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Steven8385

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Steven8385
So I got my IFR ticket about 2 weeks ago now. Had my first IFR trip all planned out for today go to Martha Vineyard and back home. Knew the weather was going to be moving in but wasn't suppose to until late tonight 12/1 am 1500 and greater then 6. Well on the way back as we are getting closer I check the weather and the cieling is 500ft and MDA is 600 AGL, so I say to myself well we can take a look. start getting vectors and hear someone go missed there and the airport next door. So I tell approach scratch that were going to Stewart, we get to Stewart and they are reporting a 500 cieling as well, shot the fully coupled auopilot ILS and break out at 300 AGL. Not what I wanted for a nice easy trip to the vineyard for my first single pilot IFR experience. The entire time I am thinking doing fuel calculations, checking the weather up north(better weather up by albany). But holy crap do forecast suck and you really are playing for keeps when it comes to IFR, I thank my CFII for giving me over three hours of actual and all the insight they have given me.
 
LDJones said:
Welcome to real world IFR!
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Yes. A lot different than my first flights after getting my IR.

Once I finally got my instrument rating it was like the clouds were always running away from me. For a few months after, every flight I took was severe clear. It was like turning 21 and not getting carded.
 
Congrats,actual is always more fun.
 
Glad your o.k.

Everybody is riding me to get my IFR. I tell them "I don't want an IFR unless I'm going to be a damn good IFR pilot and doing it all the time."

I'm so sick of hearing "it makes you a better pilot." BS I say. If you don't stay proficient, you're a GD dangerous IFR pilot and can't fly my pimpwagon any better than me.
 
Now you know why the FAA requires you to demonstrate the ability to fly to published mins and not just personal mins on the IR practical test, and why good instrument instructors get you all the weather time feasible.
 
My instrument DPE told me how one of his stu's got rated, then took off on a trip. Upon return weather had come down to minimums (this happens maybe once or twice a year here).
Newly rated asel-ia shot the ils SEVEN times before he got in! But got in, he did.
 
The day I took my instrument practical was a marginal VFR day. By the time I had passed the check ride and was ready to take the airplane back home from KMGY to KMWO, only about a6 mile trip the weather had deteriorated so I had to file to get home. I remember my instructor telling me you will probably never have to hold. Well on this short flight someone at KMWO forgot to cancel and I ended up holding for almost 30 minutes while they figured out if the guy had made it in safely. Welcome to your instrument ticket LOL. For the record the hold is only about 2 miles west of KMGY.
 
I remember MY fist real time down to minimums...

Nervous, sweaty palms, awkwardly trying to figure out what to do, constantly readjusting, questioning if I was ready, heart racing, looking for my protection...

...wait, that was something else...the ILS was easy peasy...but nerve wracking!

It was NOTHING like practicing on your own!
 
Thanks so much for posting this! Brings back memories to late 2008 when I first got my IR.

I wish it was as exciting now as your story, but fly enough in the soup, and it too loses its fun edge.
 
Good job. This is why I always answer the 'what are your personal minimums' question with "legal minimums." I don't care what the forecast says, I always expect to have to be able to shoot it to minimums, because forecasts aren't all that spiffy for accuracy.
 
Henning said:
Good job. This is why I always answer the 'what are your personal minimums' question with "legal minimums." I don't care what the forecast says, I always expect to have to be able to shoot it to minimums, because forecasts aren't all that spiffy for accuracy.
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I use Personal Mins for planning. Not going to plan to go somewhere that is forecasting mins at my projected arrival time, as actual is often not as good as forecast.

"The forecast is right too often to ignore, but wrong too often to trust." Wish I could be that inaccurate at work and keep my job . . .
 
Agree with Henning on this. If you can't shoot an approach to legal minimums you have no business flying hard IFR. I don't trust forecasts - I've been stranded at least twice due to below minimums weather at home.

