutes. I told my friend Rick I've waited longer at RHV with our close proximity to San Jose International. A plane landed and Paul was released for an immediate take off. The Baron was told to pull up along side me. A few minutes later we were released for take off. Time to go!

Up into IMC

The cloud layer was supposed to start around 1200 feet and be a couple thousand feet thick. The departure procedure told me to take off, turn to 110 and climb and maintain 1700 feet. The plane took off quick and climbed strong. Paul gave me a tip that a better climb rate gives more direct routing so I planned to ensure our climb was good. In no time we were in the clouds and I was hand flying at 1700 feet, waiting for SoCal departure to give me a new heading and climb. The wind from the plane was hissing in my friend's mike adding to the noise in the cockpit. Loud noises like that bother me but I tried to force myself to ignore it.

CFI Paul and the Lancair

SoCal had me ident, gave me a new heading and told me to expedite my climb. I turned to the heading and started climbing. I saw I was in a 30 degree bank to the left. A quick correction and I was back wings level ... deep breath. SoCal said I had a stuck mike and told me to ident to acknowledge their transmission. I didn't see the transmit light blinking but I sure heard the wind. Still in the clouds I reached over and unplugged the mike portion of my friend's headset. The noise went away. I contacted SoCal and verified they could hear me. They could. Then they told me I had only climbed 200 feet in the last two miles, gave me a new heading and told me again to expedite my climb. A quick turn to the new heading, established in a proper climbing attitude and wings level. We were out of the clouds in a couple more minutes and intercepting the first leg of the expected route.

Enroute to San Diego

Above the low cloud layer we cruised according to plan and ATC control. My ground speed was slow compared to what I was used to and there was nothing to see below us but clouds. Rick tried to point out a couple landmarks but we couldn't see them in the clouds and haze. We tried plugging in his headset and every time the mike was plugged all the way end I could hear the wind. Neither of us could figure out how to stop it so eventually he unplugged the mike jack of his headset. I had to tease him for that, "Just think," I told him, "you are stuck in a plane with a woman and all you can do is listen to me talk." He plugged the mike back in for a moment to retort.

We were vectored back and forth across our route for traffic. The airspace was busy and the flight took a longer than expected but that was OK. We had plenty of fuel and it was anything but boring. When we approached San Diego our controller was working military planes off of Mirrimar making things even busier. Eventually he started giving me vectors for the approach into Montgomery Field.

IMC into Montgomery

Once I established for sure I was going to keep getting radar vectors I activated the approach. Almost immediately I was cleared for the approach and could start descending straight into the clouds.   I intended to continue to use the autopilot for headings while I controlled the altitudes manually. This method served me well in the past, but this time something was odd. I was coming in on the ILS approach so I made sure to turn the GPS over to CDI / OBS mode. Maybe that disabled the GPS portion of the autopilot. The autopilot did not turn the plane onto the localizer as I thought it should have. I recognized it 30 seconds late and was turning back towards the localizer when the controller asked me to let him know ... again ... when I was established on the approach. I turned off the autopilot and intercepted the localizer easily by hand.

Paul and Rick ready to head
back to VNY

Next challenge, I was high on glide slope. I started correcting that and started to drift left of the localizer. I was told to contact the tower. The tower told me I was high and left. I said I was already correcting. I got back on the right track and struggled to get the plane back down on glideslope. Rick didn't say a word until we broke out of the clouds and he saw the airport, right where it should be. Airport in sight I switched to "visual" mode and proceeded for the straight in landing. I was high still but not terribly high and I got the plane down without heroics to a decent landing on the centerline.

I wasn't happy with the sloppiness and mistakes on the IMC portions of the flight. I couldn't blame ATC for being high on this approach, this one was all me. I knew I could fly instrument much better than this. I decided I would fly the full instrument approach back into RHV even if it was visual conditions to force myself to fly a proper glide slope and track. I definitely need more instrument practice if I am going to continue instrument flying. That was OK though, better some small, non deadly mistakes to point out where I need to improve. I knew how to fix this problem and resolved to do so.

Land Bound for a Couple Days

Paul and Rick in front of N20791.
Tied down at Gibbs Flying Service for a couple days.

After clearing the runway and doing my after landing checklist I contacted ground to taxi to Gibbs Flying Service, an FBO I researched a couple days before. Paul would meet us there. We taxied up to the FBO and parked the plane. Paul arrived about 20 minutes before us in his faster Lancair. I tied down the plane and arranged for fueling and a refill of my O2 bottle. Then we hung out and chatted for a while before Paul and Rick had to head home. I had a couple of hours to wait before my husband arrived at San Diego International on his commercial flight. Then I would remain in San Diego for a couple days. Spending time with my brothers and sisters and Dad before my Dad's retirement party. My next flight would be Sunday. It seemed odd to not be immediately mentally planning for my next flight and knowing I would not be getting into the plane the next day. I already missed it.

About the Headset

You may be wondering, what was the problem with my friend's headset? Why did it always transmit this wind noise? Well... we discussed that on the ground with Paul. I'm sure the experienced aviators out there know the answer already... squelch. Somehow the squelch on that channel got turned way up (or down, I don't know which). With the squelch set where it was, almost all of the ambient noise was being picked up by the mike. My good friend Rick was quick to question how I can call myself a 300+ hour pilot and not know that? Easy, a good pilot is always learning! And for me, considering how much loud ambient noises disturb me when I need to concentrate (as in IMC conditions in busy airspace) this was a very important lesson that I won't forget.

Buttonwillow and Back

I just started a new job so I haven't been able to get away on weekdays and, on the evenings I wanted to fly the Arrow the winds have been too strong. However, the weather's been just good enough for me to fly cross country to two race events. The first event was in Buttonwillow, CA. Buttonwillow is just over the edge of the LA sectional from us, just south of the border that becomes southern California. The weather forecast for the flight down to Buttonwillow was not looking too friendly. There was an airmet for turbulence (AIRMET Tango they're called) and conditions were Marginal VFR. I had the 182 reserved for the flight, the same one I flew back from San Lois Obispo in IFR conditions before. But I also had a passenger that didn't fly all that often with an unknown tolerance for turbulence that was supposed to fly with me.

I was seriously considering canceling the flight but I figured I would describe the situation and if the passenger was up for it... we would give it a shot. When I described the potential conditions for the flight to my passenger, he grinned a huge grin and said, "OK!" Little did I know, he was NOT looking forward to those conditions but he figured if he wanted to learn how to fly he'd have to get over his fear of turbulence too. My daughter was strongly in favor of flying because she didn't want to drive. She has no fear of turbulence at all.

We took off into the broken clouds over the South Bay on an IFR flight plan and ATC expertly guided us around every cloud. I don't know how they do that! Eventually we climbed to 7000 feet and cruised in calm air to land at Shafter-Mitner Airport with only mild turbulence on the descent and approaching the airport at pattern altitude. 

