solo IFR

[Kevin Clarke]

I got my IFR ticket almost 3 mos ago. Due to a variety of reasons I just
didn't fly much after that. Between work, school and family I needed to
take a break from the intense training leading up to the checkride on
March 1. I've done a little flying since then but with other pilots,
switching off as safety pilots, shooting an approach. Nothing intense
however.

Yesterday though the weather looked good, though hazy. I wanted my first
solo IFR to be in good weather. Let's handle 1 thing at time. Took off
out of KFIT for KBHB at about 6:00 pm. Got my clearance from Boston ENE
direct BHB as filed. Nice, and I was off to the races. I had a few
vectors to scoot around MHT but was back on course in a few. Climb to my
cruise altitude of 5000' and was direct for ENE. There was occasional
convective turbulence but nothing dramatic. The winds were more out of
the west than forecast so I had a bit of a tailwind. I was making
between 113 and 129kts ground speed after I turned to 065 at ENE. I
guess the winds were variable that is why I guess my ground speed was
here and there.

Uneventful ride. I had the ipod playing on shuffle, Chuck Berry, Howling
Wolf, Stevie Ray. No traffic to speak of. At one point, after maybe 20
minutes of radio silence, Brunswick Appch called for a radio check. I
was about to do the same thing. It had been that quiet. Picked up Bangor
appch and got my vectors for the ILS 22. Fly past the airport and turned
onto the localizer. Missed the landing clearance and had to ask to "say
again". The read back is easy when you play it over in your head, on the
ground, but up there watching altitude, airspeed etc, you get stupid. At
least I do. Anyway, 5 from Surry, turn 190, descend 2300 until
established on the localizer, cleared ILS 22.

Shot the worst ILS I ever have. Fly threw the beam, not once, but twice
.... was too fast, my descent rate was good however. Cancelled IFR in the
air when I was maybe 1.5 miles out. Slowed her up and greased it on.

Mostly uneventful. It is good to remember how intense that workload
gets. I forgot to flip my radio over to the CTAF, so I came into BHB in
stealth mode. Never announced, bad. A few lessons learned/remembered.
Fortunately traffic was light to none at 7:50 pm.

Next up on the ladder, some light IFR actual. Also just have to fly
more. Rust never sleeps.

KC

[Dan Luke]

"Kevin Clarke" wrote:

> Howling Wolf

*ahem*

That's "Howlin' Wolf," son.

>
> Next up on the ladder, some light IFR actual. Also just have to fly more.
> Rust never sleeps.

The best thing you can do is fly x-country a bunch and file IFR everywhere you
go, regardless of weather. That will get you used to all the stuff ATC can
throw at you.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

[Jose]

It's worth flying approaches on flight sim to stay sharp. It's no
substitute by a long shot, but it helps keep the rust off certain things.

Jose
--
There are two kinds of people in the world. Those that just want to
know what button to push, and those that want to know what happens when
they push the button.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

[Mxsmanic]

Kevin Clarke writes:

> Missed the landing clearance and had to ask to "say
> again". The read back is easy when you play it over in your head, on the
> ground, but up there watching altitude, airspeed etc, you get stupid.

That's what paper and pencil are for.

> Shot the worst ILS I ever have. Fly threw the beam, not once, but twice
> ... was too fast, my descent rate was good however. Cancelled IFR in the
> air when I was maybe 1.5 miles out. Slowed her up and greased it on.

What would you have done if you had not been able to see anything?

[Viperdoc[_4_]]

Considering that you've never flown anything other than a chair and a desk,
you're hardly qualified to offer advice or criticize the actions of real
pilots.

[Bob Moore]

Viperdoc wrote

> Considering that you've never flown anything other than a chair and a
> desk, you're hardly qualified to offer advice or criticize the actions
> of real pilots.

I see no advice nor criticism, just a question coming from someone
who has never been there and would like a better understanding of
what happens at an uncontrolled field.

