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Final Approach
After chickening out a couple of weeks ago because of strong winds, I decided that today would be the day. Although temps on the ground were below 5C, ADDS, SkyVector, and rucsoundings.noaa.gov all agreed that there was a strong inversion with above freezing temps aloft all the way to 9,000 or so. Ceilings were hovering between 500 and 900 and forecast to improve by 18Z as close as KBTV, so I had an alternate that was both easy (given that the winds were straight down an ILS runway there) and legal. The only thing that gave me pause was the wind direction (NW), since the MDAs on all the approaches to 35 at KMPV are at least 900. If the ceilings didn't come up, I would have to land downwind on 17 or else accept at least a temporary stay at KBTV. Forecast winds were no higher than 8 kts. I filed a local IFR to shoot multiple approaches into KMPV with the MPV VOR as a waypoint. Then I noticed that the AWOS was saying 09G16 out of 320-350, CIG003V009. Hmmm. But I drove to the airport, and by the time I got there, the gusts had quieted down.
I was cleared as filed, maintain 6000, and requested the VOR/DME 35 to start with. It was definitely not one of my better IMC outings. Normally I could make it easily to 6000 by the time I reached MPV VOR, but because of the screaming tailwind out of the NW, I was seeing ground speeds of 120 knots in the climb and had to climb in a hold (a very sloppy one, due to rust) from about 4100. In the process I broke out of the muck into bright sunshine (I love when that happens, except it meant that I wouldn't be able to log the holding.) I did fly the approach itself fairly well, including the 1 minute HILPT at GULLP. It turns out that I could have landed out of that approach as I had the runway clearly visible from the MDA at 2000 a couple of miles out, but the plan was to fly the published miss. I had never flown a VOR approach to the published miss before on the 480 however, and was surprised when the thing failed to sequence into the hold at MPV. In hindsight, I believe that was because I had not reached the published holding altitude (6000). However, I was quickly cleared to VEBBE to begin the RNAV 35. This time the HILPT was mostly in IMC, so it was loggable. Reported established inbound (almost back at VEBBE due to strong easterly winds), and was allowed to switch to advisory.
I'm fairly familiar with the RNAV 35 as I fly it routinely when coming back from KASH at night. But again, flying it to the published miss was a new experience, and once again I had to climb in the hold (but did a better job of it than earlier). Originally, after seeing the field from the MDA on the VOR/DME I had planned to just take a second shot at the RNAV 35 and land from it, but on the last approach I flew back into a cloud after spotting the runway and only came into the clear less than a mile from the MAP, too close to make a normal landing. The winds had not changed direction but were down around 5-6 kts now. So instead I requested the RNAV 17 because of its LPV minimums of 330 feet.* After a full turn in the published hold at 6500 (this time in solid IMC, so no question it was loggable), I was cleared to TJAYS to shoot the RNAV 17.
Most of the way to TJAYS was in bright sunshine between the (mostly) solid undercast and a broken layer of high clouds. I snapped a cellphone pic looking out to the east (attached). I was quickly told to cross TJAYS at 6500, cleared for the approach. Still a good 6 nm from TJAYS, I heard "Radar services terminated, change to advisory approved, cancel IFR either in reply or on the ground on this frequency." That's common in these parts, radar coverage through ZBW is spotty and completely non-existent below about 5400.
There isn't much to tell of my last approach. Finally I flew an entire approach up to my usual standards. The "T" leg from TJAYS to REGGI I was seeing ground speeds of over 150 KTS despite approach flaps, being aggressively LOP, and powered back below 20". Here I re-entered the clag. This time there were no breaks at all in the undercast. I was still above 5000 when I crossed REGGI and turned inbound. The challenging thing was to keep my ground speed low enough to make the stepdowns at the proper altitudes, and to stay on the glideslope. I let the A/P capture the glideslope, put the gear down, and then disengaged it to hand fly the rest of the way down. There were some bumps, probably due to terrain, but nothing too difficult. I broke out around 1700 MSL (500 AGL), confirming that I had made the right choice of approach, and made an easy downwind landing. After announcing clear of the runway, I quickly switched to Boston Center's frequency and canceled IFR. Another trip successfully completed!
