making the transition from renter to owner part 2 (long)

The weather was a huge question mark for pretty much the entire flight
home. My plan A of course was to fly back the next day (Tuesday, the
30th). Plan B was to fly home commercially, leaving the airplane for
about a month until weather is more stable and I had less expected
schedule pressure.

Looking at the forecast and the current weather radar, there was a
line of weather somewhat inland running north-south. There was an
offshore low with bad weather expected to move in on Wednesday. There
was a bit of bad weather around South Carolina. Minimal if any
convective activity. We figured we could fly above the IFR patch
enroute and do the entire trip on Tuesday. Weather was sunny in
Florida and we decided to go for it.

Our early start turned out to be closer to noon. Not optimal if
you're trying to beat incoming weather, but I've always tended to
dawdle and I needed to stop by the pilot shop for some charts (the
broker had loaned me some current VFR charts and expired IFR charts,
but I wanted all the charts to be current). Also picked up a MagLight
just in case (it later turned out to be useful for unloading the plane
when we landed just as dusk was approaching).

First leg of the trip was from Naples (KAPF) to Fort Myers, Southwest
Florida International. I flew solo while Tina took the rental car
back. Conditions were severe clear, but otherwise, Things Did Not
Begin Smoothly. First off, I told to taxi to the departure end of
runway 5, but while I was doing the runup, the controllers really
sounded like they were just losing it. Winds were shifing and they
were trying to shift the runway to match. But the winds were shifting
again. They were telling incoming aircraft to remain clear while they
sorted things out. I decided to get out of their airpace as quickly
as possible before they sent me to another runway (which they did to
someone behind me).

On climbout, I made my approved on-course left-hand turn and looked at
the GPS. I had dialed in KSWF, the identifier for Southwest Florida,
and the direction was about right, but it had the destination airport
at nearly 1000 miles away, not the 20 or so I was expecting. SWF?
Duh! That's Stewart International in Newburgh, NY in my current
stomping ground. So, I look up the correct identifier (KRSW), and get
the ATIS. While I'm doing this, I'm doing some S-turns (traveling
North by going East, then West) to avoid RSW's class C airspace.
While I'm doing all this, my altitude is varying widely. At least
500'. By the time I called Fort Myers approach, I was practically
inside their airspace, not the 20 miles out the chart says to call
them from.

On contact, they asked me whether I was coming off Naples and I
confirmed it. Otherwise, they probably would've yelled at me for not
contacting them sooner. They gave me vectors around some radio
towers. It wound up putting me directly over the towers they wanted
me to avoid. Oops. Fortunately, as soon as they said towers, I
started climbing, so I got my margin vertically.

RSW was landing to the East, and I was coming in from the south. I wound
up in position for a base entry to a short approach. They told me to
keep my speed up, then approved a short approach. I came in still
turning final at about 100'. It would've looked pretty good if I
hadn't overshot the turn. I kept it coordinated, kept my speed up,
corrected the turn, and lined up with the runway. Touchdown was
smooth and I got off at A4 opposite the FBO. Oh, yeah, I even
remembered to put down the landing gear. The tower didn't bother
switching me to ground, just told me to cross taxiway A directly to
PrivateSky. I'm sure it was a good show for the passengers in the
airline that was awaiting departure.
http://www.aopa.org/images/asf/taxi/06757AD.pdf

I hung around the airport waiting for Tina to drive up. Planned the
next leg by going North, then East. Central Florida has some MOAs
that are better avoided. Tina looked at the plan and we decided it
would be shorter to go NE, then N along the East coast, duplicating
the trip to New Smyrna Beach. We looked at Hilton Head Island (HXD)
as our first fuel stop, but there were two things wrong with the idea.
First, it was a bit too far: I wanted 3-hour legs and this would be
3.5. Second, and more important, that was where the worst weather was
scheduled along the route. Better to be enroute on top of the weather
than having to shoot the IAP. We decided to stop at Brunswick, GA
(BQK), an untowered airport with an 8000' runway.

We also decided to alternate legs. On the first leg, I flew while
Tina handled the radios. Once again, Things Did Not Begin Smoothly.
The panel has 2 radios, and in true IFR fashion, one had the ground
controller dialed in, and the other had the Tower (aka "Local
Control") of course the audio panel was set to transmit on the wrong
radio. Tina calls ground and is told politely that she's on the wrong
frequency. A few moments later she calls ground and is told she's
still on tower. In the 4 or 5 minutes it took to get to the runway,
and several more confused transmissions, we probably convinced the
controllers we were complete idiots. He gave us departure vectors to
get the hell out of his airspace and all but told us never to return.

Navigation was fairly easy. We got an easy clearance into Daytona
Class B airspace. The only iffy thing was when I decided to make a
fairly radical course correction. I was right of the course line, but
decided to be somewhat left of the course line to make sure the line
ran more East of North than West of North, so we could remain at
7500'. The controller (we had flight following) queried our heading.
Tina reported our on-course heading. When a controller out of the
blue says "say heading", especially if you're VFR, the controler
really means, "where the expletive of your choice do you think
you're going". I would have reported the on-course heading, but added
that we were perhaps a bit overzealous in our maneuvering for course
correction. No matter. The same information came out after about 3
radio transmissions back and forth.