Bob Moore

[chris[_2_]]

>
>>
>> Next up on the ladder, some light IFR actual. Also just have to fly
>> more. Rust never sleeps.
>
> The best thing you can do is fly x-country a bunch and file IFR
> everywhere you go, regardless of weather. That will get you used to
> all the stuff ATC can throw at you.

I agree with this. Flying IFR in mostly nice weather into busy
terminal areas is what I did for awhile. Good getting used to wacky
arrival procedures, altitude (20K feet), etc. I also did some weather
flights for decision making. Was over a year before I asked the wife
to sit through an actual ILS approach into an airport in IMC. I may be
more cautious than most.

Chris

[Maxwell]

"Mxsmanic" > wrote in message
...
>
> That's what paper and pencil are for.
>
> What would you have done if you had not been able to see anything?

You're a clueless bore with zero experience, and once again, your reading
comprehension sucks at best.

[Danny Deger]

"Kevin Clarke" > wrote in message
link.net...

At one time I flew an F-4E fighter, but I found IFR solo in my Beech Bonaza
would keep me busy. One of the issues with solo in the Bonaza was no
autopilot and very unstable in roll. If it was the least bit bumpy, a quick
trip to the map case to get the next map would be awarded with a 60 degree
roll by the time you looked back at the instruments. If I had the money, I
certainly would have gotten a wings leveller.

I agree with the comment to do lots of IFR cross country in good weather to
get used to the system.

Danny Deger

[Kevin Clarke]

Dan Luke wrote:
> "Kevin Clarke" wrote:
>
>
>> Howling Wolf
>>
>
> *ahem*
>
> That's "Howlin' Wolf," son.
>

My bad, Howlin' Wolf, of course. Hey it was my 1st cup o' Joe this
morning. :-)

> The best thing you can do is fly x-country a bunch and file IFR everywhere you
> go, regardless of weather. That will get you used to all the stuff ATC can
> throw at you.
>

that's the plan. Thanks.

KC

[Tony[_3_]]

In addtion to filing IFR every time you're going XC, if there are
clouds, choose an altititude that puts you IN them!

If there's a scattered deck of cumulous clouds you'll find yourself
punching in and out of them and having a wonderful time playing in
their canyons. If ATC is not too busy ask them to let you have a
cruise clearance so you can change altitudes a bit too. You'll be
smiling for days afterwards!



all On May 27, 8:23 am, Kevin Clarke > wrote:
> I got my IFR ticket almost 3 mos ago. Due to a variety of reasons I just
> didn't fly much after that. Between work, school and family I needed to
> take a break frohe intense training leading up to the checkride on
> March 1. I've done a little flying since then but with other pilots,
> switching off as safety pilots, shooting an approach. Nothing intense
> however.
>
> Yesterday though the weather looked good, though hazy. I wanted my first
> solo IFR to be in good weather. Let's handle 1 thing at time. Took off
> out of KFIT for KBHB at about 6:00 pm. Got my clearance from Boston ENE
> direct BHB as filed. Nice, and I was off to the races. I had a few
> vectors to scoot around MHT but was back on course in a few. Climb to my
> cruise altitude of 5000' and was direct for ENE. There was occasional
> convective turbulence but nothing dramatic. The winds were more out of
> the west than forecast so I had a bit of a tailwind. I was making
> between 113 and 129kts ground speed after I turned to 065 at ENE. I
> guess the winds were variable that is why I guess my ground speed was
> here and there.
>
> Uneventful ride. I had the ipod playing on shuffle, Chuck Berry, Howling
> Wolf, Stevie Ray. No traffic to speak of. At one point, after maybe 20
> minutes of radio silence, Brunswick Appch called for a radio check. I
> was about to do the same thing. It had been that quiet. Picked up Bangor
> appch and got my vectors for the ILS 22. Fly past the airport and turned
> onto the localizer. Missed the landing clearance and had to ask to "say
> again". The read back is easy when you play it over in your head, on the
> ground, but up there watching altitude, airspeed etc, you get stupid. At
> least I do. Anyway, 5 from Surry, turn 190, descend 2300 until
> established on the localizer, cleared ILS 22.
>
> Shot the worst ILS I ever have. Fly threw the beam, not once, but twice
> ... was too fast, my descent rate was good however. Cancelled IFR in the
> air when I was maybe 1.5 miles out. Slowed her up and greased it on.
>
> Mostly uneventful. It is good to remember how intense that workload
> gets. I forgot to flip my radio over to the CTAF, so I came into BHB in
> stealth mode. Never announced, bad. A few lessons learned/remembered.
> Fortunately traffic was light to none at 7:50 pm.
>
> Next up on the ladder, some light IFR actual. Also just have to fly
> more. Rust never sleeps.
>
> KC

