Saturday Flyday - IFR Flying With Mr. B.

This morning I got up and headed to the airport.

I was going to fly the Archer, but I don't have my key back from when i dropped the plane off at the avionics shop.

Luckily, as the conditions were pretty marginal, the non-IFR rated club member had cancelled his flight in the Dakota, so I switched  to the Dakota, did the preflight and then drove to the south side of the airport to meet Mr. B.

I filed an IFR flight plan to fly to Troy and back to Pontiac for a round robin IFR hop as the clouds kept getting lower. We then drove back to the north side. I got the plane out, picked up my clearance, and after a run-up took off flying runway heading.

We then headed up into the clouds climbing to 3,000 and headed to Troy.

Kinda soupy, but pretty smooth.

Flew to Troy and did the full procedure RNAV 10 with a circle approach and it went pretty well.  Id did a missed approach and flew the published miss and got back in connection with Detroit Approach

Then back to Pontiac and did the RNAV 27L again in the soup.

Did a very nice approach and then went to do it again.

By the third approach the clouds had lifted a bit but not much.

 Flew the approach very well and did a very nice landing.

We then put the plane away after cleaning and refueling it, and headed back to the south side so Mr. B. could get some approaches in.

It was still quite soupy at 3,000 feet. 

 

We then flew up to Flint and Mr. B. Flew the approaches like they were on rails.

Great Lakes Approach handled the approaches a little weirdly.  Instead of putting us on an initial approach fix, they kept vectoring us to the final approach fix.

Mr. B. broke us out perfectly lined up on Runway 27.

Mr. B. did a missed and did it again.

Then we headed back to Pontiac and Detroit Approach put us on the initial approach fix on the RNAV 27L and Mr. B. did another great approach breaking out nicely.

 And he brought it in for a great landing in a touch of a crosswind.

 After getting our approaches in, we headed to lunch at a Mexican restaurant Mexico Lindo near the airport that turned out to be really good.

It was a great morning and we're both on track with our approaches and have maintained our currency on our instrument ratings.

A great time flying with Mr. B.

That's 1.3 and three approaches and a hold for me, and a darn good landing.

Flying IFR - Lesson 58 - Now With Actual Spatial Disorientation

So today clouds were kinda low and started getting lower as we flew.

The examiner had announced the route we would take for the checkride, assuming the wind is blowing from the west so we did that starting with VFR flight following to Troy and back to Pontiac.

First off to KVLL Troy, where I did a perfect entry into the hold, had announced I was turning inbound, and I then got cancelled off the approach by Detroit Approach due to arriving IFR traffic that got priority.  Flew 360 degrees north for awhile then got vectored back in and did the approach. Overall good but had stayed too close and too high during the circle, but still would have made the landing so it was good enough.  Next time fly a little farther downwind before turning base and I need to announce leaving minimums when I turn base bit other than that it was good.

Next was the RNAV 27L at Pontiac starting at KUHNA.  The approach went pretty much perfectly if I do say so myself.

Then the Localizer Backcourse 27L.  And that's when it began to go sideways, and up and down, too.

Clouds had dropped and at 2,500 feet and we were then in and out of them and I was not comfortable not being an IFR flight in that even if we had ground contact we clearly were not within VFR conditions. I told the instructor I'd rather get an IFR clearance as there was no visibility to the front nor sides at all.

So I got the clearance, climbed to 3,000, then Detroit Approach had me do a turn to 360.  I then got the worst case of spatial disorientation in the turn and climb that I had ever had.  My body, completely irrationally, had become extremely convinced that I was pointed straight up, even though the instruments showed we clearly were not nor had we been before entering IMC. Heading control was crappy as was altitude and even totally focusing on the instruments I was having a ridiculous amount of trouble and could not hold the heading as I normally would off by the tens of degrees and swinging every which way.

That was not good.  Nor was it a particularly pleasant feeling, and that was a bust of an approach.  Finally settled down and got back and lined up and finished it up for a good missed approach but needed to do that again.

Then went to do it again.  

Much better the second time, even in IMC, I had good heading and altitude control.  Much lighter grip on the controls, I then started verbalizing everything and had it right where I wanted it. Not absolutely perfect headings but within range, altitude was good, and I brought it right in for a really nice landing, and all was well.

So yep, still not perfect, probably made my instructor think I completely suck (assuming he doesn't think that already),  and that's rather annoying. Well yet more stuff to work on.

Good actual practice and learning how to deal with unwanted and sudden onset of some impressive spatial disorientation.

