![[FLYING]](images/aplanec.jpg){kind=small}
My third big trip -- and my biggest solo trip to date -- was to Atlanta for the annual LISA system administration conference. I had hoped for a passenger, but that didn't work out.
Last summer at Oshkosh (EAA AirVenture), my friend Bill (from Atlanta) showed my the NavAirWX -- GPS, moving map and satellite weather on a PDA. I decided to buy it before my trip to Atlanta. That also made it more reasonable to switch from the archer (N6205J) which has a GPS (but no moving map, and without an up-to-date database it isn't instrument certified) to the warrior (slightly slower, but with a working auto-pilot).
Of course, I put off ordering the unit until rather late in the process... it arrived on Tuesday, and I was scheduled to depart on Saturday. As I discovered on Thursday, I was missing the “ProClip” which attached to the suction-cup mount... turns out that everyone was missing it, since I had the new IPAQ HX4705, and the clip manufacturer hadn't delivered the new clips yet.. The really helpful people at airgator arranged for it to be sent fedex overnight for pickup at the fedex counter near the airport Saturday morning. When I got there, they didn't have a package for me... ooops. A mixup, but I was ok, I'd try the PDA on the right seat/in my lap and see what happened. The weather forcast was VFR anyway...
Despite my best intentions, I hadn't flown a lot since getting my instrument rating. In particular, I hadn't flown a single instrument approach. Not only did that make me no longer “current” according to the FARs, it meant I was really rusty, and that isn't safe. I called the flight school to schedule a couple of lessons to knock the rust off, and learned that Josh (my instructor) was leaving for vacation. I scheduled two flights with Christy, a new instructor. When we met for the first lesson, I told Christy my priorty was making sure I was proficient, not just getting current. We spent about an hour on the ground discussing my procedures, checklists and stuff like that, then we briefed the flight and the approaches I'd be flying. Boy was I rusty -- but with a little prompting, it all came back.
In the air, things went very well (except for a few controller goofs -- another good lesson). First I was told to expect the ILS 36 when 18 was active. I asked for clarification, and they said I was right. Then I didn't get the ILS -- despite being vectored throught the final approach course by the controller. He offered me a turn right (inbound) or left (outbound) to intercept. I took inbound. When I told him that we still didn't have the ILS but would do a visual approach instead, he said “D'OH!” and turned it on (or perhaps back to 18). So I picked up the localizer and glideslope way late, and it was a real tough job to get established. Lesson learned: I should have turned outbound or asked the controller to start the whole thing over rather than turn inbound and rush things -- especially since I hadn't picked up the ILS yet! That brings up the cliche -- fly as we train or train as we fly? I hope that if I'm ever in that situation, I'd be smart enough to take the turn outbound and/or deal with the lack of ILS signal a lot earlier.
For the second lesson, I had the NavAir in the cockpit, but since I wasn't going to rely on it, and certainly wasn't going to use it for any approaches, we set it aside until we'd flown the approaches and taken care of any bad habits or other things that needed correction (thankfully very few). Then we went out to the practice area to see what things looked like with the PDA. Christy told me she was confident of my flying, and that was that.
Like my previous trip (to Boston), I set aside two days for the trip down, and two days for the trip back, so I had some flexibility for weather. When I originally planned the trip, I was thinking of 5 flight hours, but then I switched from the archer to the warrior, and did some more detailed planing, and realized I'd be flying more hours. I also decided on 2 fuel stops -- to be conservative on both fuel reserves and not get too tired flying alone. I also planned to file IFR even in VMC, as I figured it would be helpful, especially in the crowded Atlanta airspace.
I looked into more details. Where to stop? AirNav helped some, and I bought the charts and started narrowing things down. And then I started thinking about my arrival in Atlanta. Bill told me to file for the “BUNNI TWO” arrival, since that is what I'd get anyway. Hmmm.... arrival. That got me thinking. Its now November, Daylight Savings is over... and I'd like to arrive during daylight. Sunset was about 5:20, lets call that 4pm. 3pm Central time. that means I'd have to leave early in the morning, and have no delays. Not a good plan -- to much pressure everything to go right, and too likely that I'd be tired or hurried.
Especially since the weather looked good, I decided to fly on both days that I'd set aside in case of weather, and take it easy. On Saturday, I'd fly to CMI (Champaign -- I'd flown there once before) and then to BWG (Bowling Green, KY) and ge a hotel (probably a lot less expensive than a night in Atlanta too!) Sunday I'd sleep in, then fly the last leg to PDK (Atlanta Peachtree airport).
I played hockey on Friday night, finished my flight plans, packed, and set my alarm, The weather looked good, and I wasn't really behind schedule as I made my way to the airport. I stopped for a bagle and coffee, then headed to fedex. As mentioned above, they didn't have my package. Oh well, I wasn't going to get upset about that.
Preflight was fine, got everything loaded, and figured out where to put the various bits of the NavAir. Back into the FBO to file the flight plan, and one last stop in the restroom.... and then I was on my way.
In the air, I learned that it was very easy to incorporate the AirNavWX into my scan... without excessive distractions, “head down” time, etc. Of course, if it was mounted on the suction cup thingie it would have been even better...
Just before KELSI intersection, Chicago Center told me to maintain present heading (I think they were trying to keep me away from skydivers at Skydive Chicago). After a while, I called back to ask if they still wanted me on that heading.., the controller said about 10 more minutes. 5 minutes later (after a controller change) a new voice asked if I could do 6,000 feet (instead of 5,000). I said yes, and was cleared for 6000 and direct CMI. The landing was uneventful. I stopped long enough to top off the fuel tanks, stretch, check the weather, file a flight plan and buy some M&Ms and bottled water for a light lunch.