[Matt Barrow[_4_]]

"Bob Moore" > wrote in message
46.128...
> Viperdoc wrote
>
>> Considering that you've never flown anything other than a chair and a
>> desk, you're hardly qualified to offer advice or criticize the actions
>> of real pilots.
>
> I see no advice nor criticism, just a question coming from someone
> who has never been there and would like a better understanding of
> what happens at an uncontrolled field.
>

You ASSUME he wants a better understanding. That is evidently quite naive
on your part, Bob.

[Matt Barrow[_4_]]

"Kevin Clarke" > wrote in message
link.net...
>I got my IFR ticket almost 3 mos ago. Due to a variety of reasons I just
>didn't fly much after that. Between work, school and family I needed to
>take a break from the intense training leading up to the checkride on March
>1. I've done a little flying since then but with other pilots, switching
>off as safety pilots, shooting an approach. Nothing intense however.
....
>
> Shot the worst ILS I ever have. Fly threw the beam, not once, but twice
> ... was too fast, my descent rate was good however. Cancelled IFR in the
> air when I was maybe 1.5 miles out. Slowed her up and greased it on.
>
> Mostly uneventful. It is good to remember how intense that workload gets.
> I forgot to flip my radio over to the CTAF, so I came into BHB in stealth
> mode. Never announced, bad. A few lessons learned/remembered. Fortunately
> traffic was light to none at 7:50 pm.
>
> Next up on the ladder, some light IFR actual. Also just have to fly more.
> Rust never sleeps.
>
More importantly, it's not so much to TOTAL experience, but the RECENT
(currency) experience. Note many of the NTSB accident reports of pilots with
a lot of total time, but who hadn't flown much, if at all, in the recent
past.

[Austin Gosling]

Interesting coincidence - I typed "KFIT" into flightaware.com to see
where it was, and saw you were on your return trip as I was reading the
post.

You are 8 minutes from KFIT as I type this!

Amazing Internet.

[Kevin Clarke]

Austin Gosling wrote:
> Interesting coincidence - I typed "KFIT" into flightaware.com to see
> where it was, and saw you were on your return trip as I was reading
> the post.
>
> You are 8 minutes from KFIT as I type this!
>
> Amazing Internet.
yup and I am back. Got some actual IFR today on the climb out from BHB.
Not sure when I went into the clouds (1100?) as I was fixated on my
panel scan, but I remember poking out at around 3000' on top of an
amazing floor of white. Jeez I love sight. The first hour of the flight
was great. Scattered below, smooth air. Once I hit the coast again at
Portland, ME. the fun started. That part of the flight back was a real
grinder. I had 30kt headwinds so it took longer than usual and the last
hour or so was blessed with some of the best convective turbulence I've
ever had the pleasure of getting my organs rearranged by. Solo,
completely solo, in that stuff is no fun at all. Greeted by a 15-20 kt
80 deg crosswind at Fitchburg. Set it down and gladly tied her up. I'm
beat.

Red Sox, Beers and BBQ tonight on the porch. :-)

KC

[Dan Luke]

"Kevin Clarke" wrote:

> Set it down and gladly tied her up. I'm beat.
>
> Red Sox, Beers and BBQ tonight on the porch. :-)


Sometimes, the best part of flying is when it's over.