Over Under

No this is not a changing to a sports betting blog, still airplanes.  Yesterday the weather was great and I went out for some training.  I practiced power off approaches.  In the movies when the engine quits a plane falls from the sky.  Luckily the reality is better, a failed engine makes you a glider.  Though engine failures are rare, pilots practice to glide the plane to a landing at a precise point.  The easiest way to do this is at an airport which I did yesterday.

This morning the weather was bad so I decided not to fly.  Around 1 I looked outside and saw blue skies.  A check of the weather showed that the cold front had pushed through this morning and was sitting across the state around Orlando.  Jacksonville was clear but St. Augustine was reporting low weather.

I decided to take a look.  By the time I arrived the weather had improved and there was a cloud shelf starting just North of St. Augustine and continuing South where the weather was worse.  Since I was visual I needed to stay either 500 feet below or 1000 feet above.  The layer was thin so this was easy.

I had a nice flight looking at the edge of the weather system, flying over it and then back below.

Once below I decided to take a look at downtown St. Augustine and then head back home.

These decks while pretty and of not much consequence to instrument pilots, can pose a real danger to visual only pilots.  Pilots can get trapped on top with no way down or the clouds can descend and trap a pilot between the sky and ground.  Often looking up or down they see holes and think they can squeeze through.  Many times these holes are too small to keep legal cloud separation and even worse too small to get above/below the deck without going into the clouds.  These are names sucker holes.

Easy to avoid this by taking the visual requirements seriously and not flying over cloud decks.

In my case the way home was quite clear so I had no issues today.

Almost straight

A few weeks back I saw a notice for the annual BBQ at X60 (Williston, FL).  It went on the calendar and I told some friends, we all planned to go.  Last night the weather was looking sorta bleak with gusty winds and low ceilings.  If you believe every long range forecast you might never fly so I set my alarm and waited to see what weather we got.

It was much better than forecast and CC and I were soon off to the pig roast.  It was sorta cloudy and gray at our departure but half way there the skies cleared.  We arrived to blue skies and mild winds.

I had been to X60 it has a small restaurant that is unremarkable.  Today lunch was outside and was  set for noon.  This gave us time to look at airplanes and socialize. 

We walked about and were surprised how many people had come, over 40 planes. 

We even knew some of the arrivals from the Beechcraft group.

Soon it was time to eat, lunch was a buffet of pork, beans, slaw, potato salad, sodas/water and cake.  Plates were $12/Adult and all you cared to eat.  There was plenty.

They also had plenty of seating set up under a shade hangar.

After 2 rounds of pork we decided to head back as the skies were changing.

Now on our flight out we had taken off to the North East and made a sweeping left turn on course.  When you learn to fly the first lesson is straight and level flying.  The second is how to turn.  Turns are considered important as you seldom can just make a straight line. 

Today we almost did.  Departing we used runway 5 and our on course was 45 degrees.  We were set up for a straight in visual to 5 at home.  Half way there the controller vectored us for an instrument approach.  We requested the visual but she said that people were not getting the field. 

Right after we turned another plane reported better weather and we were allowed to continue in directly.  Thus our perfect no turn flight was marred by a gentle bank right and then left.  In the end we easily made the visual with ceilings above 3000 and good visibility.  Even though it was still visual, the skies had only gotten worse.  Strange how 70 miles down the road not a cloud but lousy weather at home.

Staying sharp

Flying is a skill that requires constant training.  While every flight helps to keep your skills sharp, some skills need extra attention.  I have an instrument rating which allows me to fly when visual minimums are not present.  In simple language, I can fly through the clouds.  Having the rating is one thing but you must be current to exercise the privileged.

Currency requires at least 6 instrument approaches in the last 6 calendar month, tracking and holding.  You can combine activities such as using a holding pattern as part of an approach to satisfy both requirements.  Florida has some great weather which can make it hard to practice for real.  This is solved using a safety pilot and a view limiting device.  I have some safety glasses that are fogged on the top and sides so when worn, all you see is the instruments and not outside.  If you go this route you need another current pilot to watch outside and make sure you follow the rules for visual flight.

Today turned out to be a great day for actual practice.  Saturday morning I saw this developing but by the evening, the forecast was for clear weather.  I was a bit bummed as I thought my plans would be ruined by sunshine.  When I awoke, it was cloudy, yeah!  I filed a flight plan, got  a weather briefing and headed to the airport.    When I checked, the weather was still quite low in places, 400 feet.  I figured I would wait for it to improve but by the time I was on the road, I could see the tall radio antennas were just below the clouds.  They are right at 1000 feet so I was ready to go.

I had planned to go solo but ran into a friend at the airport and offered him a ride.  He agreed and soon we were taxiing out.  I picked up our clearance and after the normal checks we were off.  First approach was to Cecil.  The automated weather was calling 1000 overcast and 400 broken. 

We were vectored to final for the  36R ILS.  Everything worked as it should and even though we were in a grey bubble we descended on the right track and vertical path.  At 1000 feet we broke out.  we reported this to tower as it is useful info for the next person and they can't observe conditions away from the airport core.

The weather was better than forecast and I started to get concerned it might clear.  I did not have to worry, it was marginal all day.  Our missed approach instructions had us climbing and turning on the missed approach.  We went back up to 3000 and headed South to Palatka for our next approach.  leveling off we were just above the clouds and captured the included pictures.  Standing on the ground looking at the grey sky, it is hard to remember that a few thousand feet up is is a blue and beautiful day.

At Palatka I shot the GPS 9 approach.  This time we did the full procedure which starts at a fix 5 miles perpendicular to the extended runway center line.  You cross this fix fly 5 miles and then make a 90 degree left to intercept the final approach about 10 miles out.  Then you descend on the glide slope starting about 5 miles out.

After Palatka it was back to Jacksonville.  The Instrument approach in use was 90 degrees off the wind so I did a circling approach.  A circling approach starts like a regular one except you cannot go as low.  Once you break out of the clouds you level off and then maneuver to land on the preferred runway.  I flew the ILS 32 and landed on runway 5.  Circling adds some risk as you are making your pattern from 500 feet which is half the normal height.  Add in low visibility conditions with unfamiliar terrain and you can easily get disoriented.

Today the ceiling was 1000 and I was on my home turf so it was much additional workload.  Touching down after 1.5 hours of actual practice I felt good.  I stayed within all limits but still noted a few places where I was not perfect.  Having a second person watching is good for this as they can watch you and critique.  I now have 9 approached in the last 3 months so I am good to go for a while but will likely shoot some more next month as you are only as good as your most recent training.