Flying back from Buttonwillow there was another AIRMET for turbulence. I checked for PIREPS and didn't see any moderate turbulence reported near our route, but that was no guarantee of smooth air. There were no clouds where we started, but there were clouds building in the South Bay that were likely to make a VFR flight there not impossible, but not as desirable as simply flying IFR. So I filed an IFR flight plan using the most common IFR route back from the area of SoCal I was in.

We took off into a brisk surface wind and I got on course to Avenal VOR with a strong headwind. I picked up my IFR clearance once I was settled into the cruise climb. No need to pick it up sooner since we were in severe clear conditions at the time. Bakersfield Approach cleared me present position to AVE then as filed.. exactly as I expected. Then Bakersfield Approach said...

Skylane 791, I have something special for you. Today. One time only. Would you like to be cleared direct GILRO?

Approach, I would love to be cleared direct GILRO.

From 160 nautical miles away I was cleared direct to the IAF for the GPS approach to my airport! How nice was that? Normally ATC has to route IFR traffic around the MOAs between Shafter and the Bay Area but it was Sunday and the MOAs were "cold". That allowed ATC to give me a very direct routing which saved us a lot of time on the return trip in spite of the headwind. The ride was, once again, relatively calm until we got close to a small cloud bank at our altitude and over the low mountain range between the central valley and the coast. Then we picked up some occasional light chop. I thought it would be cool to do a PIREP reporting on the conditions we've flown in so far. So I did.

We were cleared direct ECYON from about 30 NM away which made our route even shorter and I could see we would definitely get some time in the clouds. I told my passengers to expect some turbulence. I told my friend in the right seat to grab his seat belt if he got disoriented, not the yoke, and explained to him how to use the artificial horizon to combat the feelings of disorientation if he had them. I slowed down the plane and prepared for the approach. All of the sudden the plane started bouncing up and down rhythmically. That wasn't something I expected! I looked at my friend and asked him if he was doing it... no. Then he looked in the back set. My daughter was literally bouncing up and down with excitement at the thought of going into the clouds. I told her there is strictly no bouncing on the approach and we descended into the clouds for an uneventful IFR approach and landing.

When we touched down at RHV my passenger friend was thrilled. He loved the ride through the clouds declaring it was like being in control of a roller coaster. My daughter loved the flight through the clouds too. She said she closed her eyes and felt like she was turning upside down - and she enjoyed it. For me.. I found out the transition into turbulent clouds is less disorienting than a transition into no turbulence clouds. On the approach we descended through two layers, the higher layer had some turbulence. Then after being cleared for the approach we flew through a layer of stratus, that layer had no turbulence to feel. It was just flying a descent when all of the sudden the outside world went away for a while, then it came back. It was a bit disorienting to have that transition without the bumps, but it was nice.

I am enjoying the additional utility and safety of flight my instrument rating has given me. It allows me to plan for a safe instrument flight instead of trying to fly below the clouds and squeeze into and out of valleys as I would have had to do on both legs of this trip. 
 

First Instrument Flight in a 182

My passengers awaiting
departure from RHV

A Weekend Trip to Oceano Dunes

My husband and a couple friends and I flew down to San Luis Obispo area last weekend to spend some time in Oceano on California's central coast. This was the first time I've been on a flying trip with friends in two planes and it was a lot of fun. I flew a 182P, N20791 with my husband, Jeff, and friend, Randy. I planned on flying the 182 so I could get more familiar with the plane. My other friend, Craig, flew a 180HP conversion 172N with his other half, Kim, and daughter Alexis. We stopped at Harris Ranch on the way down on Sunday for lunch. That was my first time landing a plane at Harris Ranch and being able to land the 182 on that narrow and short runway boosted my confidence managing the plane considerably. Then we headed out to San Luis Obispo after a pass over the Oceano Dunes so Randy could see them. I landed there well and we tied down for the night at San Luis Obispo (SBP) airport. Two good flights and landings at very different airports were very good for me. We landed at SBP instead of Oceano itself because we could pick up a rental van for our group and save money on cab fair. We went to a show called the "Great American Melodrama" which was very fun. Then we went back to the hotel, had a drink and chatted into the night.

Oceano Dunes from the air

We woke up Monday to overcast low clouds. Not at all surprising for this area. That was another reason I wanted to tie down at SBP. SBP typically clears up before Oceano does because it is further inland. I didn't want us to be stuck waiting for clouds to clear and end up flying into the teeth of a cold front and storm predicted to hit the Bay Area late Monday night. When I checked the TAFs when I first woke up they did not promise clearing. I figured the next TAF after 10AM PST would forecast better conditions. However, just in case, I did a quick round of flight and fuel planning and filed an instrument flight plan out of SBP for 1PM.

Our friends "waving goodbye" under the cloudy skies.
Click on the photo and zoom in to see the "wave".

At 10:30 we checked the TAF's for our route again and every update was trending towards lower and more complete cloud cover. The satellite loop view of the area showed clouds thickening and pushing inland instead of the opposite which is what normally happens in this coastal area. That did not bode well. Our group had a leisurely breakfast and discussed options. The ceilings were 1800 to 2500 feet near the airport. The terrain around the airport rose to 1500-3000 feet MSL. The only direction without rising terrain was over the ocean. I could get out IFR, but I was the only pilot in the group who could. The other three pilots, Jeff, Randy and Craig weren't instrument rated.

None of the options we had to get both planes home that day were really good. The one that was probably the best was the idea of me flying the 172 over to Paso Robles (PRB) IFR, Craig's family driving there and then they could hope to fly VFR out of Paso Robles back to Reid-Hillview (RHV). Then I could drive back to SBP and fly IFR out of SBP in the 182 with Jeff and Randy and head back home. The problem with that idea was the ceilings at PRB were barely MVFR. In the end Craig decided to wait at the FBO at SBP and hope for some clearing weather. Worse case he'd rent a car, drive his ladies home and then come back later to get the plane. I took the IFR option and headed home with Jeff and Randy.

Fluffy, Friendly Clouds

SBP tower and low overcast

I used Randy's hand held radio to get my clearance from SBP ground prior to engine start and we were cleared as filed including the CREPE3.PRB departure route I planned and have flown before. Being able to fly a departure procedure I've flown before from this very airport helped reduce my tension flying in a relatively unfamiliar airplane - the 182.

The ceiling was reported at 2800 feet when we launched on our IFR flight. I got my scan going immediately and we entered the clouds at 3000 feet. I was braced for some good turbulence in the clouds but these were the friendly type of clouds in spite of their dark appearance, no turbulence at all. Our clearance changed immediately when I contacted Santa Barbara Approach, instead of flying the departure procedure they had me turn direct to PRB when we got to 4000 feet. At 4000 feet, still in the clouds I turned towards PRB. We finally broke out of the clouds around 5000 feet and leveled off at 7000' as cleared. I told the guys the change in clearance was totally normal. You rarely get what you file and even more rarely actually fly what you are cleared to fly. You just have to be ready for the changes when they come.

