askulte
Filing Flight Plan
Thanks for everyone’s support while I was working on the instrument rating – Bob Roseberry, my CFII; Andy Cooper, Safety Pilot & IFR mentor; Scott Ashton, CFI & mentor, and of course my wife who’s supported this from the start!
The IFR journey started in December – Lots of reading (Dolgan’s book was great), studying (Gleim knowledge test book), and a borrowed set of Sporty’s DVD’s. Finally, I had the last two weeks off of work, so Bob & I got started on the flying part. We were lucky that there was a week with stable air, no ice, and low ceilings, so I was able to get in 14 hours of actual. Great experience!
The long XC was a PilotsNPaws flight from KHFD (Hartford, CT) to KIZK (Fryeburg, ME) where we picked up Nina the Pointer (http://photo.skulte.com/blog/2013/1/pnp-nina), and delivered her to KPOU (Poughkeepsie, NY), and then back to KHFD. Picked up a little ice to the climb on top. Then training took a break from January to April while Bob was living the good life in Florida, and we resumed again in May.
Another PilotsNPaws trip from KHFD to KMIV through the NYC Bravo airpace was a great experience.
By June, I was ready for the checkride, and Scott offered to do a mock checkride with me as practice – that went well, so we went ahead and scheduled the checkride at the end of June with Bob Nardiello. Unfortunately, that whole week we had thunderstorms and broken ceilings that wouldn’t have given VFR cloud clearance to do the approaches. Then we went on vacation, then plane was down for the annual, for a month without flying. While Bob Nardiello was out at Oshkosh for the week long Airventure fly-in, I did another three flights with Andy & Bob Roseberry to regain proficiency. Finally, August 6th arrived! High pressure over the area, and calm winds through 6000’! You couldn’t ask for better checkride weather.
Bob Nardiello had asked me to plan a cross country trip to KPSM – I checked fltplan.com for the ATC approved routings, and used a common route in our area – HFD V229 GDM V106 MHT PSM. I had planned the trip in June, and re-did the numbers for yesterday (easy – calm winds!). During pre-flight at, I found our Cessna 172K had a bit of water in the left tank. We hangar ‘46511, and this has never been an issue, but it was left outside during a rainstorm at the FBO to fix a flat on Sunday night. No sweat – drain till clear, shake the wing, repeat, and re-do the gascolator as well. Nice puddle of water bubbles in the fuel too! I taxi up to the FBO at 10am (engine ran fine), and meet BobN (along with CFII Bob). We go over the paperwork, and just have to make a change in the log from 2 months to 60 days. Glad CFII Bob was there.
The oral exam begins with a conversation about pilot and aircraft currency. We discuss the trip to Pease, while reviewing the en-route chart, and approach plates. Then we discuss hazardous weather (tstorms & icing) and how the aircraft is affected, and finally cover aircraft systems and equipment failures (vac sys, gyros, pitot-static). Everything went smoothly, and Bob was very good about asking questions in a way that lead to me sharing my knowledge, and re-phrasing when I didn’t quite understand the question.
We then headed out to the flightline, and I did another preflight – this time the left sump sample was completely clear! All water. Drain it again, and you can see the separation layer of water and blue fuel. Shake, settle, drain, repeat… We settle in, I run through the safety items (seatbelts, doors, fire ext, pos exch of control), and do the prestart checklist and start the engine. I go through a handful of checklists (my nice laminated VFR checklist and some new IFR items – I need to consolidate them), get ATIS, and then discuss getting the clearance – do it on the ramp, not in the run-up area in case there’s a delay. In the future, I’ll get ATIS, the clearance, and program the GPS before starting up (and yes, I don’t have the avionics on when starting, not that I would expect a voltage spike since the magnetos are a separate system, but who knows if the alternator is capable of sending a surge on start-up. Better safe than sorry). The clearance was Cleared to Pease, As Filed, Climb and Maintain 3000, expect 3500 10 minutes after departure, squawk 1200, departure frequency 119.6. I did the readback correctly, we taxi to the run-up area, do that, and are #2 in line. I radio Brainard tower - #2 in line at runway 2, departing to the Hartford VOR, then north east. We wait for the first guy to go, get cleared for take-off, and are on our way!
I climb out, turn nearly 180, and fly direct to the Hartford VOR (notam’d out of service yesterday, but we’re OK with the GPS), then turn north along V229 and settle in to cruise. There’s a bit of thermal chop (turbulence) today. About 5 minutes later, Bob is “ATC” and issues a right turn to 140. A few minutes later, he gives a turn to 200 instruction, then clears me to 3500 and direct to the Norwich VOR. Push the prop in, full rich, full throttle, start entering the waypoint into the Garmin 430, and don’t forget the 3500’ altitude! I level off at 3500, then continue setting up the Garmin, and fly direct.