That's 1.9 with .7 actual instrument time, .9 simulated, 1 hold, 4 approaches and a really nice landing.  With any luck, only 1 more lesson before the continuation of the checkride.

Flying IFR - Lesson 55 - Pre-Checkride Practice, Now With Lotsa Holds

Had N1689H this morning as they switched me to it form my much preferred N8570F (the plane I'm taking the checkride in) so it would a been nice to actually, you know, practice in it.

Instead I get the fargin' seat slipping (yes it did again), misrigged, mis-throttled, beast of N1689H yet again.  If I can fly that crate, I can fly anything.

Sky was clear, sun was bright, and it was bumpy and windy AF as the kids say.

Serious gusts out of 300 degrees and lots of bumping around at altitude including uncommanded ascents and descents and a really strong tendency to push the plane around, and we did end up flying sideways at times.

Flew to KVLL first and did the full procedure approach and did that well.

Then back to Pontiac and did the Localizer BC 27L partial panel.  Wind busily blew me off as I was trying to get established which really made it interesting.  Once established I was copacetic and did it fine.

The then did the RNAV 27L with a full procedure at Guzvy and it sucked.  Got way, way blown off the procedure turn hold, but again, once I lined up on the approach it was then ok, but that's not good enough. Figured out what I was doing wrong, and we did it again - but better, yet there was a catch.

So went to do it  again,  but Detroit Approach had other ideas.  They first had us fly north and then do VFR holds at LEHRA due to heavy traffic.  Then they had us do VFR holds at GUZVY due to heavy traffic.

And then they shifted controllers and seemingly forgot about us completely.

So I got a lot of hold practice in and got the wind correction down which is a good use of time while flying in interminable race track patterns.

After awhile, We called in to Detroit Approach and then they had us head right in once they remembered we were out there. 

Came in and did the approach like it was on rails.

Just as I was landing I got blasted by a gust right as I landed so landing while soft and smooth ended up a little undercrosswind corrected and side-loaded landing.  Drat.

Overall it was yet another 3.6 Roentgen flight, but not good enough to pass had that been the checkride due to getting blown out of the hold, but otherwise ok.

So 2.2, 1.8 simulated, 3 good approaches, 1 not good, a lot of holds, and 1 meh of a side-loaded landing.

Flying: A Short Fun Practice Flight

Beautiful day today, but it was rather bumpy and gusty once airborne. A few clouds just above 3500 made 3000 all sorts of bumpy.

Runway 27R was closed today for FAA inspection of the work they had done on it, so had fun doing a taxi around to 27L.

With the wind gusting 16-20 out of 310-330 I decided to give KVLL a try rather than Flint since when 27 side is in use the examiner tends to do the exam with VLL as a destination.

So I got VFR flight following and headed to Troy,

Troy pattern was rather busy today with quite a few pleanes there, but everyone was paying attention and communicating, so it worked out well.  Of course while doing so I needed to avoid some traffic taking off so I stayed a tad high above the glideslope,  and then had to drop down quick before starting the circle.

Did the circle and stayed above minimums which was good, didn't overshoot the 100 foot maximum either which was pretty darn nice too.  Was pretty high on final due to the recommended late descent but I believe I could have landed if I wanted to, even with the rather unpleasant gusty situation and all that, but went missed and headed back to Pontiac.

Then for the Localizer BC 27L.  Got vectored in, all established and had to break off the approach due to a Citation jet overtaking me without any effort on their part. So, broke off and was vectored to fly out 360 degrees and got turned back in to 180 degrees to reestablish.  Heavy wind from 330 at that point made that turn a pain.

But got back in, established perfectly on the localizer and flew the approach using the NAV2 VOR with reverse sensing and did the procedures, and was nice and lined up with gusting winds.  Still I managed just about one of my best landings ever.

Then off at Juliet, crossed the closed 27R and parked the plane.

Not a bad way to end it.

Overall I felt some improvement.  I want to get the altitude a bit more under control, but at least it's getting closer to acceptable and within that 100 foot range.

Friday I'm trying to find a safety sucker pilot willing to tag along and if its good I might return to DCT to do the pre-pre-checkride ride ride.  We will see.

That's 1.0 solo, 2 practice non-logged approaches, and 1 excellent landing. Not bad for a lunchtime practice flight.

Flying IFR - Lesson 53 - More Approaches

Today's plan was of course, more approaches.

Decided to do the Troy/KVLL to practice for the checkride as that tends to be the destination of choice for the examiner when the winds are blowing west, and today the winds were blowing 280.

