CJones
Final Approach
Fun flight last night [long write-up]
Filed KMSL D-> KLZU @ 7k last night. Got everything loaded up in the trusty RV-10 and taxiied out to Rwy 11 for the solo flight back to LZU. They have a system at MSL that I haven't used before - key the mic on a freq 4 times and it will literally phone to MEM Ctr so you can pick up your clearance. It's a lot clearer than those pesky RCO freqs. Got cleared as filed from MEM Ctr. Set initial altitude to 3k, vertical speed to 1000fpm, and initial heading to rwy headgin in the TruTrack autopilot and departed 11. Climbing through ~1500', I flip the switch and let Otto Pilot fly for a while. Call up MEM Ctr and get cleared on up to 7k. Turn the knob on the a/p and away we go. While the a/p is keeping me pointed in the right direction, I tinker with power settings during climb. The AFS engine monitor makes it a breeze to get a nice power/fuel flow setting dialed in.
A little west of HSV, I notice some lightning off my nose. Zoom out on the moving map on the AFS display, and sure enough, there is some dark yellow/orange radar returns ahead, so I request a deviation to the left. Approved. Change the A/P from nav track to Hdg track and dial the bug in where I want. Anticipating some bumps as I approach the clouds, I pull the power back an inch or so to get the speed out of the yellow band. Otto keeps churning along after asking me to bump the elevator trim up a click or two to offset the power reduction. I'm not worried about having to slow down, as I'm already getting 180+ kts groundspeed on 13.5 GPH. In and out of IMC over HSV, I finally decide that going direct LZU from my current position should keep ahead of the build-ups. Turn back direct LZU and add the power back to normal cruise settings.
Handed off to ATL Approach, they notify me that moderate-to-heavy-to-extreme precip is in my flight path. About the same time, I see a pop of lightning and request another deviation to the left. They give the OK and say for me to let them know when I am direct BUNNI for the BUNNI3 arrival. Hmmm.. This was the first I had heard of needing to do the BUNNI3 arrival. No biggie. I tell Otto to take us left 20 degrees to keep us out of the big build-up. As he performs the task, I pull power back again, and then pull up the arrival in the 430 and set it to direct to BUNNI, even though the a/p is tracking HDG, I can use the nav overlay on the AFS to determine where a Direct-To track would take me. I use the 2nd AFS display to pull up the textual description of the BUNNI3 arrival procedure and I put the 3rd AFS display to moving map and zoom it out so I can see how far I am from the build-ups.
I finally feel comfortable that I will remain out of the big bumps and tell the 430 D-> BUNNI, set the A/P to nav track and away we go. Told to cross BUNNI at 5k, about 5-7 minutes out, I set the vertical speed in the a/p to 500fpm, altitude to 5k and down we go. Pull power back several inches to keep it away from the barber pole. After passing BUNNI, I'm given Direct LZU. Tell the 430 where to go and we're off.
Approaching LZU, AWOS is saying scattered 1500, but the closer I get, it becomes broken to overcast. A Beech Jet is approaching at the same time and they request the RNAV07 and I follow their lead. The Beech beat me to the approach, so I got a big 360 vectored turn for spacing. All the time, Otto is doing exactly as I tell him, through all the turns, descents, etc. Turning back inbound for the approach, I noticed another a/c show up on the TIS. He's 1000' below me and heading for LZU. Approach notifies me of it, even though I've been watching him on the AFS display for a few minutes. I see him a few times through the breaks in the thin layer, but I finally end up behind him as he appears to line up for a long final to Rwy 7 at LZU. I pull power back a bit to give some spacing so Approach doesn't have to vector me around again. Finally cleared hdg 120, maintain 3k until established, cleared RNAV07 approach. I tell Otto to fly hdg 120, then set the 430 to activate vectors to final. Once the 430 figures out which leg of the approach I'm on, I change the a/p to Nav track. Otto holds 120 heading until it intercepts and then turns to follow. I dial the altitude down to 2800 and adjust power accordingly. Actually stay IMC until stepping down inside the FAF. There was a King Air coming in behind me, so I cancelled IFR with Atl Approach once I was assured of being able to maintain VFR to the runway. Land in a nice 10G14 quartering headwind and taxi to the hangar.
It's been a while since I actually flew an entire IFR flight with a lot of actual IMC, weather deviations, and an approach at the end, but it all came back to me. Auto pilot definitely helped alleviate a LOT of the workload, but if it had bombed out, I feel comfortable that I would have been able to maintain everything without any problems - the a/p just made it 'simple'.