I knew there was a DME arc coming up – Bob let me know the itinerary the night before – and here it was! He gave an instruction to turn left on the 7 DME arc. I led the turn by half a mile, then twisted the OBS to a 90 degree perpendicular course. Doh! That’s my course, not the radial! I notice that a few seconds later as the CDI is pegged, and turn it back to the radial +10 degrees. All is well. I’m at 6.9 miles from ORW, and creeping in. Hold the same heading for the next arc segment, let the CDI deflect 2.5 dots to 5 degrees, and then turn & twist.
I continue around the arc for another 40 degrees or so, then am issued an instruction to go direct to the ORW VOR for the VOR-A approach to KIJD, and hold as published. I head in, turn to the outbound heading for a parallel entry, and a minute later turn to intercept the inbound radial. Still told to hold and request reporting procedure turn inbound. I go around for another lap, and report PT inbound as I begin the turn to the inbound heading (later in the debrief Bob suggested waiting until established inbound to report the PT, so you have the option for another trip around if needed, since you “own” the hold as long as needed). I’m was cleared for the approach somewhere, and the GPS screen was “failed”... As I get closer to the VOR, the CDI drifts left. I correct a bit (Garmin 430 screen is “failed”, and assume I’m in the cone of confusion. I wait for the to-from flag to flip, and then keep waiting for the CDI to come in. And wait… On the iPad (ForeFlight) I could see I’m still near the VOR, which was reassuring (great for situational awareness, IMHO). I wait some more, and the CDI needle finally starts coming in, so I begin my descent. Since the VOR-A approach uses a crossing radial from the HFD VOR (which was out of service), I wasn’t able to identify the RAKET stepdown point, so I stayed at the stepdown fix altitude (1700’). Reviewing the approach plate now, I see there’s a DME fix to ORW, but I wouldn’t have had time to configure the GPS for it, while keeping the approach loaded. I also could have used the GPS to identify RAKET (if the VOR-A has the little GPS letters next to the procedure in the Garmin 430, I believe). Anyways, better safe than sorry, so I stayed at 1700, when Bob unfailed the Garmin, and I descend to 1200 for a circle to land on Rwy 27 and traffic pattern entry. While on final, I’m told to keep descending until told otherwise, so full 40 degrees of flaps, and down we go. At some point close to landing, I’m issued an instruction to go missed – full power, fight the huge pitch up from the full flaps, trim down, and up we go, back to the Norwich VOR.
On the way, I get a turn to the HFD VOR, and then request to do the GPS-2 approach to HFD via THUMB transition. Contact Bradley approach, who wasn’t familiar with the approach, a little back and forth clarification, and on my way to Thumb. At this point, my attitude indicator “fails”, and then there goes the DG! I pull the standby vacuum lever, but that doesn’t “fix” it, so partial panel it is. No sweat. The approach goes well, and we’re broken off at a half-mile, turned right by Brainard ATC, and vectored to the Bradley ILS 33, and nearly immediately get cleared and turned in to the localizer. Lots of things going on at once – program in KBDL to the Garmin, flip to the localizer frequency, identify, get ATIS, etc… During the debrief, Bob suggested I ask for delaying vectors next time, and plan 3 steps ahead. I could have gotten the ATIS and had the localizer frequency in standby while doing the KHFD approach…
The ILS 33 approach goes well while Air Canada is holding for us on the tarmac, and we get broken off at a half mile final, and turned south west. Climb to 2600’, struggle a little to get it trimmed to hold altitude (up a bit, down a bit…), and then told the altimeter setting by ATC, maintain VFR and altitude at my discretion. Time for unusual attitudes (fun!). I exchange controls to Bob, close my eyes, and put my head down to get as much vertigo as possible. I’m given control, and we’re in a slow, climbing right turn. Level wings, nose down, and add power for the recovery. The next one is a steep descending turn, which also goes well.
After this, Bob tells me to contact Brainard and get us home safely! Brainard gives us a visual straight in to Rwy 11 (2300’) since there was a corporate jet on a straight in to Rwy 20. Land a bit past the numbers, float a little, but still make the turn off for Twy A without heavy braking. Taxi up to Atlantic Aviation, and then back up to the pilot lounge for IACRA. Bob prints out the new temporary license, I sign it, and then have to punch a hole in my plastic certification! I can’t wait for the new hard card to come in the next few weeks.