Unfortunately, I had N6288J which has the new Garmin touchscreen GPS and lacks the NAV 1 conencrtion for the G5.

By the way, touchscreens kinda suck in even light chop conditions as the plane is shaking and you're trying to scroll and instead it thinks you pressed the section.  We couldn't find the track only page in the GPS and used the Map, which was nice, but they won't let you use that on your exam because they're a bunch of technophobic examiner idiots. For example you can't have own ship running on Foreflight as it would show your plane on the approach chart thus increasing your situational awareness which apparently is bad for an exam, but which you like everyone else will use once you pass.

If the plane has the technology, you should be allowed to use it, much the same way that if the plane has an autopilot they will make you use it so fair should be fair.  

Whatever, in short, there was a fair bit of fighting with the touchscreen and I've requested yet again to stick with the 430Ws as that's what I would be using for the exam etc.

So took off and headed to Troy, did a really good first approach, then did the published miss and then did the approach again for more practice.  

I should have quit while I was ahead. On the second time around, I dropped slightly under the circling minimums (about 1350 vs 1400 minimums) which is a fail and which sucks. Need to work on that. Finished the approach and still did it well except for the one dip.

So then on to Pontiac for the Localizer backcourse, essentially partial panel as the GPS and G5s can't do a Localizer approach with the new GPS which is a huge step back technology wise. Good practice and a good approach, but need to be better on using the timer.  

Then on to the RNAV 27L approach and as we were being vectored we had a traffic conflict issued by Detroit Approach with someone not talking to controllers,  and had to descend rather quickly to 2,500.  Fun.  So I did the approach and it went quite well, very well lined up, good descent profile following the glideslope and that was that with a decent but not wonderful landing.

So, one more flight then a mock checkride and mock oral and then a check ride, maybe, eventually, perhaps, potentially, someday.

Now I'm at least signed up only for 430W equipped aircraft, but that included 1869H so I'll be askew but with a fully functioning 430W.  Beggars can't be choosers and all that. 

That's 1.9, 4 approaches, 1.3 simulated instrument, 2 holds, and a decent landing.

Flying IFR - Lesson 49 - Real IMC

Got stuck with N1689H yet again.  Seat was f-ed up as usual low and liked to release backwards, mis-rigged with a neat left-turning tendency, et al.

On the upside if I can fly this miserable bat rastard of a plane I suppose I can do anything.

Filed an IFR Flight plan PTK-FNY-VLL-PTK. 

Overcast at 1,700 with some light precip so real IMC it would be.

Climbed to 3,000 on takeoff and into the soup we went. Then got told by Detroit Approach to climb to 4,000 and within a few minutes by Great Lakes Approach to go back to 3,000.  Very quickly we were in the clouds and stayed there.

Found in-flight in IMC the turn coordinator was not coordinating properly, so had to ignore it and use the attitude indicator instead for rate of turn indications.  Fun.

I was rather calm in IMC today which was good.  

Worked hard on keeping the instrument scan up and the plane under control and overall I did pretty well and better than the last few hops. Much better control and scan and thus more relaxed being in complete soup.

Did the VOR 36 Circle to 27 at Flint.  Was a bit too tight on the circle but overall ok and have to make sure to catch the minimums and then not climb above it.  Good approach overall, though but I need to descend a bit faster which was a bit of a challenge.

Then on to Troy (VLL) for the RNAV circle 9 to 28. 

I tried the "don't descend from circling minimums until final" and it did not work.

Trying to not descend until within 30 degrees of the runway and I was 700 feet up and needed to drop 1000 fpm plus to bring it in. Not exactly a normal maneuver. Instructor was like "What are you doing?" and I said Tom on prior flight said no descent from circle minimums until within 30 degrees of the runway.  Rocky said that's not correct.

In short doing that, you're gonna eat up most of the runway at best and have to go missed at worst.

So, as to the circling minimums, latest consensus is you can and probably do need to come down once you can make a descent to landing using normal maneuvers, have the appropriate flight vis and able to ID the runway environment.  So after the flight Rocky asked 5 other isntructors who were at the room and per the instructors the latest consensus is no you don't wait to 30 degrees from the runways and yes you can go below circle minimums on the end of the downwind and base and pretty much have to do so to make a normal descent and it meets the regs.  Go figure. Would be nice if there was a clear answer.

On to Pontiac for the Backcourse 27L.  Did it very well but having both the front course showing on the HSI, and the reverse sensing on the VOR receiver got kinda confusing.  Approach was right on for all that, with a nice landing though.

That's 1.7 with 1.0 IMC; 2 holds; 3 approaches; and 1 nice landing.

