I took a student up yesterday to practice holding on the localizer in IMC
conditions. Winds were gusting to over 20 knots and of course it was bumpy
in there. He struggled with it for about 45 minutes (boy, does that bring
back memories), but he learned a lot about holding, localizers, outer
markers, the leans, and ATC. I call that a good flight.

We asked for the ILS back into Tacoma Narrows and were cleared, but we were
not handed off at the outer marker as usual. This happens fairly often when
radio traffic is heavy and so we gave tower a call anyway, reporting SCENN.
They sounded a little hesitant but cleared us to land. A minute or so later
they called us up and asked us to contact Seattle Approach and report that
their telephones were not working (we later learned that telephones were out
in the general area for a short time). Approach said they had figured that
out and that is why they weren't able to hand us off. They sent us back to
the tower with the message that they were aware of the problem. We broke out
at about 1000 feet (the ceiling right over the airport was 1500 feet, but
there were lower clouds to the north).

I thought the incident was interesting in that it offered a slightly unusual
problem to solve.

--
Christopher J. Campbell
World Famous Flight Instructor
Port Orchard, WA


If you go around beating the Bush, don't complain if you rile the animals.