Weather started out sunny but started to cloud over by the end of the
leg. We landed, got fuel, looked at the weather radar. I was
overcharged for fuel. They said I used more than I thought I had.
Hmm. Maybe I didn't lean the fuel enough. Maybe I miscalculated the
fuel burn. Maybe I was overcharged. This was my very first fill-up.
Okay, I filled up at RSW, but that included the flight back from New
Smyrna by the former owner. While we're awaiting the weather, they
realized they had made a mistake, when their own books didn't
balance. The corrected amount matched my estimation much better.

Did I mention the weather? Ah, yes. The weather. We landed VFR. We
looked at the radar, watching a line of medium heavy rain (yellow on
the 'scope) approaching. Just as the scope said it was hitting BQK,
we looked outside the window to see the rain hitting. Pretty neat
watching it. Oops. Quickly running out in my shorts and tee shirt to
make sure the plane is closed up. I got just wet enough to put a
slight chill on. The line passed quickly. I've heard of people doing
cross countries and landing to wait out the passage of a front. Now
I've done exactly that.

We planned for the next leg, to Columbia, SC (CAE). It was a shorter
leg than the first one, but we were looking at losing the light.
Neither of us were night current, but we could always stop at dusk,
wait the hour and then I could go up alone for my 3 landings. We just
had to be down by dusk.

We filed IFR. With some minor confusion, we got our clearance on the
ground from the center controller and we took off VMC. We filed for a
cruise altitude of 5000' which worked out perfectly. We were on top
of an overcast (undercast?) layer and below another broken layer.
Clear of clouds and precipitation, a couple of degrees (C) above
freezing, and smooth as silk. Got permission to go off frequency to
give a pirep to Flight Watch. They seemed to appreciate it.

Columbia Approach descended us into the clouds just before sunset. A
plane ahead of us missed their approach and was returning to their
starting point, which happened to be their alternate. It sounded like
an IFR training flight, but he definitely said something about being
unable to get into CAE. As the approach controller was vectoring us
around, he gave us the current weather and asked our intentions.
Seldom a good sign, but we elected to continue the approach.

Since it was Tina's leg, she flew the approach while I monitored. The
cloudbase was uneven and during the approach at various times, I could
see the ground. Since I couldn't see the runway, Tina had to continue
on the gauges. She held it together well until we got close to
Decision Height where the needles are most sensitive. We couldn't see
the runway yet, but I saw the approach lights (they were
unmistakable), which meant we could continue down another 100'.

I took over and continued the approach using the Mark I eyeballs and
the runway popped out of the amorphous grey exactly where the approach
lights were pointing, exactly where it was supposed to be. Awesome!
Again, another smooth touchdown, and off to the FBO.

By the time we registered with the FBO and I made a couple of phone
calls and chilled out a bit, it was starting to get dark. We decided
to call it a night and I went out to the plane and quickly repacked a
few things for the overnight. Left everything else with the plane.
The FBO loaned us the crew van to check into the hotel and go out to
dinner, then when we brought it back, they gave us a ride back to the
hotel.

Next morning, the weather locally had cleared. After looking at the
alternatives and the options, Tina decided we were going to Norfolk,
VA (ORF). Why Norfolk? Wherever we ended up, there was a good chance
we were going to get stuck there. A class C airport would be big
enough to have services such as a courtesy car, hotel shuttle, and
(perhaps most importantly), some kind of scheduled airline service if
we really had to bail.

Tina has a charming way of planning flights: she spreads the charts
over the floor, taking up all available space.

It was my leg to fly; Tina's to talk. We departed CAE IFR in VMC and
climbed to our cruising altitude of 5000'. We were just scraping the
tops of a broken layer. Every once in a while, we'd pop through a
bubble of cumulus cloud. Each time we did, we'd go from a smooth ride
to bumpy. One time, we popped through a cloud while I had too much
head down time. Duh. The airplane knows when you're IMC with your
head down. It immediately goes into a 30-degree bank and loses a few
hundred feet. Oops. I know the drill. Level the wings, then pitch
up to regain altitude. I was on it before too much speed built up, so
I didn't have to adjust the power settings. ATC didn't say anything
about it, so maybe it happened between radar sweeps.

The plane has a nice auto-pilot tied in to both the HI (heading hold
mode) and the GPS. Particularly useful under IFR, but until I really
get the feel for the plane, I'd prefer to leave it off.

We passed through one cloud that rattled our teeth a little. Tina
said it would probably be a small thunderstorm cell in a few hours.

The trip to Norfolk was othewise uneventful and the time arrived to
descend into the soup. The needles were nicely centered, the runway
popped out of the clouds exactly where it was supposed to be and the
landing was smooth.

We landed just in time for lunch. Someone at the FBO shuttled us
through a nearby drive-through and we brought lunch back. We looked
at the charts and the weather reports. IFR down to near minima all
over the place. Above minima, but without real options if things got
worse. Oh, well. When in doubt, wait things out.