Thanks for reading through all this – I thought Bob was a good DPE – the checkride went well, and I learned some new tricks too. CFII Bob and Andy both offered to ride with me on the next IFR day, so now it’s time to start exercising the rating!
--
Andris
The IFR journey started in December – Lots of reading (Dolgan’s book was great), studying (Gleim knowledge test book), and a borrowed set of Sporty’s DVD’s. Finally, I had the last two weeks off of work, so Bob & I got started on the flying part. We were lucky that there was a week with stable air, no ice, and low ceilings, so I was able to get in 14 hours of actual. Great experience!
The long XC was a PilotsNPaws flight from KHFD (Hartford, CT) to KIZK (Fryeburg, ME) where we picked up Nina the Pointer (http://photo.skulte.com/blog/2013/1/pnp-nina), and delivered her to KPOU (Poughkeepsie, NY), and then back to KHFD. Picked up a little ice to the climb on top. Then training took a break from January to April while Bob was living the good life in Florida, and we resumed again in May.
Another PilotsNPaws trip from KHFD to KMIV through the NYC Bravo airpace was a great experience.
By June, I was ready for the checkride, and Scott offered to do a mock checkride with me as practice – that went well, so we went ahead and scheduled the checkride at the end of June with Bob Nardiello. Unfortunately, that whole week we had thunderstorms and broken ceilings that wouldn’t have given VFR cloud clearance to do the approaches. Then we went on vacation, then plane was down for the annual, for a month without flying. While Bob Nardiello was out at Oshkosh for the week long Airventure fly-in, I did another three flights with Andy & Bob Roseberry to regain proficiency. Finally, August 6th arrived! High pressure over the area, and calm winds through 6000’! You couldn’t ask for better checkride weather.
Bob Nardiello had asked me to plan a cross country trip to KPSM – I checked fltplan.com for the ATC approved routings, and used a common route in our area – HFD V229 GDM V106 MHT PSM. I had planned the trip in June, and re-did the numbers for yesterday (easy – calm winds!). During pre-flight at, I found our Cessna 172K had a bit of water in the left tank. We hangar ‘46511, and this has never been an issue, but it was left outside during a rainstorm at the FBO to fix a flat on Sunday night. No sweat – drain till clear, shake the wing, repeat, and re-do the gascolator as well. Nice puddle of water bubbles in the fuel too! I taxi up to the FBO at 10am (engine ran fine), and meet BobN (along with CFII Bob). We go over the paperwork, and just have to make a change in the log from 2 months to 60 days. Glad CFII Bob was there.
The oral exam begins with a conversation about pilot and aircraft currency. We discuss the trip to Pease, while reviewing the en-route chart, and approach plates. Then we discuss hazardous weather (tstorms & icing) and how the aircraft is affected, and finally cover aircraft systems and equipment failures (vac sys, gyros, pitot-static). Everything went smoothly, and Bob was very good about asking questions in a way that lead to me sharing my knowledge, and re-phrasing when I didn’t quite understand the question.
We then headed out to the flightline, and I did another preflight – this time the left sump sample was completely clear! All water. Drain it again, and you can see the separation layer of water and blue fuel. Shake, settle, drain, repeat… We settle in, I run through the safety items (seatbelts, doors, fire ext, pos exch of control), and do the prestart checklist and start the engine. I go through a handful of checklists (my nice laminated VFR checklist and some new IFR items – I need to consolidate them), get ATIS, and then discuss getting the clearance – do it on the ramp, not in the run-up area in case there’s a delay. In the future, I’ll get ATIS, the clearance, and program the GPS before starting up (and yes, I don’t have the avionics on when starting, not that I would expect a voltage spike since the magnetos are a separate system, but who knows if the alternator is capable of sending a surge on start-up. Better safe than sorry). The clearance was Cleared to Pease, As Filed, Climb and Maintain 3000, expect 3500 10 minutes after departure, squawk 1200, departure frequency 119.6. I did the readback correctly, we taxi to the run-up area, do that, and are #2 in line. I radio Brainard tower - #2 in line at runway 2, departing to the Hartford VOR, then north east. We wait for the first guy to go, get cleared for take-off, and are on our way!
I climb out, turn nearly 180, and fly direct to the Hartford VOR (notam’d out of service yesterday, but we’re OK with the GPS), then turn north along V229 and settle in to cruise. There’s a bit of thermal chop (turbulence) today. About 5 minutes later, Bob is “ATC” and issues a right turn to 140. A few minutes later, he gives a turn to 200 instruction, then clears me to 3500 and direct to the Norwich VOR. Push the prop in, full rich, full throttle, start entering the waypoint into the Garmin 430, and don’t forget the 3500’ altitude! I level off at 3500, then continue setting up the Garmin, and fly direct.