In summary, I was not happy with my performance. Too many times I was surprised by things the 480 did, I had to fight vertigo a couple of times, and overall I was rusty, especially in the holds. It had been several months for me since I'd been up in the clouds, and that's too long. I was never in danger of killing myself or busting a clearance, but in busier airspace things might have been iffier, and above all I really don't like it when my GPS surprises me. I don't know if any CFIIs around here know anything about the 480, but I plan to call the one I've been told about and get together with him soon. I need a flight review anyway, and might try to roll an IPC into it while I'm at it, if he's willing.
*There's also an ILS 17 at KMPV but the most convenient entry, also at TJAYS, involves a DME arc which is one leg type I've never trained at or flown. That's another deficiency I hope to remedy soon, with some hood time with a CFII.
I was cleared as filed, maintain 6000, and requested the VOR/DME 35 to start with. It was definitely not one of my better IMC outings. Normally I could make it easily to 6000 by the time I reached MPV VOR, but because of the screaming tailwind out of the NW, I was seeing ground speeds of 120 knots in the climb and had to climb in a hold (a very sloppy one, due to rust) from about 4100. In the process I broke out of the muck into bright sunshine (I love when that happens, except it meant that I wouldn't be able to log the holding.) I did fly the approach itself fairly well, including the 1 minute HILPT at GULLP. It turns out that I could have landed out of that approach as I had the runway clearly visible from the MDA at 2000 a couple of miles out, but the plan was to fly the published miss. I had never flown a VOR approach to the published miss before on the 480 however, and was surprised when the thing failed to sequence into the hold at MPV. In hindsight, I believe that was because I had not reached the published holding altitude (6000). However, I was quickly cleared to VEBBE to begin the RNAV 35. This time the HILPT was mostly in IMC, so it was loggable. Reported established inbound (almost back at VEBBE due to strong easterly winds), and was allowed to switch to advisory.
I'm fairly familiar with the RNAV 35 as I fly it routinely when coming back from KASH at night. But again, flying it to the published miss was a new experience, and once again I had to climb in the hold (but did a better job of it than earlier). Originally, after seeing the field from the MDA on the VOR/DME I had planned to just take a second shot at the RNAV 35 and land from it, but on the last approach I flew back into a cloud after spotting the runway and only came into the clear less than a mile from the MAP, too close to make a normal landing. The winds had not changed direction but were down around 5-6 kts now. So instead I requested the RNAV 17 because of its LPV minimums of 330 feet.* After a full turn in the published hold at 6500 (this time in solid IMC, so no question it was loggable), I was cleared to TJAYS to shoot the RNAV 17.
Most of the way to TJAYS was in bright sunshine between the (mostly) solid undercast and a broken layer of high clouds. I snapped a cellphone pic looking out to the east (attached). I was quickly told to cross TJAYS at 6500, cleared for the approach. Still a good 6 nm from TJAYS, I heard "Radar services terminated, change to advisory approved, cancel IFR either in reply or on the ground on this frequency." That's common in these parts, radar coverage through ZBW is spotty and completely non-existent below about 5400.
There isn't much to tell of my last approach. Finally I flew an entire approach up to my usual standards. The "T" leg from TJAYS to REGGI I was seeing ground speeds of over 150 KTS despite approach flaps, being aggressively LOP, and powered back below 20". Here I re-entered the clag. This time there were no breaks at all in the undercast. I was still above 5000 when I crossed REGGI and turned inbound. The challenging thing was to keep my ground speed low enough to make the stepdowns at the proper altitudes, and to stay on the glideslope. I let the A/P capture the glideslope, put the gear down, and then disengaged it to hand fly the rest of the way down. There were some bumps, probably due to terrain, but nothing too difficult. I broke out around 1700 MSL (500 AGL), confirming that I had made the right choice of approach, and made an easy downwind landing. After announcing clear of the runway, I quickly switched to Boston Center's frequency and canceled IFR. Another trip successfully completed!
In summary, I was not happy with my performance. Too many times I was surprised by things the 480 did, I had to fight vertigo a couple of times, and overall I was rusty, especially in the holds. It had been several months for me since I'd been up in the clouds, and that's too long. I was never in danger of killing myself or busting a clearance, but in busier airspace things might have been iffier, and above all I really don't like it when my GPS surprises me. I don't know if any CFIIs around here know anything about the 480, but I plan to call the one I've been told about and get together with him soon. I need a flight review anyway, and might try to roll an IPC into it while I'm at it, if he's willing.
*There's also an ILS 17 at KMPV but the most convenient entry, also at TJAYS, involves a DME arc which is one leg type I've never trained at or flown. That's another deficiency I hope to remedy soon, with some hood time with a CFII.