We were in clear air flying over a sold layer of clouds that seemed to cover the entire Salinas Valley from its southern end at Atascadero north as far as the eye can see. When we were transferred to Oakland Center we heard many planes flying IFR on approaches into Paso Robles airport (PRB). A US Air jet gave a pirep reporting the only hole in the clouds near PRB was 40 miles north or 30 miles east. We could see an edge to the clouds out to the east, it appeared to be on the other side of the Diablo range between the Salinas and central valley. That means one would be able to get under the clouds there, but wouldn't be able to make it into the Salinas valley. At this point we knew it was the right decision not to fly the 172 into Paso Robles, Craig and family would not have made it out of there VFR.

Clouds over the Salinas Valley

The en route portion of our flight was in the clear air with very little turbulence and a lot of radio traffic. On the way Jeff suggested I practice using the autopilot. I had received the 5 minute - this is how to use and disable the autopilot - info from my CFI but hadn't actively used it before. Frankly, I prefer to hand fly. It gives me something to do on the en route portion of flights and I get to hone my skills that way. Then I remembered my CFI saying, "You WILL use the autopilot in IMC." That's exactly what he said. He is actually able to speak in all caps, must be something they teach in CFI school. This seemed like a good time to listen to my CFI and my husband. I engaged the autopilot heading and altitude hold at 7000'. Eventually we were cleared to 8000' and asked to change headings slightly for traffic. Finally we were cleared direct to GILRO, the Initial Approach Fix for my approach into RHV.

We were handed over to NorCal Approach and the radios were even busier as the controllers had to funnel jets into San Jose and flibs like me into RHV. About 10 minutes from HENCE (over Hollister) the controller asked if I was going to continue IFR, because if I was I should expect a 20-30 minute delay due to traffic into SJC. I could see no real breaks in the clouds ahead so I told him if they could get me under the clouds I'd be happy to cancel but unless they could I'd have to stay IFR all the way into RHV.  He said he'd let the next controller know. About five minutes to HENCE I started slowing the plane down. I knew I'd be getting a descent soon and knew the plane doesn't go and slow down, so I had to get one done before the other. I was glad I had discussed just this situation with my CFI two days before. This plan worked out well because I was told to descend to 6000' about the time I had slowed down the plane to where I wanted it.

Flying in a Box

Our route to RHV with the delay vectors

We got to HENCE and were told to turn right 90 degrees as a delay vector for SJC traffic. We were in a "box pattern" that my CFI had told me he gets often flying IFR in and out of the Santa Clara valley but I had never encountered. We had all the time in the world. The thing we didn't have was all the fuel in the world. Normally I always fly with full fuel, this time, however, I didn't. I had a heavily loaded plane and a climb gradient I had to maintain to leave SBP safely, so I did not take on fuel as I had originally planned at SBP. When I did my flight planning I used a conservative ground speed and fuel burn rate and calculated we would have a little over an hour and a half fuel remaining when we landed. Jeff checked the fuel levels before we took off and we had 38 gallons in the tanks which matched my expectation. If we had a 30 minute delay we'd land with an hour of fuel to spare. If the delay was more than that, we would be in a less comfortable position.

When we got the delay vector I started a timer and  slowed down even further setting MP to 19" which had us flying this hold at approx 105 knots ground speed. The other benefit of slowing down was we were using less fuel. The engine monitor reported 7.3 GPH fuel burn rate. I was intensely aware of the fuel situation and figured we could allow no more than 30 minutes delay before I would have to tell ATC we were at minimum fuel. When we took off the fuel gauges were showing one tank empty and the other more than half full (the plane was parked on a slope at the airport), at this point the other wing was showing empty and the "full" tank was showing 1/4 full. I had never flown a plane to this level of fuel and it was not a comfortable feeling.

As we cruised slowly in our delay vectors we considered alternates. I called up the ATIS information for airports in the Santa Clara valley, South County, Hollister and Reid-Hillview. We could see the edge of the clouds to our east and were thinking maybe we could get down below the clouds and through the pass over highway 152 into the valley VFR. All of the ATIS reports were just barely good enough. Which meant if we were lucky we could get through, if we weren't we'd be stuck. Not a good plan. I decided we would stay in the box and if we we got to 30 minutes of delay I would notify ATC we were at minimum fuel. I re-briefed myself on the approach we would use into RHV and made sure I was prepared.

Not So Friendly, Fluffy Clouds

We were cruising southeasterly towards the edge of the clouds in our box. I was watching the clouds pour over the ridge line silently. It was a mesmerizing sight. ATC directed me to turn to 330. I went to turn the heading bug to 330 and all of the sudden the plane shakes like we were a bug in a tin can. "What the hell is THAT!" I said as I quickly disengaged the autopilot and manually managed the turn to 330 and altitude. Jeff suggested we must be hitting the turbulence of the winds spilling over the hills. As quickly as it started the turbulence stopped. I turned the autopilot back on.

Cleared to descend, we headed
directly towards some less
friendly looking clouds.

"Skylane seven niner one, cleared direct ECYON. Descend and maintain 3700". That was music to my ears. That meant we were going to be able to start our approach and ATC was trying to get us low enough to cancel IFR if we could. I turned on the pitot heat, turned off altitude hold, and started a nice controlled descent towards the clouds ahead.

I then ran into a new challenge. If I was flying a plane with a 430W GPS I would have activated the GPS Z 31R approach at ECYON. But I couldn't find ECYON as a waypoint on the GPS Z 31R approach in the GPS in this plane. I don't know if this was operator error or GPS error or what but it wasn't there. So I manually input direct to ECYON and let the autopilot manage the track to ECYON as I managed the descent and monitored the what the autopilot was doing as we descended into the clouds. I would activate the approach when I got cleared for it.

This time the clouds were much less friendly. We were getting bounced around pretty good but my passengers were perfectly silent. We got down to 3700 feet and leveled off still in the clouds. So much for getting down and canceling IFR. I was grateful for the autopilot for reducing my workload as I was fighting my body's mixed signals with the turbulence and less familiar instrumentation and plane I was in. I've lost count of the number of approaches I've flown in 172s. This was my first approach (simulated or otherwise) in a 182. I checked manifold pressure, prop and mixture and we were OK. Jeff or Randy said it was really wet outside.  I spared a glance at the windscreen and saw water streaming by. A quick double check of the MP showed it still in the green. I decided I would turn on carb heat the moment we got out of the green, to prevent carb icing.

Water streaming off struts and
trailing edge of the wings.

We were cleared for the approach. I put in 10 degrees of flaps to descend in a controlled manner and the plane seemed to launch itself upwards, I failed to anticipate that and had to push the nose back down to level and then start the descent. I activated the leg of the approach closest to us and let the autopilot get us on course as I managed the descent again, this time pulling more and more power as we got closer to the airport. ATC directed us to switch to the tower and we were instructed to continue. We could hear many planes in the pattern there. RHV's ATIS reported the ceiling at 3300 feet but we were past that level and still in solid cloud. 2500 feet we were still in the clouds and I was high on the glide slope but starting to capture it. I ran through the pre-landing checklist in the clouds, no boost pump, carb heat on, fuel on both, gear down and welded, mixture full rich, pushed the prop full forward and we were ready.

