Today the weather was a little iffy. Kevin and I met prior to the pre-flight and went over it.
Low clouds, rain, so yep, good IFR flying weather.
So we decided to give it a go and filed an IFR flight plan to Flint and back to Pontiac.
Got N5337F preflighted, started it up, and found out the turn coordinator was inop, so not legal to fly in IFR.
Switched to N1869H and we were off.
Right into the soup with clouds and rain.
Broke out at 3,000 feet between two layers.
Very pretty while it lasted, which wasn't long.
We then hit more clouds on the way to Flint.
First I did the ILS 9 Approach at Flint and did it pretty well. Still stumbled a bit with the hold entry but I'm starting to figure it out.
Flew the ILS 9 Approach just great. Then broke out of the clouds at minimums and then went missed and back up into the soup.
The I did the VOR 18 circle to 9 and it also went really well and I had a great circle to land approach.
Then back to Pontiac, and this is where the tale begins.
Through solid IFR headed back to do the RNAV 9 approach at Pontian. I had started the approach when Detroit Approach announced Pontiac had just issued a special weather report with a thunderstorm and heavy precip right over the field.
No Bueno.
So we diverted back to Flint (it was listed in our flight plan already as our alternate) and I did a beautiful ILS 9 approach and landing, perfectly centered and lined up the whole way, breaking out right around minimums to see the runway right where it was supposed to be and an easy landing.
My first real IFR diversion.
We then went to the Avflight FBO at Flint, got fuel, had some coffee, and waited out the weather for awhile. Great FBO with very good complimentary coffee. Downside is I kinda missed lunch and had to reschedule some afternoon stuff.
Once the thunderstorms passed through, it was still IFR and rain but safe to travel so we headed back to Pontiac.
Came back to Pontiac through some decent precipitation, with a bit of lightning off in the distance. A superb RNAV 9 approach like it was on rails and a great smooth landing and done. Rolled to the end of the runway and headed back to finish the lesson.
It was a much longer lesson than I had anticipated.
That's 2.3 with 4 approaches, 2 holds,1.5 actual IFR and .5 simulated instrument and a nice landing for the flight out.
That's .6 with 1 approach, .2 actual IFR. .2 Simulated and a really nice landing for the flight back.
Total for the day: 2.9, 5 approaches, 2 holds, 1.7 actual, .7 simulated, and two nice landings.
2 comments:
That gave a whole bunch of lessons to put in your bucket.
I learned to check the instruments before performing a whole pre-flight check for the very reason you had.
One fight of just over 300 nm to my destination I had three diversions due to weather. It was a crummy day what with several lows speeding through the region. I also learned do not try to outrun a low. I was 140 kts ground speed against a head wind when I learned that.
You had a successful day. One for the memories.
Rick: That it did, lots of things learned as a result. Adding a pre-pre-flight instrument check makes sense.
Neat in a way to actually have to do a real diversion to an alternate due to weather good exposure to real-world flying.
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