The second leg was from Champaign to Bowling Green, KY, via the TTH VOR. I was handed off to Hulman approach, Evansville approach, Indy Center, Memphis Center. Cleared for the visual to BWG, and close with Memphis or Louisville FSS. Comar Aviation is a great FBO -- they had my room reserved at the nearby Courtyard, and I was ready for a nap. The Courtyard had free wireless internet, so I was able to check the weather, news, do a few crosswords and send email. Dinner at a chain steak place was ok.
After a good night's sleep, I got in the air at about 11am. Since BWG doesn't have a tower, I had to get my clearance from flight service before taking off -- something I've never done before. I had 10 minutes to take off, or 15 to cancel (standard practice). I was ready, so that wasn't a big deal. I was cleared for 7,000 feet, and heading for the CHOO-CHOO Vortac at Chattanooga.... the view outside was spectacular! And then the battery on my ANR headset died. Crap is that annoying! It still works, but it is a lot louder than it was!
At CHOO-CHOO I turned to 177 to DUMBB intersection ... left to BUNNI. As expected, Atlanta approach cleared me to cross BUNNI at 5000, and shortly after BUNNI was given direct PDK, and 4000. Approach then changed the plan, direct PDK VOR (not really any different) maintain 3,000. At the VOR, they cleared me for the right downwind to RWY 2L (the only open runway) and over to tower. Tower asked me to fly a 1-mile downwind (D'OH! I wish they had volunteered to call my base which is what MSN does when they need extra spacing in the pattern -- I'm not so good at juding miles in the air). WOW! Those are BIG towers south of the airport. Ok, turn base, and a long final....
Lots of construction at PDK (which is why all the runways except 2L were closed). I found my way past the construction and onto the ramp at Mercury. Plenty of daylight left, and I was ready to catch up with everyone at the hotel.
The next five days were busy as only a conference can be -- meetings, workshops, sessions, meeting new people and seeing old friends.
The plan for the trip home was mostly a simple reversal of the trip down: sleep in Saturday morning, and (weather permitting), fly one leg that afternoon to BWG. Sunday I'd fly two legs, and if the weather was bad, I had Monday in reserve. The weather looked ok -- a mix of VFR, MVFR and maybe some IFR, but not too low and the freezing level was well above my intended altitude. The ceiling at BWG might be a problem, but it looked ok. I filed BNA (Nashville) as my alternate.
Climbing out of PDK, I had about 15 seconds of actual instrument conditions until I got above the layer. I had filed direct NELLO - CHOO CHOO - BWG, expecting radar vectors to NELLO. After some turns to the west, I was cleared direct CHOO CHOO. Right to 331 on the way to BWG, above the cloud layer all the way. The ceiling at BWG was reported as 2,000 feet, visibility more than 6 miles. Not a problem. About 30 minutes from BWG center asked me what approach I wanted -- the only one I could fly was the ILS 3, and fortunately the winds were favorable (in fact, almost no wind at all).
I was cleared down to 4,000, vectors for the ILS 3. Solid clouds. This was my first "real" instrument approach, and it was the easiest I'd flown. As expected -- and as I experienced on my “long” IFR cross country during my instrument training -- I had plenty of time to brief the approach, get everything set, review my checklists, and then double-check it all. I nailed the localizer and glide slope, and then popped out at 2,000 -- well above pattern altitude, Even thought it seemed really unlikely that I'd lose the runway, I remembered from my training that it can happen -- so I continued to fly the ILS. Besides, I hadn't flown an ILS where I could see what was going on since before I started my instrument training (when I flew as a safety pilot), so it was fun!
Comar hadn't been able to get me a non-smoking room at the courtyard, so I had a reservation at the Baymont Inn instead. They also have free wireless, and yet another chain steak place in walking distance. I slept very well that night, and was ready to go the next morning.
The weather still looked ok -- the freezing level was still well above me, but it looked like I'd be in IMC a bit on this leg. That proved to be the case -- from just after taking off until THH I was in the clouds, then it cleared up. I was at 6,000 feet, the tops were reported by others as 6500 (with another layer above). When I broke out at THH, the layer above was also gone, and the sun was shining bright. Shortly after turning left to CMI, I was turned over the Champaign approach. Champaign told me to expect the visual to 32R, then changed it to the ILS 32R a few minutes later. Decending to CMI I did go through a few cloudy spots, and the haze was pretty bad, so the ILS was useful. My second “real” instrument approach was my new easiest approach ever.
Repeating my dining choice from the trip down, I ate a bag of peanut M&Ms at the FBO, and then it was time to fly home.
The flight from CMI to MSN was all VMC (but I still filed IFR), and uneventful. I landed, unloaded, and turned in a pile of reciepts for fuel and oil.
This trip was another great learning experience for me. I did a lot of small things that I'd never done before, and I think I did them well. I learned a bit about using the AirNavWX, but I still need to learn more (I didn't use the weather features much). I need to remember to check/change the battery in my headset before a long trip, and always have a spare on hand. And somehow I lost my pencil before even taking off on the BWG-CMI leg -- and had no spares (I used a pen instead, but I really wanted my pencil!). Splitting the flights over two days was a very smart move. The time I spent thinking about the flight in the weeks ahead prepared me to do my detailed flight planning as everything came together in the last days before the trip. Calling ahead to the FBOs where I stopped overnight wasn't necessary, but it was helpful and gave me peace of mind that there wouldn't be any surprises when I got there.