Ain't this stuff cool!?!
Filed KMSL D-> KLZU @ 7k last night. Got everything loaded up in the trusty RV-10 and taxiied out to Rwy 11 for the solo flight back to LZU. They have a system at MSL that I haven't used before - key the mic on a freq 4 times and it will literally phone to MEM Ctr so you can pick up your clearance. It's a lot clearer than those pesky RCO freqs. Got cleared as filed from MEM Ctr. Set initial altitude to 3k, vertical speed to 1000fpm, and initial heading to rwy headgin in the TruTrack autopilot and departed 11. Climbing through ~1500', I flip the switch and let Otto Pilot fly for a while. Call up MEM Ctr and get cleared on up to 7k. Turn the knob on the a/p and away we go. While the a/p is keeping me pointed in the right direction, I tinker with power settings during climb. The AFS engine monitor makes it a breeze to get a nice power/fuel flow setting dialed in.
A little west of HSV, I notice some lightning off my nose. Zoom out on the moving map on the AFS display, and sure enough, there is some dark yellow/orange radar returns ahead, so I request a deviation to the left. Approved. Change the A/P from nav track to Hdg track and dial the bug in where I want. Anticipating some bumps as I approach the clouds, I pull the power back an inch or so to get the speed out of the yellow band. Otto keeps churning along after asking me to bump the elevator trim up a click or two to offset the power reduction. I'm not worried about having to slow down, as I'm already getting 180+ kts groundspeed on 13.5 GPH. In and out of IMC over HSV, I finally decide that going direct LZU from my current position should keep ahead of the build-ups. Turn back direct LZU and add the power back to normal cruise settings.
Handed off to ATL Approach, they notify me that moderate-to-heavy-to-extreme precip is in my flight path. About the same time, I see a pop of lightning and request another deviation to the left. They give the OK and say for me to let them know when I am direct BUNNI for the BUNNI3 arrival. Hmmm.. This was the first I had heard of needing to do the BUNNI3 arrival. No biggie. I tell Otto to take us left 20 degrees to keep us out of the big build-up. As he performs the task, I pull power back again, and then pull up the arrival in the 430 and set it to direct to BUNNI, even though the a/p is tracking HDG, I can use the nav overlay on the AFS to determine where a Direct-To track would take me. I use the 2nd AFS display to pull up the textual description of the BUNNI3 arrival procedure and I put the 3rd AFS display to moving map and zoom it out so I can see how far I am from the build-ups.
I finally feel comfortable that I will remain out of the big bumps and tell the 430 D-> BUNNI, set the A/P to nav track and away we go. Told to cross BUNNI at 5k, about 5-7 minutes out, I set the vertical speed in the a/p to 500fpm, altitude to 5k and down we go. Pull power back several inches to keep it away from the barber pole. After passing BUNNI, I'm given Direct LZU. Tell the 430 where to go and we're off.
Approaching LZU, AWOS is saying scattered 1500, but the closer I get, it becomes broken to overcast. A Beech Jet is approaching at the same time and they request the RNAV07 and I follow their lead. The Beech beat me to the approach, so I got a big 360 vectored turn for spacing. All the time, Otto is doing exactly as I tell him, through all the turns, descents, etc. Turning back inbound for the approach, I noticed another a/c show up on the TIS. He's 1000' below me and heading for LZU. Approach notifies me of it, even though I've been watching him on the AFS display for a few minutes. I see him a few times through the breaks in the thin layer, but I finally end up behind him as he appears to line up for a long final to Rwy 7 at LZU. I pull power back a bit to give some spacing so Approach doesn't have to vector me around again. Finally cleared hdg 120, maintain 3k until established, cleared RNAV07 approach. I tell Otto to fly hdg 120, then set the 430 to activate vectors to final. Once the 430 figures out which leg of the approach I'm on, I change the a/p to Nav track. Otto holds 120 heading until it intercepts and then turns to follow. I dial the altitude down to 2800 and adjust power accordingly. Actually stay IMC until stepping down inside the FAF. There was a King Air coming in behind me, so I cancelled IFR with Atl Approach once I was assured of being able to maintain VFR to the runway. Land in a nice 10G14 quartering headwind and taxi to the hangar.
It's been a while since I actually flew an entire IFR flight with a lot of actual IMC, weather deviations, and an approach at the end, but it all came back to me. Auto pilot definitely helped alleviate a LOT of the workload, but if it had bombed out, I feel comfortable that I would have been able to maintain everything without any problems - the a/p just made it 'simple'.
Ain't this stuff cool!?!
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