I knew there was a DME arc coming up – Bob let me know the itinerary the night before – and here it was! He gave an instruction to turn left on the 7 DME arc. I led the turn by half a mile, then twisted the OBS to a 90 degree perpendicular course. Doh! That’s my course, not the radial! I notice that a few seconds later as the CDI is pegged, and turn it back to the radial +10 degrees. All is well. I’m at 6.9 miles from ORW, and creeping in. Hold the same heading for the next arc segment, let the CDI deflect 2.5 dots to 5 degrees, and then turn & twist.
I continue around the arc for another 40 degrees or so, then am issued an instruction to go direct to the ORW VOR for the VOR-A approach to KIJD, and hold as published. I head in, turn to the outbound heading for a parallel entry, and a minute later turn to intercept the inbound radial. Still told to hold and request reporting procedure turn inbound. I go around for another lap, and report PT inbound as I begin the turn to the inbound heading (later in the debrief Bob suggested waiting until established inbound to report the PT, so you have the option for another trip around if needed, since you “own” the hold as long as needed). I’m was cleared for the approach somewhere, and the GPS screen was “failed”... As I get closer to the VOR, the CDI drifts left. I correct a bit (Garmin 430 screen is “failed”, and assume I’m in the cone of confusion. I wait for the to-from flag to flip, and then keep waiting for the CDI to come in. And wait… On the iPad (ForeFlight) I could see I’m still near the VOR, which was reassuring (great for situational awareness, IMHO). I wait some more, and the CDI needle finally starts coming in, so I begin my descent. Since the VOR-A approach uses a crossing radial from the HFD VOR (which was out of service), I wasn’t able to identify the RAKET stepdown point, so I stayed at the stepdown fix altitude (1700’). Reviewing the approach plate now, I see there’s a DME fix to ORW, but I wouldn’t have had time to configure the GPS for it, while keeping the approach loaded. I also could have used the GPS to identify RAKET (if the VOR-A has the little GPS letters next to the procedure in the Garmin 430, I believe). Anyways, better safe than sorry, so I stayed at 1700, when Bob unfailed the Garmin, and I descend to 1200 for a circle to land on Rwy 27 and traffic pattern entry. While on final, I’m told to keep descending until told otherwise, so full 40 degrees of flaps, and down we go. At some point close to landing, I’m issued an instruction to go missed – full power, fight the huge pitch up from the full flaps, trim down, and up we go, back to the Norwich VOR.
On the way, I get a turn to the HFD VOR, and then request to do the GPS-2 approach to HFD via THUMB transition. Contact Bradley approach, who wasn’t familiar with the approach, a little back and forth clarification, and on my way to Thumb. At this point, my attitude indicator “fails”, and then there goes the DG! I pull the standby vacuum lever, but that doesn’t “fix” it, so partial panel it is. No sweat. The approach goes well, and we’re broken off at a half-mile, turned right by Brainard ATC, and vectored to the Bradley ILS 33, and nearly immediately get cleared and turned in to the localizer. Lots of things going on at once – program in KBDL to the Garmin, flip to the localizer frequency, identify, get ATIS, etc… During the debrief, Bob suggested I ask for delaying vectors next time, and plan 3 steps ahead. I could have gotten the ATIS and had the localizer frequency in standby while doing the KHFD approach…
The ILS 33 approach goes well while Air Canada is holding for us on the tarmac, and we get broken off at a half mile final, and turned south west. Climb to 2600’, struggle a little to get it trimmed to hold altitude (up a bit, down a bit…), and then told the altimeter setting by ATC, maintain VFR and altitude at my discretion. Time for unusual attitudes (fun!). I exchange controls to Bob, close my eyes, and put my head down to get as much vertigo as possible. I’m given control, and we’re in a slow, climbing right turn. Level wings, nose down, and add power for the recovery. The next one is a steep descending turn, which also goes well.
After this, Bob tells me to contact Brainard and get us home safely! Brainard gives us a visual straight in to Rwy 11 (2300’) since there was a corporate jet on a straight in to Rwy 20. Land a bit past the numbers, float a little, but still make the turn off for Twy A without heavy braking. Taxi up to Atlantic Aviation, and then back up to the pilot lounge for IACRA. Bob prints out the new temporary license, I sign it, and then have to punch a hole in my plastic certification! I can’t wait for the new hard card to come in the next few weeks.
Thanks for reading through all this – I thought Bob was a good DPE – the checkride went well, and I learned some new tricks too. CFII Bob and Andy both offered to ride with me on the next IFR day, so now it’s time to start exercising the rating!
--
Andris
