First IMC flight

wrote in message
Popped into the clouds 2000 feet above San Carlos. Wondered just what
I'd gotten myself into as the ground went away and all the windows
turned white.

Right after I got my ticket, I figured I would take a short 1-hour flight in
clear weather to get used to the IFR system. The forecast "few" clouds
turned into broken right at my altitude and I wondered the same exact thing
you did. The weird thing about the broken clouds was that I felt like I was
going too fast and I kept glancing at my airspeed indicator more so than
what I was taught.

Marco



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That is a wierd sensation; like heading towards a brick wall at 150
mph, then all of a sudden you punch right through the wall with little
or no effect on the airplane. I still love flying in and out of puffy
clouds, and if I can, I'll request an altitude that puts me in a layer
like that.

WW

wrote:
That is a wierd sensation; like heading towards a brick wall at 150
mph, then all of a sudden you punch right through the wall with little
or no effect on the airplane.

It's really cool when you're just above to top of a nice flat stratus
layer and you can keep dipping in and out of it by going up or down 50
feet. If the tops aren't right at the right altitude and there's not
much traffic, you can ask ATC for an altitude block :-)

Roy Smith wrote:
That is a wierd sensation; like heading towards a brick wall at 150
mph, then all of a sudden you punch right through the wall with little
or no effect on the airplane.

It's really cool when you're just above to top of a nice flat stratus
layer and you can keep dipping in and out of it by going up or down 50
feet. If the tops aren't right at the right altitude and there's not
much traffic, you can ask ATC for an altitude block :-)

....or when you precisely hold an altitude and a stratus deck comes up,
kisses the plane and then recedes. Really sweet. It's like
accelerating to the speed of heat and then slowly braking.

IMC pilots need better sunglasses!

My favorite condition is scattered fair weather cumulus with thickness no
more than 2,000 feet. The beauty of the "mountains and valleys" of clouds is
simply awesome. The temptation to deviate from your cleared route to zoom
around is big.

Another picture etched in my psyche forever was the first time I was fogged
out of my home airport and diverted to a nearby Class C. We had a Southwest
737 5 miles ahead of us in full view in the unlimited vis above the fog
layer. The late evening light set an eerie dream-like hue while looking down
at what used to be a large aircraft disappear into a massive, milky,
edgeless and surreal "landscape." I was still training for my IR and had two
instructors (one mine the other was bored--had a cancelled student) so there
was no chickening out to Connecticut. Made it in at minimums.

Whoever said IFR flying wasn't a spectator sport??

Marco


"Maule Driver" wrote in message
...
Roy Smith wrote:
That is a wierd sensation; like heading towards a brick wall at 150
mph, then all of a sudden you punch right through the wall with little
or no effect on the airplane.

It's really cool when you're just above to top of a nice flat stratus
layer and you can keep dipping in and out of it by going up or down 50
feet. If the tops aren't right at the right altitude and there's not
much traffic, you can ask ATC for an altitude block :-)

...or when you precisely hold an altitude and a stratus deck comes up,
kisses the plane and then recedes. Really sweet. It's like
accelerating to the speed of heat and then slowly braking.

IMC pilots need better sunglasses!



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A couple of visual images I can't forget:
- departing Asheville, NC at dawn, clouds filling the valleys, bright sunshine
at a low angle.
- departing Raleigh-Durham above a low stratus layer, uniform flat white blanket
below with just a couple of antennas poking through.

Dave

Marco Leon wrote:
My favorite condition is scattered fair weather cumulus with thickness no
more than 2,000 feet. The beauty of the "mountains and valleys" of clouds is
simply awesome. The temptation to deviate from your cleared route to zoom
around is big.

Another picture etched in my psyche forever was the first time I was fogged
out of my home airport and diverted to a nearby Class C. We had a Southwest
737 5 miles ahead of us in full view in the unlimited vis above the fog
layer. The late evening light set an eerie dream-like hue while looking down
at what used to be a large aircraft disappear into a massive, milky,
edgeless and surreal "landscape." I was still training for my IR and had two
instructors (one mine the other was bored--had a cancelled student) so there
was no chickening out to Connecticut. Made it in at minimums.

Whoever said IFR flying wasn't a spectator sport??

Marco


"Maule Driver" wrote in message
...

Roy Smith wrote:

That is a wierd sensation; like heading towards a brick wall at 150
mph, then all of a sudden you punch right through the wall with little
or no effect on the airplane.

It's really cool when you're just above to top of a nice flat stratus
layer and you can keep dipping in and out of it by going up or down 50
feet. If the tops aren't right at the right altitude and there's not
much traffic, you can ask ATC for an altitude block :-)


...or when you precisely hold an altitude and a stratus deck comes up,
kisses the plane and then recedes. Really sweet. It's like
accelerating to the speed of heat and then slowly braking.

IMC pilots need better sunglasses!




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--
Dave Butler, software engineer 919-392-4367

My most unforgettable flights. One, I obtained a block altitude and
went swooping between and into nice, small, closely spaced cumulus
puffs of cotton. The other (my claim to fame), I was first in after
ground fog on an ILS to a nearby airport. Conditions were right at
minimums (200'). And....I had a class on the ground waiting for
me....they all wanted to know what it was like.

Dave Butler wrote:
A couple of visual images I can't forget:
- departing Asheville, NC at dawn, clouds filling the valleys, bright
sunshine at a low angle.
as nice as it gets in the east
- departing Raleigh-Durham above a low stratus layer, uniform flat white
blanket below with just a couple of antennas poking through.

....and then flying over to to do the GPS RWY21 at Asheboro and seeing
that 2649' tower poking up thru that same deck as you descend to 2600'
at HABUG

Maule Driver wrote:
: ...or when you precisely hold an altitude and a stratus deck comes up,
: kisses the plane and then recedes. Really sweet. It's like
: accelerating to the speed of heat and then slowly braking.

... except this time of year when every time it does that some of the stratus
deck sticks to your airplane.

: IMC pilots need better sunglasses!

Adaptive, maybe?

-Cory

--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
************************************************** ***********************

wrote in message oups.com...

.... I still love flying in and out of puffy
clouds, and if I can, I'll request an altitude that puts me in a layer
like that.

WW


But when those "puffy clouds" show up on my radar,
I try to deviate around them. :-(