OP, way to get your ticket wet!! There is no better confidence builder than flying serious IFR by yourself. You probably have good IFR weather down towards NYC more often than we do up here - take advantage of it. You will never be more proficient than you are now, right after the checkride. The best way to stay proficient is to fly in the muck, as often as possible. Foggles/hood is no substitute.
 
Southwest of you I had a similar experience. The systems moved through much faster than predicted. I'm writing you from a friends couch where I slept last night.

Knew the weather was rolling in but wanted to fly up to NJ to meet a friend and drop off something I had borrowed. Forecast said one thing, foreflght showed stuff moving faster. Packed an overnight bag just in case

Flew up, had dinner, after dinner I could visibly see the ceilings were lowering and we called it and stayed overnight
 
Yeah I got home and went to sleep, 2.5 hrs of hard IMC really takes it out of you. But like everyone says the soup is nothing like foggles. I did all of my training in a plane without autopilot, and it was my first coupled approach ever, glad I read the book through a few times. Its amazing how much easier I found it with the autopilot and mulity tasking and scanning to make sure the autopilot was behaving. Then every once in a while handflying to make sure that if something happened I was ready to fly the rest myself. What and experierence and way to get my ticket wet. The wife was not very happy though but she will be okay.
 
Steve,

I don't want to be the spoiler that comes along, but you DO realize its a 3rd degree felony to post about a flight in IMC without photos or video, right????:lol::lol:

All kidding aside, I enjoyed your story very much! I just wish I could get as excited about hardcore IMC as I was from 2008 to 2011, in the 3 years after I got my IR. Reading your story brought me back down memory lane to a time when flying in the soup was THE thing I was most passionate about, and while its still ranks up there for me now, exploring the most inaccessible and remote places in the Bahamas, especially by boat, has taken over IMC as what is most in my blood!

While on the subject of actual IFR, check out some of my write-ups (with pics and video, incl ATC) from my experiences in the soup.

1) ILS to minimums on my B-day at ACK:http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59807

2) ILS to 300' with +RA at ORH: http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60317

3) 4 approaches, and a "for real" missed approach: http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67518

4) Another ILS to minimums, but this time with beautiful cloud scenery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0SP2rUIjaw
 
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There's a lot of truth to that. I'm not as passionate about seeking out IMC today as I was in my first year or so. I think now that I'm in VT exploring the mountains here has taken over for some of that. But solo practice in the soup is still the best way I know of to stay proficient on instruments, so given a good airplane, benign IMC and reasonable assurance of being able to get back in at home, I'll still do it with a good deal of gusto. Unfortunately the last time I had all those requirements was last fall. :( The day after I dropped off my plane for annual last month was the day we had our first benign IFR day this year with no chance of icing at MEA or approach altitudes. We've had plenty of flyable IMC over the last 3 weeks but I didn't get my airplane back until Wednesday, and yesterday I had to do an IPC in bright sunshine. Today would be okay IMC to fly in until later this afternoon, except it's OVC003 at home and the ILS only gets you down to 350. :(
 
As far as forecasting accuracy, I don't think the record has ever been as poor as it has been this year, at least here in the Mid Atlantic. I'm half convinced the Chinese have hacked the NWS...
 
azure said:
There's a lot of truth to that. I'm not as passionate about seeking out IMC today as I was in my first year or so. I think now that I'm in VT exploring the mountains here has taken over for some of that. But solo practice in the soup is still the best way I know of to stay proficient on instruments, so given a good airplane, benign IMC and reasonable assurance of being able to get back in at home, I'll still do it with a good deal of gusto. Unfortunately the last time I had all those requirements was last fall. :( The day after I dropped off my plane for annual last month was the day we had our first benign IFR day this year with no chance of icing at MEA or approach altitudes. We've had plenty of flyable IMC over the last 3 weeks but I didn't get my airplane back until Wednesday, and yesterday I had to do an IPC in bright sunshine. Today would be okay IMC to fly in until later this afternoon, except it's OVC003 at home and the ILS only gets you down to 350. :(
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Being based in VT, WHY are you scheduling your annuals in June, when New England experiences some of its nicest weather? You should be doing that sometime from Dec to Mar!!!:rofl::rofl:
 
