Weather Question

kimberlyanne546 said:
Gorgeous. Perfect. I've had a beer though. So I'll just join everyone for dinner now and say:

Except for my not seeing the airport (and doing standard rate turns until I did just outside the delta airspace), I:

Make it WELL AHEAD of my estimated time.

Experienced some, but minimal, turbulence, and fought to keep my MH, Alt, RPM constant.

Kept track of every way point and consistently "beat" each estimate by 10 - 30 minutes.

Only logged 2.7 and it would have been less if I hadn't circled.

I promised myself I wouldn't look at the weather or worry about the trip back, so don't ruin it for me!

The fun guy at the school even texted to make sure I made it ok. Sticked the plane, 7-8 useable remaining, totally safe and sound.

Breathed a sigh of relief.
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party.gif
 
Excellent! I'm just seeing this thread--haven't had much time for POA--but my timing is impeccable! Way to go, Kim!
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Gorgeous. Perfect. I've had a beer though. So I'll just join everyone for dinner now and say:

Except for my not seeing the airport (and doing standard rate turns until I did just outside the delta airspace), I:

Make it WELL AHEAD of my estimated time.

Experienced some, but minimal, turbulence, and fought to keep my MH, Alt, RPM constant.

Kept track of every way point and consistently "beat" each estimate by 10 - 30 minutes.

Only logged 2.7 and it would have been less if I hadn't circled.

I promised myself I wouldn't look at the weather or worry about the trip back, so don't ruin it for me!

The fun guy at the school even texted to make sure I made it ok. Sticked the plane, 7-8 useable remaining, totally safe and sound.

Breathed a sigh of relief.
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So how long did it take those who drove?;):lol:
 
Henning said:
So how long did it take those who drove?;):lol:
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DOUBLE. And we were so busy we never talked (navigating, looking for traffic, calculating times at waypoints, looking for landmarks).

So us = 2.5 hours.

Others = 5 hours!!!
 
Anthony said:
Kimberly,

Start with ADDS Weather, then DUATS for your route of flight. What others have said is true. You may not know if you can go until the day of the flight, and even then there may be some questions. However, you will never learn if you always stay on the ground unless it is absolutely CAVU. I am NOT recommending scud running nor purposely launching into MVFR.

I know it is difficult but see if you can build in some wiggle room for departure and return trip dates. Often a day either way will solve the weather issues, sometimes not. If this is NOT possible, then you will always be second guessing the weather for at least the return trip even if the flight there is CAVU.

You have a lot of options when in the air to avoid weather. Learn to use them. Using a different route, doing a 360 or diverting to another airport along your route of flight are all valid options. I have sat out weather for a few hours at an airport, then continued on without problems many times.

Learn to use Flightwatch, and practice calling them up when CAVU so you get comfortable with the various ways to contact them.
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I agree with what Anthony wrote here. I have not read this entire thread, but weather will ALWAYS be a concern with longer trips, particularly if one will be reversing course several days after that. It is very frustrating to my wife that, even with an instrument rating, I cannot GUARANTEE that we will be able to fly somewhere on a given date two weeks, or two months, off (like to a Parents' Weekend). Such is the nature of general aviation. One only flies these little planes because one enjoys the adventure--they are not the best means of reliable transportation.

One website not yet mentioned is http://www.usairnet.com/cgi-bin/launch/code.cgi. I like the simplicity of this site, as for expected winds, cloud bases, visibility and such. I might start with this site, and then look at ADDS (especially like the G-Airmet Interactive Display for hazardous flight conditions over the next several hours), then get a formal briefing from DUATS. I see that you (Kimberly) get telephone briefings, but I think you will learn that the VISUAL representation from online sources are far superior to hearing somebody describe them. (This latter preference of visual info over auditory info is why most find XM Weather in the cockpit vastly superior to having to depend on a briefer on FlightWatch).

Use the online weather sources available to you, continue to learn, and get the instrument rating if you are really going to get any utility out of GA.

Wells
 
scottd said:
Well it appears that I've gotten enough interest to hold a free one-hour Q&A webinar. However, I've only had about 6 send me a PM with their e-mail address. No e-mail address, no invitation.

Here's what I asked...

"If anyone is interested, please send me a PM with your e-mail address and I'll attempt to organize the webinar."


It'll likely be in the evening during the week. Not sure if it'll be this week or next.
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Yeah! I'm looking forward to it! Very generous of you to do it Scott.
 
Couldn't see the airport.

Had to do donuts since I didn't want to go bust class Delta airspace, plus I was at 5500 and TPA was 999 so I needed to descend.

Here is my descending donut as I'm screaming "where's the *&&%% runway?!"

6826689856_1ffc5afa0d_o.jpg
 
scottd said:
Great. I've got you on the list to attend. I'm filled to the brim at this point so I'm starting a waiting list just in case there are a few folks that can't make it. Once I can clear an evening during the week of the 19th through the 23rd, I will send out an e-mail invitation.
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Kool........... Thanks a ton Scott..:yesnod::yesnod::yesnod::yesnod::)
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Couldn't see the airport.

Had to do donuts since I didn't want to go bust class Delta airspace, plus I was at 5500 and TPA was 999 so I needed to descend.

