dell30rb
Final Approach
Went fly fishing this weekend... flew from Raleigh Executive airport to 0A9 Elizabethton.. where some friends had rented a cabin for the weekend.
Had some rain the day before, forecast was calling for low broken ceilings in the AM, quickly lifting and breaking up to good VFR. The forecast for Tri-Cities (12nm from my destination) had the ceilings lifting to 3,000 scattered by 11am.
I waited around at Raleigh Exec for the conditions to improve and departed at 10am into a scattered layer at 900, broken around 5000. After a few miles the scattered layer lifted its bases to around 2500 feet. I flew over this layer at first, then opted to fly under due to headwinds. I got out the chart and checked for towers along my route.
After awhile the cloud bases descended some more, and I decided it was time to go back on top. I fought headwinds and upon nearing the mountains I began climbing. When reaching around 7000 feet I started to get an "uh-oh" feeling as there seemed to be a very solid cloud deck up ahead. Tops were around 6500 feet. I continued my climb to 8,500 to see what I could see, unfortunately it did not look so good. A call to Raleigh radio confirmed that all of the airfields in the area I was flying to were OVC2500 or right around there.
I diverted to an aiport about 5 miles north of my present position (clear skies where I was) and I had fun losing all that altitude in a hurry to get down, pulled flaps, slipped and spiraled my way down to the pattern. I checked the weather for the airfield KGEV and it was about 20 degrees off the runway, 10G19. 10G19 at an airport with mountains all around is quite a wild ride. I added 5 knots to my approach speed to compensate for the gusts, and still squeaked the stall horn a few times on approach (70 knot approach in a warrior with full flaps) plus I was using at least half deflection rudder/ailerons to keep things lined up. Landing was good for the conditions, and I taxied up to the FBO to get some fuel / coffee.
The two guys (airport manager and a local pilot) met me at the fuel pump and were very nice and helpful. First thing they asked me is "wasn't it a little squirelly coming in to land? its usually like that when the wind is doing this" YUP, sure was. I had fun hanging out when them for about an hour while I waited for things to improve at my destination.
Finally the weather was listed at 2500 Broken and seemed to stay that way, so I departed GEV for 0A9 and found a course that would keep me well below the clouds, and far enough from the peaks. There is a big lake and a river that runs right to my destination, I just followed it and kept my distance from the mountains. The winds were calm at my destination (just 20 min from the 10g19 airport) and I did not have any issues with turbulence. Landed at 0A9, got my waders on and went fishing.
Coming home was a walk in the park, severe clear with a 40 knot tailwind
I'm gonna add some pics in a bit
Had some rain the day before, forecast was calling for low broken ceilings in the AM, quickly lifting and breaking up to good VFR. The forecast for Tri-Cities (12nm from my destination) had the ceilings lifting to 3,000 scattered by 11am.
I waited around at Raleigh Exec for the conditions to improve and departed at 10am into a scattered layer at 900, broken around 5000. After a few miles the scattered layer lifted its bases to around 2500 feet. I flew over this layer at first, then opted to fly under due to headwinds. I got out the chart and checked for towers along my route.
After awhile the cloud bases descended some more, and I decided it was time to go back on top. I fought headwinds and upon nearing the mountains I began climbing. When reaching around 7000 feet I started to get an "uh-oh" feeling as there seemed to be a very solid cloud deck up ahead. Tops were around 6500 feet. I continued my climb to 8,500 to see what I could see, unfortunately it did not look so good. A call to Raleigh radio confirmed that all of the airfields in the area I was flying to were OVC2500 or right around there.
I diverted to an aiport about 5 miles north of my present position (clear skies where I was) and I had fun losing all that altitude in a hurry to get down, pulled flaps, slipped and spiraled my way down to the pattern. I checked the weather for the airfield KGEV and it was about 20 degrees off the runway, 10G19. 10G19 at an airport with mountains all around is quite a wild ride. I added 5 knots to my approach speed to compensate for the gusts, and still squeaked the stall horn a few times on approach (70 knot approach in a warrior with full flaps) plus I was using at least half deflection rudder/ailerons to keep things lined up. Landing was good for the conditions, and I taxied up to the FBO to get some fuel / coffee.
The two guys (airport manager and a local pilot) met me at the fuel pump and were very nice and helpful. First thing they asked me is "wasn't it a little squirelly coming in to land? its usually like that when the wind is doing this" YUP, sure was. I had fun hanging out when them for about an hour while I waited for things to improve at my destination.
Finally the weather was listed at 2500 Broken and seemed to stay that way, so I departed GEV for 0A9 and found a course that would keep me well below the clouds, and far enough from the peaks. There is a big lake and a river that runs right to my destination, I just followed it and kept my distance from the mountains. The winds were calm at my destination (just 20 min from the 10g19 airport) and I did not have any issues with turbulence. Landed at 0A9, got my waders on and went fishing.
Coming home was a walk in the park, severe clear with a 40 knot tailwind
I'm gonna add some pics in a bit