beestforwardspeed said:
Being based in VT, WHY are you scheduling your annuals in June, when New England experiences some of its nicest weather? You should be doing that sometime from Dec to Mar!!!:rofl::rofl:
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Oh, really? :rolleyes: Mother Nature doesn't seem to have heard about that! We've had heavy rain every 2-3 days all month. There's even getting to be a slight mosquito problem, and I didn't see even one of those buggers here last year.

Seriously, it's by accident that my annuals ended up in the summer, but it's just as well since I think I'm going to be doing them in RUT, but I'm based at MPV. Not too crazy about flying over those mountains during icing season.
 
azure said:
Oh, really? :rolleyes: Mother Nature doesn't seem to have heard about that! We've had heavy rain every 2-3 days all month. There's even getting to be a slight mosquito problem, and I didn't see even one of those buggers here last year.

Seriously, it's by accident that my annuals ended up in the summer, but it's just as well since I think I'm going to be doing them in RUT, but I'm based at MPV. Not too crazy about flying over those mountains during icing season.
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Understand! I was posting tongue-in-cheek, so sorry if it came across the wrong way.

It didn't even occur to me that you did your annual off-site, but that makes perfect sense.
 
No worries! :) There's no reason you should have known that I was doing my annuals elsewhere, the shop on field here is plenty qualified. But I think mine is the first Cardinal RG their mechanic has worked on, and I can't afford to pay him to get up to speed. The shop I'm using at RUT has a lot more experience with the breed.
 
Here are some photos on the way there the one is above the layers at 7000.
 

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There's no substitute for IFR training in actual IFR conditions whenever possible. Sim time is fine, but if you're going to fly an aircraft in IMC, you need to train at least some by flying a real aircraft in IMC.
 
Ron Levy said:
Now you know why the FAA requires you to demonstrate the ability to fly to published mins and not just personal mins on the IR practical test, and why good instrument instructors get you all the weather time feasible.
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Plus why having at least the regulatory alternate and enough fuel to get there is important.
 
Yeah I was happy that I had 2hrs left so I had a lot of options.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Newly rated asel-ia shot the ils SEVEN times before he got in! But got in, he did.
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:yikes:

Didn't he have another alternative? Maybe try it twice but seven times? That tells me he had no alternate. What was he going to do if he didn't manage the seventh time? Just fly until fuel exhaustion?
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
My instrument DPE told me how one of his stu's got rated, then took off on a trip. Upon return weather had come down to minimums (this happens maybe once or twice a year here).
Newly rated asel-ia shot the ils SEVEN times before he got in! But got in, he did.
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Ugh...seven times? Were there any better fields nearby or were the low weather conditions really that widespread? Statistics show that a pilots chances of successfully getting in on the same approach significantly decrease with each approach if the weather doesn't make any drastic improvements and the chances of a fatal crash go up with each attempt. It just seems like one of those things that fits the definition of insanity: trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I mean...there is a reason why alternates are required if the forecast weather isn't the greatest.
 
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Ticket's wet! Training pays. Way to do that pilot thing you do.
 
narchee said:
:yikes:

Didn't he have another alternative? Maybe try it twice but seven times? That tells me he had no alternate. What was he going to do if he didn't manage the seventh time? Just fly until fuel exhaustion?
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Sometimes no, the entire region socks in and with a small GA plane you really don't get a better alternative because they are reporting worse. If you are to the point of running out of fuel, my choice would be get on the ILS and have it at 1.2Vso in landing configuration by 500' and keep on coming until I was visual or on the ground. Emergencies allow you to do whatever it takes.
 
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