Nothing like a day of spring flying; 4/22/08 DXR->CXY->DXR

Nothing makes me feel better than a couple of hours of cross country flying in benign weather. If there is a deck of clouds to climb and decend thru so much the better. Yesterday was one of those days.

 

We were on a mission to recover 3038N who's altenator had checked out on the way Parkersburg WV, the first leg of our ill fated Sun and Fun 08 trip.

 

The mechanics had the plane for a week. They went end to end with the electrical system of the plane and tightened things but didn't find anything defective. They even hired a flight instructor from the school to fly 1.5 hours with every piece of electrical gear on board powered on and were unable to duplicate the issue that had brounded us twice in as many days. 

 

Armed with that knowledge we departed DXR VFR heading west to SAX to join the airway that would bring us to Harrisburg. Flying right seat in 58V I ran the radios and scanned for traffic. Danbury was clear and forever but we knew we were flying towards a low pressure system that was going to throw up some clouds as we approached southern Pennsylvania. We called New york and requested flight following at 4500 feet.  A few minutes into our exchange with New York we hear Citation XXXSB on the frequency and it's Drew getting cleared to climb 10000. I request a ground speed read out as a way of saying Hello to him without  being one of those rude guys who blurts shit out to their pals on the frequency (beside his boss rides right seat and expects a professional demeanor)

 

About 30 miles southwest of the Hudson we start picking up a scattered layer right at our altitude and considering the low level chop we request 6500. We're delayed in the climb because we are just below Newarks downwind and are confronted with a stream of right to left CRJ's about a thousand feet above us. Finally we get the climb and at 6500 we're on top of the clouds but not by much. Checking on the weather in Harrisburg the XM METAR says 5000 broken 4000 scattered so we ask Allentown approach for an IFR from present position to  CXY.

 

He airfiles for us and we're climbed to 8000. At 8000 its smooth and close to the top of the haze layer so its crystal clear if you look up and brownish blue looking out and clouds below.

 

They decend us to 6000 which puts us in the tops of the clouds which was a bumpy wet ride. we ask for 4000 to get below it and after a short delay they clear us down there. Below the clouds is no smoother but we can see which side is up and take it into RWY 8 which has a 30 degree crosswind at 11KTS. We start to get blown downwind a bit but corrected in time to squeak out a decent arrival.

 

On the ground I call FSS and file an IFR at 9000 using the routing I thought I should get. I get out to the plane and its nothing like I filed but I didn't want to run in the bumps down low so I looked up the route, programmed the GPS and away we go.

 

The bases were about 5000 with the tops at 6000 so I was in the clouds on the way up to 9000. At 8500 I topped the haze and was given an unseeing tour of east central to north east PA and the Pocono mountains. I figured I would fly the route until the deck was gone cancel the IFR and then go GPS direct to DXR.

 

I stayed with the route to see if they would really run me past DXR down to HAARP or just cut me loose south of IGN.

 

I called the field was cleared direct and told to contact the tower. As I got on the frequency I hear 38N calling in 8 from the west. I slow down to let him in in front of me but he was cleared to follow so....

 

Back in DXR

But via Avis, not 3038N.

 

We launched at 1130 IFR filed for DXR. The mechanics assured us they could not replicate the problem and likely it was a loose cable which they tightened.

 

We take off and are cleared to climb to 7000 and join Victor 12 to Harrisburg. The weather along our route varied from Clear and 10 in Latrobe and Danbury to 100 Over and 3/4 in Mist and light rain through the PA mountains. We were aprehensive about the plane due to our experiences a day earlier.

 

Roughtly in the same spot as the day prior the Altenator goes off line and we start resetting it via the Alt Master.

 

This time it does not stay on for the extended period it did the day before so we called Harrisburg approach and asked to deviate to Reading PA 40 minutes in front of us. The XM said RDG was clear below 12000 so we thought that it would be safer to let down there if we lost our electrical equipment (Radios, Xponder, HSI, Autopilot, Atitude Indicator)

 

Harrisvurg comes back on and says Cap City airport was clear and it's 30 miles closer so we decide to go there.

 

We landed, talked to the mechanics rented a car and drove home.

 

Yahoo. Great to be alive!

 

SPW

At the Wyndham in Latrobe PA

Looks like the Sun and Fun Trip is drawing to a close. We were a lottle west of Saint Thomas Pa heading to Parkersburg Wv on our way to the Sun and Fun when the Altenator and Low Voltage Annunciator illuminated. Scott goes Uh Oh and I look up from the Garmin 496 XM display to see the lights on.

 

Not good... We're at 8000 feet on top of an undercast that the XM weather is showing ceilings at the airports we're crossing at 400-800 feet over mountains with 3 mile visibilities with an airplane where everything we need is electric.

 

I cycle the altenator master and it comes back on line. We start looking for a place we can land. The XM on the Gamin shows Latrobe and Johnsonville within our range. We get to the ST Thomas VOR and the Altenator starts going off line more rapidly so we picked Latrobe based on the AOPA Directory function on it (I'm trading my 396 in for that feature alone) and find that Latrobe has piston mechanics on duty so we divert there.

 

Scott performs an uneventful landing and we end up getting stuck here for the night. There won't be enough time to get to Sun and Fun and back so we're off for Danbury as soon as practical tomorrow.

 

Time to spare...go by air

 

 

SPW 

Sun and Fun 08 Sitting on the ground waiting for the weather to lift

The Middle Atlantic States are down the tubes with low ceilings and visibility (<500 and 1). Southern South Carolina Georgia and Florida are OK and the sky is blue here. But from Dover Delaware south its a mess.