Upside is today I feel I can actually do this. I had a really good scan going and kept the altitude mostly in check, decent on headings overall downside is it still needs to be tightened up.

Flying IFR - Lesson 39 - IFR And Landing 1000

Well this lesson while sucky, ended in a nice milestone.

The milestone being that it was my 1,000th landing.

Weather was MVFR-IFR with reports of light rime icing at 3,000 feet.

So we filed IFR and headed to do the route the examiner generally likes to do - Troy for the RNAV 9 circle to 27, then Pontiac for the RNAV 27, and then the Localizer Backcourse 27L.

On the upside I got some more real IFR time.

Yep, spent a lot of time in the clouds this lesson - rather calm clouds not very bumpy at all.  No icing happening either. Just nice balls of nothingness.

On the downside my Troy RNAV 9 circle to 27 wasn't great.  While ok overall, I was a bit off course getting there and had a lot of trouble getting the needles lined up for it. Then not a bad circle but came in a little high on final so need to work on that.

The RNAV 27 at Pontiac was just fine, no issues with that.

The partial panel Localizer Backcourse 27L just plain sucked. 

First try getting vectored I went full scale deflection and went missed.  That would be a nice fail on a  checkride. Was banking way too much to intercept it and couldn't get it so it was a major pain.

Second attempt was a fair bit better but needed to descend quicker.

Third attempt was actually good and things went well, and I landed my 1,000th landing on that one doing a side-step to Runway 27R.

At least they were all in actual and not breaking out of the clouds until past the final approach fix.

So not a lesson  with a result I had hoped for.  Felt like some major steps backward.  Here I was thinking I'm about ready for the checkride and after today's lesson not so much.

Since I'm pretty much stuck going with my not-so-favorite-examiner that would have been a hard fail.  Ah well when you think you're ready to take a step forward you end up going two steps back. Much frustration.

That's 2.1, with 1.3 actual, 5 approaches, and one good landing.

Flying IFR - Lesson 22 - You Guessed It, More And Different Approaches

A small change of pace this lesson.

I got to the airport and did the preflight for N1689H.  

I then met up with Kevin and he told me we would be doing the RNAV 9 at Troy, the VOR 18 circle to 9 at Flint and then back to the RNAV 9R circle to 9L at Pontiac.

Since the wind was coming out of the 90-100 heading we got to do some approaches we normally don't do.

I then filed an IFR flight plan to include these destinations all by myself.  Yay me.

Just as well that I did, as while it was pretty clear out, we would be going into the clouds a little bit on this hop.  IFR also gets you a little better handling form Detroit Approach compared to VFR flight following with approaches.

So I got my taxi and clearance and then joined the conga line for 9R and reminded Tower I was IFR as requested by Ground.

Took off from 9L and flew runway heading until switched to Detroit Approach and setup for the full procedure for the RNAV 9 at Troy, which meant a nice procedure turn.  Troy is also very close to Pontiac so everything happens very quickly.  Troy traffic pattern was busy, so I flew the approach to minimums and then went missed following the published miss. 

Then we went to Flint and on the way we got to fly in some clouds at our altitude, which was fun.  I did the VOR 18 circle to 9, with a full procedure and hold, which felt really different from the VOR 18 circle to 27.  Overall I need to be quicker to chop and drop on the VOR approaches.

Then went missed over Runway 9 and did the published miss and hold.

Then once around the hold and into the clouds for a bit and over to Pontiac for the RNAV 9R.  Traffic was heavy so we got rerouted a bit, complete with changes in altitude, and then got vectored and then cleared for the approach and I did a good approach to Runway 9R with a circle to a nice landing on Runway 9L to finish the flight.

That's 2.0 with 3 approaches, 3 holds, .4 in actual and 1.4 simulated, and 1 nice landing.

Flying IFR - Lesson 11 - More And New Approaches, Plus Being Ignored By Detroit Approach

For Lesson 11, I had Reese as my instructor as Kevin was off on a King Air charter.

Reese was rather nice and knew his stuff.

The plan was for a very task-loaded lesson: Kevin had told him, and sent me a note last night that we would do:  Y47 VOR-A full procedure circle and miss; KYIP RNAV 23R full procedure from SVM VOTRAC; KVLL RNAV 9 cir. 27 and land; KPTK Loc BC 27L partial panel.

This would be my first time going to either Y47 or KYIP so that would be fun.

So I reviewed the associated plates and prepared for the lesson.

