A Dark and Stormy Night

I have been wanting to get night current again.  To carry passengers, the FAA mandates that you must have made 3 landings to a full stop in the preceding 60 days.  Day currency is easier, you have 90 days and the landings don't have to be to a full stop.  The other twist is that night does not begin until 1 hour after sunset.  Last night sunset was 8:30 PM and thus my landings had to be after 9:30 PM.

I had been looking for a good night, the last few had been really stormy or cloudy but yesterday it looked perfect.  The skies were mostly clear, just high clouds, the winds light and the storms were slowly dissipating.  I headed off to the airport early so I could do all my pre flight checks with good light.  Once the plane was ready, I visited with another pilot working on his plane and watched the storms that had built North of the field.

It was a nice show, the storms were about 40 North and mostly moving East.  You could see the lightning jumping out of the clouds in the twilight.  As the light faded I headed to the plane and fired up a bit after 9 PM.  Originally I was going to go to JAX for my first 2 landings.  They have a 10,000 runway which provides plenty of room to come to a complete stop and then take off.  The Storm location and the need to work around airline traffic inbound made me change my plans.

I would have gone to Cecil but the Notams had indicated the long runway was closed.  I chose St. Augustine which ended up being a good choice.  8,000 feet and the control tower closed at 9 PM so I did not have to ask permission for my practice.   Departing I headed South and then looped back North to see how the storms looked on the radar.  They had moved a bit closer so I kept an eye on them as I didn't want my return to be cut off.  The big picture looked ugly though, The South part of Florida was quite rainy.  

I flew South of St. Augustine to waste a bit of time as I was early but soon was on the downwind to land.  I had the airport to myself and this would be my first night landing in the Baron.  Downwind I reset the pilot controlled lighting so it would stay on for my landing, gear was confirmed down and I had set the visual approach into the GPS so I would have both lateral and vertical guidance in the dark.  The big displays and synthetic vision makes the approaches easy.  The Baron also has 2 landing lights and a taxi light which provides plenty of illumination.  St. Augustine has the new LED lighting which is really bright, almost too bright for my taste but would be nice on a foggy day.  After the second landing I headed back home.  

The winds on the ATIS were 240@10 so I was planning a 23 arrival.  Checking in with tower he said things were shifting and winds were 030@5, did I want 32.  I did and joined a long final for 32. While doing my landings I had seen the sky light up with the distant lighting.  Heading North I had an amazing light show of some pretty extreme lightning.  Now those towering storms were starting to impact my local weather.  The wind was still 240@20 up at 2000 but the outflow from the storms was reversing the winds down low.  At 3 miles out the tower advised me that the winds had shifted to 050@11 gusting 17.  

New plan, I was cleared to circle to 5.  I was watching the winds as I made my approach, expecting the wind shear. Going into a headwind is not a big issue as you gain some airspeed. Just as expected, at 200 feet the winds swapped from 10 knots tail to 10 knots head.  My touchdown was good and tower cleared me all the way down to 32 for the taxi in.  It had been a great night for practice but the weather was changing.  I put the plane away and later it poured but I was already safe at home.

Thunderstorms

 I knew that there would be a chance of thunderstorms heading home from Beaufort.  The forecast was for widely scatter rain around home but nothing in South Carolina.  That was really wrong.  Getting the plane ready I could see a storm off the end of the runway and the radar showed several en-route.  I only had 2.5 hours of gas left so I had decided to make a quick stop in Georgia for gas before heading South into the building rain.  The storm below was off the departure end, I had already turned a bit left so as to avoid it.  

The initial flight over to Baxely, GA was easy.  There was some rain but it was widely scattered and easy to avoid.  I soon had my tanks topped which gave me over 8 hours of endurance (10 if I go really slow) so I was ready to try to get home.  Lots of gas means lots of choices.  The direct route was blocked by a line of storms stretching about 100 miles. This meant meant going around the top or bottom.  The storms were moving North but the Southerly route added a lot of miles so I chose the top and once off the ground checked in with center.  

Center was busy keeping everyone safe but not a lot of planes out.  I had debated going back VFR but wanted to climb up where I could hopefully see better and figured that it might be hard to stay VFR.  Checking in with center I was given my clearance and we agreed on a plan.  I headed East and started watching the weather.  I have decided that I like my active radar on my main screen with the XM weather on the primary GPS.  This way I can compare the two.  I was mostly watching the radar out to 40 miles with a +4 tilt.  This painted the weather well without ground clutter.  It quickly became apparent why I am getting to really like my radar.  The XM and live showed similar pictures but the XM was offset South.  The storms were moving North and while it was a good big picture, it was old and deceptive.