At 2000 feet we broke out of the clouds. The air was crystal clear and the windscreen nicely cleaned from the rinsing we got. I was still high so pulled more power and put in more flaps and finally even more flaps. I was cleared to land and another plane was cleared to take off from the same runway. It seemed like the plane was moving in slow motion as it took the runway to take off. We were less than a mile out and the last thing I wanted to do was to have to go around. So I slowed the plane even more to allow the other plane to take off. Then the tower told me there was a dog running lose on the Bravo taxiway. Are you kidding me?!? I really hoped the dog would have the good sense to run the other way, cause I was going to land this sucker! The other plane took off just in time and for once I didn't float the 182 down the runway. I landed the plane nicely and got a round of applause from the back seat of the plane as I exited on Delta. I did the after landing checklist and contacted ground to taxi back to Squadron2.

Afterword

Passenger view of an IFR flight

We taxied back to Squadron2 and shut down the plane. We piled out of the plane, all smiling ear to ear and I distributed hugs all around (being a woman I can do that *grin*). If my CFI was there I would have kissed him. I was absolutely elated. All those hours of training paid off that day. For the first time I actually had to consider fuel, weight and balance, climb gradient, weather, managing a high performance plane in IMC, using an autopilot to reduce workload, ATC delays, passengers, other planes in the pattern on arrival, etc, etc. and I did it. The integration of all of the different skills I've learned in flight training, from private through IFR through high performance endorsement came together in that one flight and it worked! Yes, many areas for improvement, but I did it. My friend Randy said he felt I had things under control the whole time and that I knew what would happen before it happened. In other words, I was ahead of the plane. And, for the most part, I actually was. I can only get better from here.

PS. You may be wondering, how much fuel did we have when we landed? I checked both tanks and one tank was empty (falling into the never-done-that-before category), the other was showing 15 gallons on the dip stick. When we had the plane refueled we found we actually had 13 gallons left total. Right at 1 hour of fuel at a 13GPH fuel burn. Completely legal but if we had flown much longer we would have been flying on reserves and correct in declaring minimum fuel if we had to.

PPS. Craig ended up renting a car and driving home that night. He had some adventures getting the car and his ladies were offered some rides down to LA on some "very nice planes" according to the 3 year old. Wednesday he drove back down to SBP and flew the 172 back with beautiful view of snow dusted hills and mountains from the Monday night/Tuesday morning storm. 

First IFR Flight After Rating

"Hun, do you want to fly me to Monterey tomorrow?" 

Long story short, my husband got back from two weeks of international travel and flying on United with someone else's suitcase. He realized this when we got home which is an hour or more from the nearest airport with a United presence. He calls United and they come up with a complicated plan where he delivers the other person's suitcase to Monterey Airport and fills out some paperwork and then United will deliver his suitcase to our house.

Rather than drive the hour and a quarter to Monterey and back, we decide it would be much more fun to drive the hour to Reid Hillview and then fly ourselves and the suitcase to Monterey in about 40 minutes, deliver the case,  then fly back and drive home, for a total travel time of four hours. Even better, it looked like there were enough clouds in the area with freezing levels much higher than normal so I could actually get a chance at some flying in actual IMC too!

I researched the likely routes on flightaware.com and filed my flight plan there and another flight plan for the return. I figured we'd have a good chance of clouds both ways and either way it was good practice to fly instrument. When we got down to the airport the weather had cleared somewhat but there were still clouds around. I was ready and excited to go.

We launched into a partly cloudy sky. Shortly after take off I had my eyes on the instruments and scan going, I didn't know exactly when we'd hit the clouds but I wanted to be ready when we did. We flew in and out of some cloud layers and banks as I flew the radar vectors provided and was cleared direct to CHRLE, the IAF for the 28L LOC/DME into Monterey. We were cruising at 6000 feet and most of the clouds were to our west or underneath us. We started to approach CHRLE and I made sure I had the weather, the right settings on the GPS, the localizer TunedandIdentified, final approach course, MDA and missed firmly in mind. ATC started to descend us towards CHRLE and there was a build up of big and mean looking clouds over the mountains near Monterey that the localizer would take us into.

I was a little nervous about the high possibility of turbulence, but that's what clouds are about sometimes and I knew all I had to do was fly the plane. Finally the call came, "Cessna X, turn to 270, descend and maintain 4500 until established on the localizer, cleared Localizer 28L approach." I thought this might happen but I didn't think to adjust the GPS to give me guidance to the first leg of the approach instead of the procedure turn. No matter, I thought, I had the localizer TunedandIdentified, I would just intercept the course that way and everything would be fine.

I descended to 4500, making sure not to go one inch lower, and entered the clouds. My eyes were carefully watching the heading on the heading indicator and making sure I was flying a 190 heading and not descending below 4500 until I was established. The needle started to move but it was moving very fast and I wasn't even close to the 278 heading I needed to be on course. I blew through the localizer wondering why and the controller very politely told me to turn to a 310 heading and let him know when I was established on the localizer. 310!? oh shit! Scott [my CFI] would be yelling at me right now. Actually probably a minute ago. I thought. I realized my mistake, I was supposed to turn towards 270 but stopped 60 degrees short. That explained why the needle moved so fast, I wasn't on the intercept course the controller gave me but a course almost perpendicular to the localizer.

I'm in the clouds. I can't let that mistake throw me off. I had to recover. I understood at that moment how much I've come to rely on the track and desired track information from the GPS to keep me on track. As I flew back towards the localizer I chose the waypoint at 7.0 DME on the localizer course in the GPS and told it to put me DIRECT-TO (that gave me distance information and a GPS CDI to help). Then I used the NAV1 CDI to intercept the localizer, tell ATC I was on course, and start descending.

The clouds over the localizer approach course into Monterey.

The next challenge was to figure out where I was on the localizer so I could make sure I got the step downs right. My husband was tracking our progress on my iPad so I asked him if we had passed RODNE (the next fix) or not. He said he thought so. I double checked the distance to the 7.0DME waypoint on the GPS, and we were more than 4.3 NM away, so we can't have been at RODNE yet. I told my husband we weren't there yet. He asked how I knew. I didn't have time to explain as we had just passed RODNE and it was time for the next step down. Still in the clouds I had 2.3 NM to drop down almost 1000 feet. This plane was faster than I was used to so I had to increase the descent rate, reduce power more and drop down carefully, still in the clouds. I was grateful for so much practice under the hood that keeping the plane upright in the clouds didn't require much thought. I was told to contact the tower.

Time to step down again this time to 2500. The airport's ATIS reported ceilings were scattered at 1800. I thought I should be breaking out soon and I did. The first thing I noticed was the green hills and homes seemingly right below and to my left. I knew from my altitude and location they had to be close to 1000 feet away, but they seemed so close. It gave me a shiver. How close had I come to killing us by flying that wrong heading? I wondered briefly. I had to put that aside. "Airport in sight," my husband said helpfully. He had no idea I had made a major mistake. I had forgotten to even look for the airport. I look straight ahead and there was the airport. We seemed high, but the airport was in sight with no more clouds in the way and I could now do a normal landing.