While I was looking at the charts nad planning the trip, Tina made the
executive decision to wait for the next hourly observation. While
waiting, she chats up a couple of Citation drivers. Turns out, they
were based at HPN and had made the same decision to wait for the next
weather report. One of them mentioned KPOU which had pretty good
weather. Acording to Tina who flies in a very flat part of Texas,
1000' ceilings makes it VFR. Around where I fly, that's at best an
exaggeration, but it's good enough as an alternate. We wound up
filing Allentown, PA as our alternate, but we kept POU in mind.

Poughkeepsie is about an hour's drive North of White Plains, and
would've made a good alternate, but it seemed like a sucker hole in
the middle of all this low IFR. When we did finally launch, we kept
POU in mind and kept abreast of the weather enroute.

Looking at the charts, I filed Victor 1 at 5000' all the way up to the
JFK VOR, which happens to be co-located with a well-known major
metropolitan airport, followed by radar vectors to HPN.

When we were finally ready to go, we picked up our clearance. I was
somewhat shocked and amazed to hear the phrase "cleared as filed". We
got taxi clearance to runway 5 via taxiway A, but were told to hold
short of the ILS critical area. After some minor confusion about
that, we did our runup and I told the tower we were ready to go. They
asked if we could takeoff from the intersection. Since it was Tina's
leg to fly and she was unfamiliar with the airport, she wanted the
full length.

The controller sounded a bit annoyed but authorized us to taxi along J
to the end of the runway. While we were going the short distance, the
tower cancelled our takeoff clearance and instructed us to position
and hold while they cleared a small business jet that had been behind
us to takeoff ahead of us from where the runway intersects A. Duely
chastized, we waited in position for the standard wake turbulence
delay behind the larger airplane.
http://www.aopa.org/images/asf/taxi/00291AD.pdf

Once again, we hit a sweet spot enroute. At 5000' we were VMC above
clouds or between layers. Smooth air just above freezing temperature.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise that they rerouted us enroute.
Continue along V1 until DIXIE, hang a left along V276 to Robbinsville,
V249 to Solberg and on to Sparta, V39 to BREZY, then direct to HPN.
In other words, a nice arc around the New York class B airspace.

I hastily reprogrammed the GPS. Once again, too much head-down time,
but this time I was the Pilot Not Flying, so it was okay. Having a
second pilot for IFR definitely makes things an order of magnitude
easier.

Tina was pointing out that the ground was visible through the holes in
the undercast and there was "VFR" underneath the layer. Yet another
alternative if we couldn't get in to HPN.

As we approached The City, the controller stepped us down into the
soup. Apart from an increasingly urgent physiological need, things
seemed to be progressing well. That, of course, is usually the moment
when things are just about to go very, very wrong.

As it turned out, things did not go sour. We did get some bad vectors
and (yet another) slam dunk on the approach to HPN. The controller
offered to send us around for another try, but I decided to take it.
Even though it was her leg, Tina gave me the approach.

I never really got things stable, but I did get out of the clouds with
the runway in sight more or less where it was supposed to be, in a
position to make a normal landing. The GPS really helped for
positional awareness.

I had a moment of "uh-oh" while we were still in the soup when the
approach controller switched us to HPN Tower and we heard the tower
controller was yelling at someone to get off the runway. I figured
for sure we were going to have to go missed approach and my bladder
was going to explode inside the airplane (I later found there a
provision for just such an situation in the pocket behind the pilot's
seat, a single use bag with a funnel opening and some kind of
absorbent crystals.). Whatever it was, they did get it quickly sorted
out and we were cleared to land.

Although that approach was hairy and I really should've taken the
vectors for another try, I impressed Tina with all my landings,
including that one. And she's not all that impressionable.

We got our taxi clearance to the FBO and I shut the plane down right
in front of the door. I had to sprint to the restroom. With that
need taken care of, we decided not to unpack the plane. It was
raining and we were both tired. Tina grabbed her stuff and we got a
ride into White Plains.

Tina got on the net and looked for a flight home. She'd missed the
last flight out, but got booked on one midday the next day. Instead,
we had dinner and time to review the trip.

Overall things went well and mostly good decisions were made. I
learned a lot from her about real-world flight planning. The main
thing I'd do differently would be to hit the restroom before leaving
ORF, so I'd be feeling less internal pressure to accept the bad vector
to the ILS.

Early next morning, I drove Tina to Newark for her flight home and
actually got to work more or less at my usual time.

Postscript. It's now 2 weeks since I left for Florida. Things have
been nonstop busy since. I finally had a chance on Saturday to take
Lonny up as my first passenger in my plane (Tina, of course, was
crew). Tina said she was inspired by the trip to finish up her
instrument rating. For a trip that was about 95% VMC, we couldn't
have done it without my instrument rating. I'm going to make
appointments with an instructor for some more IFR practice, especially
partial panel, to knock the remaining rust off that rating before
starting training for the commercial. There's some minor work that
needs to be done on the plane. Some of it relatively urgent but none
of it safety critical. Life is good.