 

New Forecasts are up in 20 minutes...we'll see then

 

SPW 

Getting Instrument Current before the Sun N Fun Trip

I needed to do a couple of approaches to get current prior to launching tomorrow for the Sun and Fun. Ihab and one of his primary students Luis,  and myself launched in 58V bound for Bridgeport to do multiple approaches. We were cleared direct Carmel, V374 Denna Direct climb 3000 and expect 5000 in 10 minutes.

 

Take off was on Runway 8 with into a gusty wind and considering the full tanks and the 570 lbs of Human Cargo on board I left it on the ground and rotated at 75 and climbed out at 95. 

 

Our departure clearance was after the DP a climbing left turn direct CMK. We entered the clouds around 2100 feet and reported into New York who cleared us up to 5000

 

We broke out of the clag at 4500 and leveled at 5000 in smooth air. Halfway to CMK we got cleared to turn left to 190 and decend to 3000 so we were back into the soup. It was a little bumpy in the clouds with an occasional rain. I was very pleased that we had the Stec-20 installed last summer. Closer in the controller barked Mooney 58V you're 6 miles from STAINE decend and maintiain 2000 until establsihed you're cleared for the ILS 6 approach in Bridgeport. 

 

The needle coming alive on #2 had me switch from GPS to LOC on #1 and once we were within a needle from centered I switched the STEC on to track the localizer. Up until then we were being vectored so the heading bug was taking care of our direction. It was gusty and the autopilot went thru the localizer and I went to disconnect and hand fly it but Ihab said 'leave it on we need to see how it does' On final about 3 miles out I felt I could do a better job tracking the localizer but realized the autopilot just isn't as quick getting it back centered.

 

In retrospect the autopilot is flying correctly by making minor corrections and letting things come back whereas I tend to be more agressive take a swipe at the needle to get it moving and them move back on course. The autopilots smoother and after flying 8 years without one I just need to learn to trust it.

 

We went missed from the ILS 6.0 at the circle minimums (420-1). Bridgeport Tower had us climb 2000 with a right turn heading 180. We pulled the plane back to 15 inches as we were a few miles from the North Shore of Long Island. When we're mid sound we have to ask the tower for the handoff, so we check in and the controller tells us to say intentions.

 

When we ask for another approach he tells us 'unable-say intentions' 

 

Ihab tells them we'll hold if that helps us get another approach and he shoots back '58V you've got all the approaches you're gonna get today, say intentions'. We tell him we're going back to Danbury and he clears us there direct. We get a frequency change to a more pleasant controller as we were crossing the shoreline and the new guy has us fly 360, climb 3000 intercept the BDR 288 to Rymes and expect the localizer 8 into Danbury.

 

We pickup the ATIS and its the similar to what we had for departure so we're buzzing around in the clouds getting vectors in light chop. Intercepting the localizer outside of AMORE the Mooney sawboned back and forth thru the beam with the STEC catching up so when we're short final the needle is centered.

 

Anyway the rest was uneventful and I now am current again.

 

Here is the ground track from Flightaware

 

 

 

Sun and Fun 08 Preflight Planning

Start's today.

Not a big effort at this point but a peek at the 10 day forecasts for cities up and down the route.

We're looking to see where the weather windows look favorable.

Ideally we'll be able to slide down between two systems letting the second one pass while we're on the ground in Lakeland.

Then it's back up the coast before the third one comes through.

As far as route planning goes the only absolute will be the New York Approach's route from DXR to fuel stop #1. You can get that from DXR tower by calling them on the phone and asking them what routing and altitude will be assigned for the destination.

The rest of the country we'll get what we ask for until the last leg into LAL

When deciding what the fuel stops should be I typically start by putting in the starting point and then the destination and let the flight planner pick the route. Then I'll determine what my leg length threshold is. I usually want out of the plane after 3:30 so I plan my stops based on that. Also if we’re VFR we’ll have to keep track of MOA’s and SUA’s so it’s best to fly the airways as they keep you mostly clear of that stuff.

Picking stops that have rental cars hotels and airline service are also elements for planning in case the weather is not cooperating. Researching the services available at the various FBO's is critical because while the big airports have all the amenities for travel they usually don't have piston mechanics on the field. (I had a problem once on the ground in Bradley and they were going to call VIP in Hartford Brainard to come and fix it which was ironic since I had flown to Bradley from VIP in Brainard and knew they had left for the day).

So when picking an airport I might choose Hampton Roads over Norfolk, Charleston Executive vs. Charleston International, Grand Strand over Myrtle Beach.  Close enough to get a cab ride to the big airport if we're banging up against a hard stop.

Once you've got a broad picture of the route then check weather.com and see what their forecast will be for the days we're planning on going. Look at the day before we leave and a day after we’re due to come back and leave them open on your calendar so if it’s favorable to go a day early or stay an extra day you'll see that in advance and slide the flying window accordingly

After that choosing spots that have precision approaches vs. non precision is a consideration.

Looking at the weather as the window gets closer we’ll fine tune the route to get us going in the right direction based on the weather that is forecast and what our trip minimums are.

Sitting down and working through a trip minimums checklist is good practice. Since everyones personal minimums are different establish some guidelines for what constitutes go no go conditions in advance. This will take emotion and expectations out of the equation when we are confronted by changing realities.

Before takeoff we’re using the PAVE checklist and after we leave it’s CARE

I’ll think of more and send it along as it comes to me.