Here is my descending donut as I'm screaming "where's the *&&%% runway?!"
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In the voice of an obviously senior controller at SAF: "Just keep it coming"

My first post ppl long solo x-c was BJC to SAF and I encountered a variety of conditions from mountain wave to comfortable scud running (~2,000 AGL). I was running low on functioning brain cells on the last 20 miles and the jr. controller was starting to confuse me. The senior controller came on freq and asked if I had GPS. When I responded affirmative, he commanded (advised) that I just keep flying to the airport. It got a little funny after that when I finally saw the airport and was able to advise them of my position and they couldn't find me. I knew where I was and just told them to keep looking, I was right where I said I was. Definitely felt like victory on final and the aircraft just seemed to keep itself on centerline - nary a twitch even though it was the typical gusty SAF.
 
Kimberly, why don't you mark the trip shared and post the link instead of a screen shot?


kimberlyanne546 said:
Couldn't see the airport.

Had to do donuts since I didn't want to go bust class Delta airspace, plus I was at 5500 and TPA was 999 so I needed to descend.

Here is my descending donut as I'm screaming "where's the *&&%% runway?!"

6826689856_1ffc5afa0d_o.jpg
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scottd said:
Great. I've got you on the list to attend. I'm filled to the brim at this point so I'm starting a waiting list just in case there are a few folks that can't make it. Once I can clear an evening during the week of the 19th through the 23rd, I will send out an e-mail invitation.
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Am I also listed?

I sent you a PM as requested.

Thanks for your help!
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
DOUBLE. And we were so busy we never talked (navigating, looking for traffic, calculating times at waypoints, looking for landmarks).

So us = 2.5 hours.

Others = 5 hours!!!
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Very cool. Congrats! You made good decisions, and you are well on your way to becoming an experienced cross country pilot.
 
Very nice! Great job! Didn't that feel great?
 
I just looked at Flightaware and it appears Kimberly is about half way home.

The radar is getting active around 016 so looks like she may have some Wx to deal with as she proceeds northbound.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
One pilot (who I met at the open house) said he was able to follow me on Flight Aware. That must have been cool, cuz he said he saw me descend way too early (donut area).

Tail number N66516

Here is the flight here:

http://www.cloudahoy.com/cgi-bin/fltShare.cgi?share=1eDVSZgxAwYYAKwcFLp5L
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This is the real reason everyone should be flying with moving map GPS, it eliminates those 3 & 5 minute excursions of inefficiency cost $10 each. You should always know where you're going, with a moving map GPS that becomes much easier to secure.
 
Home base for her is 4400 scattered, 5000 overcast. 1500' ridges and a 2500' tower northeast. Sector safe altitude is 3100.

Looks like she'll be getting a little "looking out the window at the weather" practice, maybe even going around and low hangers or isolated puffies underneath... but should be do-able.

Good day to get out and stretch the brain a bit. ;)

aeff83c2-78b4-1b1f.jpg
 
Hmmm appears to be some confusion on the Flightaware sight. Her N66516 shows a 172 enroute to Garberville (look closer) which is much further north than O69.

Man, there's always some kind of drama with this girl..lol

(Just teasing, Kim)
 
Looks like that lucky gal had a tailwind down .....and back too.. :):)

She must be livin right..:yesnod::yesnod:
 
N801BH said:
Looks like that lucky gal had a tailwind down .....and back too.. :):)

She must be livin right..:yesnod::yesnod:
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It appears it's not her on Flightaware for her N number. That aircraft is past O69 now headed for O16.

And, it's a 172.
 
Kiloalphadriver said:
It appears it's not her on Flightaware for her N number. That aircraft is past O69 now headed for O16.

And, it's a 172.
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It's a 150; click on the "Registration" link on the page. For some reason, FA is listing it as a 172 on the main page. If you don't believe that, just look at the speed... :)
 
TangoWhiskey said:
It's a 150; click on the "Registration" link on the page. For some reason, FA is listing it as a 172 on the main page. If you don't believe that, just look at the speed... :)
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Well, the aircraft being tracked on Flightaware for N66516 is well past Petaluma.
 
Kiloalphadriver said:
Hmmm appears to be some confusion on the Flightaware sight. Her N66516 shows a 172 enroute to Garberville (look closer) which is much further north than O69.

Man, there's always some kind of drama with this girl..lol

(Just teasing, Kim)
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You'll notice the track stops at 069. I think somebody (ATC) punched in O16 instead of O69 on the flight following request. The current position is "estimated", in "coast mode".
 
TangoWhiskey said:
You'll notice the track stops at 069. I think somebody (ATC) punched in O16 instead of O69 on the flight following request. The current position is "estimated", in "coast mode".
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Yes, I noticed that, too. Well, one thing for sure, we'll know whether she went or not in a little while..:)
 
Looks like she battled clouds, her altitude was all over the place.
 
EppyGA said:
Looks like she battled clouds, her altitude was all over the place.
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She had fun, that's for sure... But she is safely on the ground and completed her trip. I just talked to her. She said she'll post her story later, but I could let y'all know she's home.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
She had fun, that's for sure... But she is safely on the ground and completed her trip. I just talked to her. She said she'll post her story later, but I could let y'all know she's home.
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Thanks for the info, glad to know she made it okay and had fun. The fun part is most important. :D
 
Turbulence. Sucked. Clouds. Freaking out. Terrain. Learned more in the past 4 days about XCs than in all of my training.

GOODNIGHT!
 
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