I landed normally and requested taxi instructions to Monterey Jet Center. I had read great reviews about the service there and I was not disappointed. They loaned us a crew car and didn't charge us a ramp fee or fee for the car. We returned the suitcase to United, did our paperwork, returned the car and it was time to fly back.

The brief intermission to drop off the suitcase gave me time to think through what I did wrong and how and what I could do to prevent that issue in the future. I know I have a habit of fixating on numbers and I also read back instructions really fast (and accurately) but sometimes I can repeat back without understanding. So I decided the key thing I could do immediately is SLOW DOWN. Slow down and double check every number I use. For instance, if I'm told to turn to a heading and I turn to the heading I think I should be at. I should just ask myself if this is really the right heading. Does the heading I'm flying make sense given where I am and where I think I should be going?

We got back into the plane and called Clearance Delivery for our clearance back to RHV. We didn't get the clearance I wanted but that was OK. In very little time we took off into the clear skies over Monterey Bay. We climbed over the ocean and I kept scanning the RPM, oil pressure, oil temp, etc. and listened carefully for any sound of roughness. I really didn't want to have an engine failure over the ocean, at night.

Shortly after checking in with ATC, they cleared me direct to ECYON (throwing my previous clearance out the window but taking me exactly where I wanted to go). I leveled off and flew through the dark skies and moonlit clouds. My passenger was so relaxed that he fell asleep. As we flew towards the Silicon Valley I could see layers of clouds below and expected that I would be descending through them on my approach into RHV. I briefed myself for the approach and made sure the GPS was in the right mode. I was nice and slow and careful. I was cleared for the approach and told to contact the tower and maintain best possible forward speed. I sped up to 120 knots and stayed right on the appropriate course. I stayed at that speed until I got down to the FAF when I slowed to a more normal approach speed.

The cloud layer below was lit up by the moon from above and the city below and was just beautiful. I had to pull my eyes away and start up my scan on the instruments before I entered the clouds. The pass through the cloud layer was brief and calm. I broke out, exactly on the desired track and I could see the runway lights right ahead of me. The air was crystal clear and calm. The lights were beautiful. I woke up my passenger for the landing. I practiced deploying the flaps to slow the plane down and adjustments in pitch maintain glide slope (something I didn't do a lot in training because we rarely landed at the end of an approach).  I landed the plane and was very happy. I got some actual instrument time and two actual instrument approaches. I didn't kill myself or anyone else and improved dramatically between the first and second approach.

In the days that followed I ordered some suction cup bugs.  Most of the planes I fly don't have heading bugs, so I'm getting my own. This is something I will use to help prevent myself from making that heading mistake again. I'll read back, set the heading bug and double check from here on out. Also, my next "practice" flight I'll go out and practice intercepting and tracking radials using the round gauge CDIs. I'll cover up the GPS in the process. I found out the hard way that I need to work on that skill some more.

Instrument Failures in VMC

I have a feeling the mechanics at our flight club are going to learn to fear my squawks and the other pilots are going to love them, especially the IFR pilots. Since starting training on my instrument rating I am not very tolerant of instrument failures, even when they are not required for VFR flight.

I took my boss from out of town up for a nice, nighttime Bay Tour last night. Not a cloud in the sky, great visibility above the low haze and calm air. The plane I wanted was in its 100 hour annual. So I grabbed another 172 that I like for the flight. The engine on this particular 172 just purrs… its the smoothest running engine in the fleet I'm pretty sure. I think I'll fly it more often. Once its issues are fixed. I digress...

We take off with flight following and get cleared into San Francisco's Class Bravo quickly. As we fly along in the post sunset red glow of twilight I notice the Attitude Indicator (AI) indicating a left turn, when the turn coordinator (TC) indicated straight and level and the heading indicator (HI) didn't indicate any turning going on. This was night VFR conditions and I had good reference to the horizon at all times, so we weren't in danger. However, I have to admit, having one of instrument that I just spent months learning to trust indicating one condition and another instrument indicating another condition was disorienting, even in VFR flight. I knew by looking out the window I was not turning, but I needed to determine if this was a full vacuum failure or a failure of the AI only.

I did a couple turns left and right and the HI and TC both agreed with the direction I was turning, the AI stayed stuck. OK, AI is bad. Don't trust it. As a final check to see if I could actually trust the TC I put wings level on the basis of the TC and watched the compass and track information on the GPS. If I really was wings level, the compass and track would remain consistent (calm winds last night). If I wasn't wings level, I'd be turning. The HI, compass and GPS all agreed on track/heading while the TC showed wings level. So I could probably trust the TC.  Somewhere in the same 10 minutes I noticed the NAV2 CDI would go full deflection every time I used the pilots PTT to respond to ATC directions. I was glad I didn't take this plane into IFR conditions!

I actually enjoyed figuring out which instruments were working and which were not on that flight. Its very good to exercise aeronautical troubleshooting skill in VFR conditions. It reminds me instruments do not always fail the way I expect them to and to always cross check and be vigilant, in VFR or IFR flight.

Once I was done identifying which instrument(s) weren't trustworthy I returned my mind to enjoying the flight and the beautiful nighttime lights in downtown San Francisco, the Golden Gate bridge, Oakland and the rest of the bay. We had a great flight.

Practice Instrument but Much More

Last Friday I went up for a quick instrument practice flight with a safety pilot. Since I got my instrument rating I'd filed and flown IFR a couple times, but haven't flown simulated or actual instrument since my check ride. I didn't want to lose the skills I'd worked so hard to develop, so it was time to go up again. What I expected to have happen would be three instrument approaches at a new airport, Modesto. Starting off a little behind the plane and not quite on track or glide slope and ending up pretty good. What I got was unexpected in many ways.

The sky over the bay had high clouds and it was cold enough that I suspected there would be icing in any clouds we would encounter. There was a build up of lower clouds over the ridge we would have to cross to get to Modesto from Reid-Hillview. RHV's ATIS reported an AIRMET SIERRA for mountain obscuration and an AIRMET ZULU for icing. Winds/temps aloft forecast -6 C at 6000 ft. Skies in the central valley were reporting clear. I had filed an IFR flight plan. The clearance I knew we'd get would put us straight into the clouds and potential ice. I decided to depart VFR with flight following and fly south to avoid being vectored into the clouds. There appeared to be less clouds to the south. We flew south and crossed the ridge near Hollister. It was out of the way but gave us plenty of clearance below the clouds and above the ground.