I had a good pre-flight brief with Reese where I went over what I had prepared and I got a few questions answered, and then I did the preflight and started up.  He had filed an IFR flight plan, even though we would likely stay VFR the entire time, but that would come in handy later.

Right off the bat things got interesting.  The big runway at Pontiac is closed for construction so everyone is using 27R.  We now do the run up at the ramp before calling ground as a matter of course.  As you might expect, being down to one runway caused some congestion.

We finally got a takeoff clearance and I took off and followed instructions to contact Detroit Approach.  We then got vectored to the Y47 GPS-A approach as the VOR-A was not available for Detroit to give us, and that worked out ok.  Overlal pretty good, the airport is ridiculously hard to find and you see the hangars long before you see the small and very narrow runway.  Managed to finally find it, corcled in and did a missed approach.

Then off to KYIP, Ypsilanti for the 5R as the 23R was not being used due to the wind.  I did that one ok, and we did another missed.

Then to KVLL and while we planned a circle to land for 27, the wind was for Runway 9 as it was blowing from 110 degrees, so I went in and I did a short field landing there and then a takeoff from Runway 27 as the wind shifted just as I landed to 300.

Then we took off and maintained runway heading and called Detroit Approach.

Nada.

Called again, still nada.

Flew a bit more and listened to them ignore 88J  completely, and listened while Approach was talking to some business jets.

Called them again and got a heading, but then didn't hear back form them for a very long time. We ended up on that headin way out of the way south and west  of the approach back to KPTK.  In short they either forgot about us or decided to ignore us for a bit.

We flew that for quite awhile and then they finally remembered us - asking again what approach we were wanting to do - and finally got vectored back to the approach. We flew East to catch the Kuhna waypoint and then turned north to get to the Initial Approach Fix. They out and out refused 88J's request to fly the approach, so 88J did it VFR anyways which was kinda funny.

I then flew the approach and it went rather well, doing a sidestep to Runway 27R.

I'm still feeling pretty behind and need to work on my radio communications a bit.  Biggest problem is tracking courses while doing everything else.  Reese noted I'm doing the complicated things right and planning ahead and setting things up properly but as I do that,  I tend to stray off course (especially as there was quite a bit of wind and chop up there)  and I need to work on that.

Overall a very good lesson and I learned quite a bit.

That's 1.9 with 1.6 Simulated Instrument and 2 landings.

Flying IFR - Lesson 7- Approaches

Plan of the day was approaches - 3 different approaches at three different airports. I was going to experience some massive task saturation.

Today the weather was better than forecast.  Everyone at KPTK wanted to depart at the same time and Runway 27L was closed, so chaos ensued.

So we got in line and did our run up not in the run-up area but prior to even getting on the taxiway to get to the run-up area, if that gives you any idea how busy it was.  In short busy with a conga line of planes waiting to get cleared to takeoff.  We initially setup flight following to do the PTK-FNT-VLL-PTK to do the approaches.

However, there was a good cloud layer approaching Flint between 3,000-5,000 so we got a pop-up IFR clearance from Detroit Approach and into the clouds we went.  Then to Great Lakes Approach and setting up for our first approach, a VOR to Rwy 18.  So we did the VOR approach in pretty much actual and I did all the required things complete with a procedure turn.  Then we went missed and climbed to 3,000 and then were handed back to Detroit Approach who had us climb to 5,000 and then we headed to Troy, KVLL.  There we setup for the Runway 9 RNAV circle to land at 27.  This included a procedure turn to get to the initial fix.

Then I did a circle to land and lined up on Runway 27. That was fun as approaching KVLL on final you always think your going to land on the roof of a building and then plop down to the runway.  Then with a perfect approach to the runway and a assured landing we instead went missed and got back in touch with Detroit Approach.

Things then happened very quickly as I had to get the Localizer Backcourse for 27L loaded into the GPS which is kinda hard to do while: turning and climbing; while communicating with Detroit Approach; getting vectored by them; change altitudes as they required;  grab the ATIS at Pontiac; and check the approach plate; and change frequencies and contact Pontiac Tower because it was coming up fast being only 4 nautical miles away from KVLL - and we were constantly popping in and out of clouds as we went.

Was I getting behind?  Why yes, yes I was.   Lots and lots of stuff to learn and improve on.

So I did a nice localizer approach to Runway 27L which had then reopened for business, and did a nice landing.

This was a lot of fun and its always cool to pop out of the clouds with the runway right where it should be.  I need to spend time studying the approach plates for each of these in detail prior to my next flight.

1.9 with .5 actual, 1.0 simulated and a nice landing.