Getting near the coast I found a nice alley between the clouds and center was very accomodating on headings.  Combining my eyes with the live scan, I made my way through the building weather without getting wet.  Later I did get some rain flying under some light precip.  I was not in the clouds then, just raindrops falling on my plane.  Once crossing through the line and flying over to the coast I was in the clear with clouds above.  It looked like the afternoon sea breeze was keeping the weather inland.

Getting close to home things looked complicated.  The XM showed a storm on the airport but the radar showed that only light rain was falling.  I could see some heavy precip blocking about 180 degrees of the sky but I had a clear escape route if things did not continue as planned.  The last 5 miles were wet with a steady light rain culminating in a touchdown on a very wet runway.  The plus side was a perfectly smooth landing.  I did go back to the plane today and wiped off the dirt I knew the water had flung under the plane.  It was not as bad as I expected.

Overall, the radar gave me that extra advantage which let me navigate around some serious weather.  While I could have probably made it in my last plane, not sure I would have tried it because there were several times where I could not clearly see ahead and would have likely landed to wait it out.  The radar can't get you everywhere and you still can't go through heavy weather.  It does help you see and avoid it though. 

In the box

 I woke up early Saturday to head off for more training.  I spent 15 hours with an instructor and another 10 for my initial transition training.  You learn a lot in the plane but there are many things we have to modify in practice because it would be too dangerous to practice for real.  Engine failures are at the top of this list.

Losing an engine in the first few seconds after liftoff  is a difficult test for any pilot.  In some situations the best outcome may be a bent airplane.  Thus we practice these events further from the ground.  In the simulator, we can safely practice all these scenarios.

The training was in Beaufort, SC so I had a nice flight up the coast and a smooth arrival at the airport.  Once down, I went to the lot and had instructions how to borrow one of the cars.  The training is just a few minutes down the road and I was soon completing the briefing with my instructor.

We went through the book work and procedures we were going to practice in the simulator or box.  While the simulator did a good job acting like a 58 Baron, it was not my exact equipment.  This made it harder in that the equipment was like what I had used years ago.  This was not a big issue in that mostly you are concerned with handling the emergencies.

Training started with basic flying, then instrument flying.  We progressed to stalls and VMC demonstrations and then it was off to engine out practice.  The first few were easy in that I was already 200 feet in the air.  The engine cut at 30 feet just as the gear was coming up was interesting but I followed the drill, kept control and slowly climbed away.   We then did single engine instrument approaches to minimums next, and added one with a go around.  A go around on one engine is not really a maneuver you want to do from a low level for real.  In the simulator you can risk it.

I asked for one additional scenario which was an engine failure at a high density altitude at full weight and high temperatures.  In this case you can't climb but if you have planned well you can fly the terrain to a lower elevation airport.

It was a 4 hour program and it went by fast.  We did a quick debrief and then I was headed back home.  That turned out to be the harder work for the day.

Cool Mountain Breeze

We had headed North in search of cooler weather.  It was going to be 90+ back home but there was still a last gasp of Spring to be found in the Mountains of North Carolina. We slept in Saturday which was poor planning but felt great.  After the rain Friday night, I wanted to check on the plane.  Not that looking would change anything but if it was wet, we could start the drying process.  

We stopped by and I checked the front, the back, the nose baggage and even the fuel.  No water which was great news so headed off to the mountains.  Two years ago we had stopped by triple falls but only saw one of three.  It was pretty empty last visit but not so this time.  I know better than to travel on a holiday weekend but we did it anyway.

We showed up at the visitor center and there were no spaces but there was a long line of cars waiting.  We decided to head off to the other lot 2 miles down the road.  Here we lucked out, the second lot was also busy but it had two parts and we looked at the far part.  Right after we arrived, we saw people leaving and scored a space.  

We took the short hike down to Hooker falls.  They were nice but not impressive.  It was also terribly crowded.  Lots of people who I had the sense had never before went hiking.  I am curious if we will see this devotion to the outdoors in another year?  I also notice rule breaking.  For example this sign.  I left my horse in the car, leave the windows cracked and some hay, no big deal.

At least one person did not follow the rules.

There was more hiking by the falls but it was so crowded we decided to head off and sell our parking space.  Just kidding but we may have been able to pay for the trip if we had.

Our next stop was the Botanic Gardens in Asheville.  It got good reviews and promised blooming plants.  The drive up to Asheville is always pretty and today there were some clouds hanging on the mountains so the views did not disappoint.