Once across the ridge I put on the foggles and re-familiarized myself with flying by instruments. After a bit I contacted NorCal and asked for practice approaches to Modesto. We got cleared immediately to the IAF for the GPS approach I requested and I fell into the rhythm of flying instrument approaches. I stayed on top of where we were and had to remind ATC where we were before we go to the IAF. By the time I was on the final approach course for the GPS I had things well dialed in. The safety pilot was using ForeFlight to track our progress and finally said, "OK. Now you're just showing off. Zero degree track error!" Well, the GPS indicated one degree error but I was happy and quickly adjusted to keep the GPS on zero error too. We reached MDA and I looked up. Right on the center line! It was nice. We went back around for the ILS and I felt a bit behind on that one. Well within PTS standards, but not as good as the first approach. When I peaked at the runway the second time at the DH (right on center line again) I took a glance at the clouds over the ridge between us and home and decided to not do the 3rd approach.

We turned towards the bay area and looked at the clouds. I climbed up to 4500 feet but my co-pilot estimated we wouldn't be able to cruise at 4500 without entering clouds. It looked like he was right. The skies were still clear or very high clouds where we were but the cloud layer we headed towards was not high. There were also more clouds than there were when we originally crossed an hour before. However, we could see clearly between the cloud layer and the ridge line. I tuned in to NorCal to listen to what was going on in the valley and heard a plane report icing. That re-affirmed my commitment to not exercise my instrument rating in the clouds that day.

I turned the plane south again heading the long way home to the pass between Los Banos and Hollister. That was the lowest terrain I knew of to cross the ridge and I believed we would have good clearance between us, the clouds and the ground. As we flew my co-pilot kept looking at the ridge line. I flew past a couple very inviting valleys that looked like they would cut through the ridge with plenty of space below the clouds, but I wasn't sure they would and I didn't want to find out the hard way. As we approached Los Banos I got the altimeter reading there to make sure I had an accurate altitude readout. We turned to cross the ridge at the San Lois Reservoir and followed the general route of the highway, well above the terrain directly below us and slightly above the highest of the terrain near us with the clouds what looked like 1000 feet above us.  We turned north once we had the Santa Clara Valley made and flew back to RHV at an altitude of 2500 feet under a broken cloud layer at approximately 3500 feet with the city lights shining like jewels below. The sun had just set.

It wasn't the nice instrument approaches that stuck in my mind that night or in the days after that, or the green hills or clouds or the sun shining between the clouds and the ridge or the jewel-like lights; it was the fact that I decided to fly below a cloud layer, across a ridge (yes at the lowest possible terrain I could find), with a much lower ceiling than I ever thought I would do. Being me, I went and analyzed the route I took and found, if the clouds really were at 3500 feet - I think they were higher because they were above the 3500 ft peak we flew near - with me at 2500 feet crossing the ridge, the highest terrain below me on my route was 1500 feet. Giving me 1000 ft clearance above and below me. I double checked the low point on the normal northern crossing route between the valley and the bay and its lowest point was about 1000 ft higher. My instincts were right not to head that direction.

OK, I'm sure some pilots would ask what's the big deal. My husband is one of them. And maybe there isn't one for them, but I don't want to have any less space than that between me, cloud and terrain if flying VFR. Especially if there is ice in the clouds. Other alternatives also come to mind. Stay in the central valley for instance. Climb high and get a clearance to drop through the clouds into the valley thus minimizing time in the clouds? Climb high and hope to find a hole in the clouds to descend through and then turn around if no hole was found? All options. All overkill for the situation at hand.

I'm still thinking about this one... what is a minimum I can establish for VFR flying to ensure I don't find myself flying between cloud and ridge some day and straight into trouble? I know I can legally fly 500 ft above ground and 500 ft below cloud in an unpopulated area but I definitely would not want to do that.  I still haven't decided what that line will be. I think it will depend on my familiarity with the terrain. If I don't know the terrain as well as I know this area, I will need to have plenty of clearance between me and highest peak. If I do know the terrain the minimum may between me and the lowest pass. I just don't know. But I guess the good thing is, that little, no-big-deal, practice instrument flight gave me a lot to think about. That flight is something to add to my bag of experience before my bag of luck runs out.

Update: After getting some input from other pilots I realize the thing that bothered me the most about this situation wasn't flying through a pass with 1000' above and below me clear. It was doing that without knowing for sure that I had the 1000' above and below me. I did what seemed right at the time. Which is fine and it worked. I would do the same route in the same conditions again without hesitation now that I know the terrain altitude better, but as an engineer it is an uncomfortable place for me to be flying without knowing. My pilot friends pointed out some other sources of information I could have used to help with my "knowing" on the fly, WingX has some nice terrain information features and the plane I was in had terrain warnings built into the GPS. I had both and used neither during this flight.  At this point I think the issue isn't safe minimums... the issue is knowledge. If I have the knowledge rather than the guess I know I'll make the right choice.

Instrument Training - By the Numbers

I read recently a person can plan on spending about the same amount as they spent on their private pilot license on the training required for an instrument rating.  My experience was very different.

I started my instrument training in March 2012 and did the first half of my check ride on November 1, 2012, the second half on December 3, 2012. During that time I had, I think, at least three breaks of 3 weeks or more in the training process due to illness, vacations and travel. I also had a month delay between the oral and flight portions of my instrument check ride.

I did a combination of home study and one on one ground school with my CFII at the same time as the simulator and flight training to complete the knowledge requirements of the rating.  I did all but one of my instrument practice / training flights with my CFII.

Let's look at the numbers...

Simulator Time (17.9 instrument hours)
13.5 hours logged in a Frasca 131
4.4 hours logged in a Redbird
Approximately 3 hours of solo practice in the Frasca 131 not logged

Flight Time (37.3 instrument hours)
52.4 hours flight time of which 37.3 hours were simulated or actual instrument time (only .5 actual)
27.5 of those instrument hours were before I was ready for the check ride. The remaining 10ish instrument hours were from me practicing and maintaining proficiency with my CFII while waiting for the check ride and the check ride itself

CFII Time not included above
33 hours (includes ground school, flight brief and debriefs and general Q&A)

Total instrument hours to get ready for check ride: 45.4 hours
Total instrument hours from start of training through check ride: 55.2 hours


Your mileage will vary. I am happy to report this amount of time / expense was significantly less than spent on my private license.

Instrument Check Ride - Flight

Good to Go

I got an email late Friday night from the DPE saying she double booked herself for Tuesday the 4th and could I switch to Monday the 3rd. The weather might even be good that day. I checked my calendar and I could. Monday would be 12-3-12. I liked the symmetry of the date. I did my PPL check ride on 11-9-11. 12-3-12 seemed right for some reason.

When I got up Monday morning all online weather data showed clear or, at worst, patchy fog. Light winds were forecast for all altitudes I would be near. ATIS and AWOS for all airports on the route reported clear. Every airport reported calm winds. I wasn't sick. I got down to the airport to pre-flight the plane and the plane was fully functional. I checked the VOR receiver check logs and made a note that I needed to do a VOR check before we took off. I called Flight Services for a standard IFR weather briefing. The only AIRMET was for IFR conditions (not a problem for an IFR flight) and even the predicted IFR conditions were all south of my route. No TFRs or NOTAMs I was not already familiar with for the airports on my route. That was probably the shortest full weather briefing I'd ever had. I kept waiting for something to happen to prevent the flight, but nothing did.  I went back outside and cleaned the windscreen on the airplane, inside and out.