The Botanic Garden did.  It is a nice green space and has lots of plants but it lacks any cohesive layout and the blooms were very scarce.  We enjoyed a nice walk and it is free so I guess I can’t complain too much but I won’t be returning.

Some places are worth revisiting and there was a BBQ joint I wrote about in November 2019, Smokey and the Pig, that was worth a second taste.  I was a bit nervous though, you have a great meal at a place and when you go back the pressure is on, will it meet your expectations?  It did, it was a great brisket sandwich. 

Full of BBQ we headed off to Pearson falls.  Pearson falls is one of the few falls we have had to pay to see.  It is a modest entrance fee of $5/person and it was well worth it.  These falls were not too busy and you can tell they use the funds to keep the property in top shape.  

The trail is only a quarter mile over pretty flat terrain.  They have also added wood chips so the trail is not muddy.  You walk along a rushing brook, across a bridge and then you hear the falling water.  The falls are very nice.  Good height, nice cascading levels, great views and plenty of room. 

We hung out for a while enjoying the falling water, taking pictures for other fall viewers and doing some drone flying.  I am sensitive to not wanting to disturb people with the drone so we waited until there were only two other groups at the falls before taking out the drone.

The falls are loud so the drone seemed silent.  When I lifted off I looked around to see if it was annoying anyone but I got the opposite reaction.  One family with little kids was quite entranced by my toy.  The kids enjoyed waving at the drone and then started asking the parents for one.  The other people were intrigued at the video I was capturing.

I flew about 5 minutes and then put it away, no need to press your luck.  We made the quick walk back to the car and and headed back to the hotel for some dinner and to kick back and relax.

Sunday the flight home was smooth and uneventful.  I am settling on my favorite power settings.  2350 RPM seems to be a sweet spot and 12 gph/side gets me 182 knots,  13 gph/side gets me 190 knots.  Today I compromised on 12.5 and we made 188 which feels like a good place.  The spinners are still shiny and I enjoyed how they reflected the puffy clouds.  With the twin moving 18 knots faster than the Bonanza we made quick work of the return and soon had the plane back at the hangar.

Obscene Friday

You can’t change the weather but you can choose it. We had been planning to go to Roanoke Virginia but as Friday drew closer, the weather looked pretty bleak.  From a flying point of view, it was well within our capabilities but it looked like it was going to rain as soon as we arrived.

I have found if you are time or space flexible, you can pick your weather. In this case we decided to go where it was sunny.  So Thursday night I changed some reservations and recompiled for Greenville, SC.  We have been to Greenville many times but this time we were in search of filth.

CC had read that the town had installed an art exhibit the was called, Obscene, Demonic, Pornographic and more. The art in question is a series of bronze statues of Angels.  One of them which is an anatomically correct representation. The rest are about as accurate as GI Joe or Barbie.

(Spoiler alert, that's CC smiling after being exposed to the horrific artwork) Friday morning we were off.  This is our first overnight trip in the new plane so that was exciting.  We departed and were soon cleared to 9000 and direct SAV VOR. I filed this way to avoid all the military airspace.  This slight bend in the course actually only adds minutes and the time enroute was a quick 1:30 vs a 6 hour drive.

The weather was good which makes the flight easy.  The only minor challenge was being sequenced behind a Delta 757. Though not classified as a heavy, the 757 can cut a big wake.  We added some space and I was careful to fly well above the jets path.  The Jet touched down about 800 feet down the runway.  We made sure to be 2000 feet down the runway before touching. Greenville has 11000 feet of runway so room was not an issue.

We taxied in, grabbed our stuff and found our rental car waiting.  After this we dropped our stuff at the hotel and then it was off to see the obscenity.  We had been warned that our eyes could be damaged but we took the risk.  What we saw was art, I liked some of the pieces more than others.  I was not damaged, I don't think.  I also saw some extremely cute ducklings, which in retrospect may have balanced out the obscenity.

We had free 2 hour parking so we strolled downtown a bit before heading out to grab lunch.  Now CC was not part of the permanent exhibit but she does look angelic which is surprising after what she just saw....

I did not have a lot of planning time for our trip so I had grabbed an old list of things we had not seen yet and decided to try Paris Mountain State Park.  We drove to the top and tried one of the trails.  It was nice but a bit disappointing.  You are near the summit but the forest is so dense this time of year that you don’t get many views of the surrounding area.

The sun was setting so we headed back to get some dinner and though we had avoided the weather so far, there was a line of rain coming through.  About 10 pm we had a 20 minute downpour.  We were safe inside but the plane got a good bath and I started wondering if this plane was leakproof.  Nothing I could do about it in the middle of the night, that was a problem for Saturday.