It was 15 minutes before my check ride was scheduled to begin and everything was good to go. I wasn't sure I believed it. It was actually going to happen this time. My adrenaline was pumping and I paced a bit. Then I got a bottle of water and sat and checked email on my phone as I waited. There was nothing else I could do. Nothing else I should do. I felt more nervous than I needed to, I thought. After so many delays, the flight was finally going to happen. All I had to do was not screw up. Just fly an instrument check flight according to the PTS. That's all. That's all?! That is one heck of a lot. But yeah, that's all.

I was staring at my phone when I heard a familiar voice, "Are you ready?" My CFI was done with his student and standing by the front desk. I was so distracted I didn't even hear him go by.  I smiled and told him I was almost too ready and I was very nervous. We talked about the finer points of making videos and his ideas for mounting a GoPro camera to the tail tie down of a plane as we waited for the DPE to arrive. This was a change, he was there "early" and she, the DPE, was running late.

Pre-Flight Briefing

The DPE arrived and we talked a bit about the recent storms. We all compared our relative rain measurements (I won with over 15" of rain measured at our house in the mountains!). I think all three of us, DPE, CFI and me, were excited about getting this ride finally done.  She went over the three possible outcomes of the flight: pass, fail and continuance. She also reminded me, no one does a perfect check flight. If I make a mistake, correct it and move on.

We discussed the plan for the flight. Pick up the clearance at RHV and depart the airport IFR. Then fly a GPS approach into Tracy with a procedure turn (counts as a hold), a circle to land at Tracy, then missed and partial panel VOR into Stockton, missed and ILS to Livermore followed by unusual attitude recovery. Along the way she would evaluate my flying, radio work, navigation, adherence to ATC clearances, cockpit resource management, etc, etc. against the Instrument PTS and special emphasis areas. With that we were walking out the plane and going to actually do the check ride. The sun was shining and there wasn't a bit of wind.

Pre Take Off

When we got to the plane I explained to the DPE where my binder with all of the paper instrument approach plates was in case we needed an approach at an airport we weren't planning on. I also pointed out the little binder I had within easy reach that had all of the approaches at the airports we were planning on in case we had to switch approaches for some reason. I asked her some detailed questions on what she was planning for the circle to land. Would we actually land or not? She seemed surprised by that question. I figured if this was an actual instrument flight I would figure out as much as possible on the ground, including where I was and was not likely to land. So I would do the same thing for the check flight.  Then I started to give her a passenger briefing. She said quickly I could do the pilot version of the passenger briefing.

We pulled the plane out and climbed in. The DPE reminded me to breathe. She could tell how tense I was. I took a deep breath but it didn't help much. I started going through my checklists both to prepare the plane for the flight and to try to calm my nerves. I contacted ground and told them we were pre-filed IFR to Tracy, the first airport of our route. I received the taxi clearance and taxied the plane to the run-up area, careful to keep eyes open for planes or other vehicles on the taxiways and checking the instruments as I taxied to make sure they behaved correctly. When I got to the run-up area I did my run-up and a VOR check.

I called ground for the IFR clearance. The ground controller read back the clearance very clearly and slowly.  Cessna 6525D cleared to the Tracy airport via left turn heading 290 Victor 334 SUNOL Victor 195 Manteca, Direct. Climb and maintain 3000 expect 5000 5 minutes after departure. Departure frequency 121.3 Squawk 0422. I copied it down and read it back flawlessly. So far, so good. I asked the DPE if she wanted to see me program the route into the GPS or load the previously saved route, she said to do what I would normally do. So I loaded the previously saved route, verified it matched the clearance I just got (it did) and then loaded the approach at Tracy. We were ready to go. I called the tower for IFR release, was told to stand by. 30 seconds later we were cleared for take off.

Radar Route of my Check Flight -
Some of the straightest tracks I've ever flown

Flight

We took off and flew the standard departure, left turn heading 290. Then things got a bit interesting, I was directed to fly a heading of 040 for a bit, and then back to 330 to intercept V334. When it was clear I'd intercept V334 the DPE told me to request direct to OYOSO. It was so quiet in the air ATC had no problem giving us that clearance. Actually for the whole flight every request we made was quickly approved. I requested pilot navigation from OYOSO so I could do the procedure turn there. Norcal told me I may have to do a couple turns in the hold for some reason and to report when established there. So I entered the hold and reported when established. Then we were cleared for the approach to Tracy. Per the DPE's instructions I asked at that time to cancel IFR but to continue this approach and other approaches VFR for faster routing. ATC obliged. 

First Approach

The first approach was the LPV into Tracy with a circle to land. The flying of the approach was actually easy, I did as I was trained and kept my corrections small. I let the DPE know we would have to circle to land to the northeast because southwest wasn't allowed. She asked why and I said, that's what's specified in the approach plate. I leveled off when I got down to the circling minimum and was told to go visual. Off came the foggles and I started the circle procedure until the DPE announced she was confident of the successful outcome of that procedure and directed me to execute the missed. For the first time I did all of the radio calls for this particular approach. There wasn't anyone in the pattern to hear the calls.

From Tracy to Stockton

I made sure to CLIMB on the missed and leveraged the VOR I had TunedAndIdentified earlier to choose the right heading to proceed to the Manteca VOR. The DPE brought out sticky-notes to cover the HI and AI and I was flying partial panel. I contacted NorCal and requested the next approach. They provided radar vector headings and I had no problem turning to the right heading or maintaining the right track. I did have one problem though... I was cleared to 2500 feet after the missed, which I leveled off at. After getting the next approach clearance NorCal told me the climb out instructions for Livermore would be heading 200 and altitude 2000. I wrote that down and repeated that back. I loaded the VOR 29R approach for Stockton and activated it using "vectors-to-final" as we were already on vectors. I was trying to get the weather for Stockton and the controller radioed back something about climb and maintain 3500. So I read back climb and maintain 3500 and started to climb. NorCal said nothing. The DPE asked me, Are you sure about that clearance? I told her what I thought it was but without prompting I contacted ATC and asked them to confirm the clearance. What the controller actually tried to do was tell me a revised clearance after Stockton to climb to 3500 when leaving Stockton. I read back the corrected clearance and advised ATC I was returning to 2500. Roger was all ATC said. You can see that brief climb towards (but not TO) 3500 feet in the picture below near the 8:40PM mark.

Altitude and Airspeeds for the check flight - courtesy FlightAware.com

Stockton VOR

I let that mistake go, the check ride was still going on and I had to keep my head in the game. The distraction about the altitudes threw off my rhythm a bit and I had to get the weather. I got the weather and knew I'd be on the last vector for the approach soon. I started programming the radios for Stockton Tower and the DPE asked what approach I was doing. I said the VOR approach. I glanced at the VLOC/GPS indicator on the GPS. I had the right approach course on the OBS but the GPS was still set to GPS. That was going to be the next step to do, but I was definitely late doing it. I quickly hit that switch and TunedAndIdentified the Manteca VOR on the top VOR receiver. ATC announced the plane was three miles from the VOR and cleared me for the approach. I was only 2000' but I had 3500' in my mind so I was worried about getting down to the first step down altitude by the time I got to the VOR and then getting to the MDA right after that. I checked in with Stockton tower and was cleared for the option. At the same time I was doing a quick mental calculation of the descent rate I needed to make it down to the MDA in time for a potential "normal approach to landing". I did that descent rate, stayed on the right approach course and hit the MDA and leveled off briefly before doing the missed. Remember, all of this is going on while I'm flying with two of my six primary instruments covered - partial panel. I was glad I had so much practice flying partial panel.

Next Stop - Livermore

I hit the missed approach point and started a climb on the missed on runway heading as instructed by the tower. The sticky notes came off the instruments. When cleared I turned to a 200 heading and contacted NorCal again, continuing my climb to 3500 (there was no way I'd miss that altitude after my mistake earlier). I set the GPS to the next destination of Livermore and loaded the ILS 25R approach. We were on radar vectors but this time I loaded the approach from the point furthest away from the airport so I'd have the most options. The DPE wanted direct to FOOTO, so that's what I requested. We were cleared direct FOOTO immediately and had a long time to fly to the next airport. I got the weather from Livermore, flew the plane, programmed in the Livermore tower, flew the plane and remembered to TuneAndIdentify the ILS for Livermore well ahead of time.

The ILS into Livermore went smoothly, it was one of my better ILS approaches. While I was still nervous and keyed up, I was able to do it anway. I made sure my corrections were small and forced myself to not chase the needle instead focusing on keeping the wings level, just as taught. It worked. It amazes me how I am now able to fly that plane into a smaller and smaller "box" and keep it on the right track and glideslope using instruments alone. Great instruction, a lot of practice and some skill must be involved.

Unusual Attitudes

DH reached, I started a Vy climb on runway heading as cleared by Livermore Tower. I was instructed to squawk VFR and the DPE became my 'eyes' giving me headings and altitudes to fly on the way out of the Livermore area. She asked me if I could climb at 100 knots. That was a strange question. I said, yes, but I'm climbing out a Vy. She said she would prefer I climb at 100 knots so she could see to clear us for traffic. Oh! that made sense. I adjusted the pitch to a climb at 100 knots, still under the foggles and continued a climb up to 3000 feet. As I did that I thought about how cool it was I was so comfortable with flying by instruments that it wasn't difficult at all to use pitch to adjust to the the desired airspeed and keep it there.

Time for unusual attitudes, the last task I had to demonstrate. The DPE was careful to describe what would happen next, she would take the controls, put the plane into a nose up or nose down unusual attitude and I'd have to return the plane to straight and level flight. She also said she isn't near as 'rough' in the movements of the plane as some CFIs are ... I was happy about that. I was ready for this one. I had mentally practiced what I would do for unusual attitudes over and over in my head and with my hands until it got to the level of reflex.

She took the controls and I closed my eyes. I could hear the sound of the engine changing and feel the movements of the plane, but I knew not to trust my body. Ok, open your eyes and recover. I opened my eyes, we were in a nose high, turning attitude. Immediately my hands pushed power to full, pushed the nose level and then leveled the wings. I felt extra pressure on the yolk so I did a couple quick turns of the trim in order to reset the plane for hands free flight. She commented on that. She said no one's ever re-trimmed the plane before. I doubt it was a never thing, but it made me feel good that I did and it was positively recognized. Next unusual attitude would be nose down, I knew. She took the controls and I closed my eyes again. Open your eyes and recover. Nose down and turning attitude. Pull power, wings level, nose up, re-apply power and I was done. The last instrument maneuver was over. I was told to take off the foggles and take us home.

Take Her Home

We were over Calaveras reservoir with only one thing left to do. Go back to RHV and land. I couldn't let myself screw this one up. I got the weather and called into Reid-Hillview tower and forgot to mention I had the weather. The tower gave me the weather info. I thanked them for the help. I almost never screw up on radio calls and I've had some good mistakes today. Oh well. I'm still going. I came in for landing and managed for the first time in what seemed like months do to a good, square, base to final turn. I didn't even have to add power to make the runway. I felt very good about that.

And just like that it was over. I taxied the plane back to parking, went through the final checklist and shut it down. The DPE smiled and congratulated me on my successful flight. With that I was done. I had demonstrated all of the tasks in the Instrument PTS successfully, both in the oral test and in flight. I had earned my instrument rating.

We talked briefly about the flight and she offered a suggestion of creating my own pre-approach checklist to use on instrument flights. That may help me ensure I do the right things in the right order and not be so slow on that darned GPS/VLOC switch. That type of mistake can be fatal. I will definitely take up that suggestion.

Afterword

As I pushed the plane back into its parking spot I was happy it was over. With so many delays for my check flight and before that, long breaks in my training that made the training take longer it could have, I felt more relieved than elated. Proud of my accomplishment, yes, but more happy that it was over than anything else.  I packed up my equipment and buttoned up the plane and then headed inside the club. The DPE printed out my temporary license a Private Pilot license with INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE on the back. She congratulated me again and said, halfway joking, she looked forward to being the DPE for my commercial ride. I assured her, this time next year, she would.

She left the club and I chatted a bit with the young man who manned the front desk. I had had many long chats with him since I started instrument training. Then I told the owner of the club that I was done, I had earned my rating. We joked around a bit. Time to call my CFI and share the happy results. If he wasn't there I wanted badly to leave him a message that I failed, just to tease him a bit, but I couldn't make myself do it. I didn't think I could pull it off. I got his voice mail and left a message saying simply, "I'm done. Give me a call." Fortunately for him, but unfortunately for my joke, the person he was on the phone with was the DPE, who told him that I passed!

He called me back and pointed out its not a good thing to leave that type of voice mail with a CFI as that would make a CFI concerned. I fessed up that I did that on purpose. We had a brief chat, he asked me for my perspective on the flight and then said it seemed that both I and the DPE appeared to have been in the same plane, which was a good thing. He congratulated me a couple times and asked how I felt. I had trouble explaining but he understood. He described it more like the feeling of getting over an illness. That was exactly right.

In the End

People say the instrument rating is the hardest to earn. It may have been hard, but I've enjoyed the learning and training process for my instrument rating thoroughly, even if I did not enjoy the wait to finally complete my rating. Now I can't wait to use it and fly in the clouds. A little bit at first and eventually more often. I'm also looking forward to flying under IFR rules. I like the increased involvement with the greater ATC system and knowing I won't have a problem finding an airport again if I file and fly IFR. I can't wait to use that rating to file IFR through Los Angeles airspace for instance. Another thing "they" say is a pilot's license is a license to learn. I'm already finding an Instrument Rating is a license to learn even more. If there's one thing I love, it is learning and experiencing more.