Very long XC Story

I decide to take the plane and really go on a long XC flight, well beyond
the definitions in the FARs, with my wife for a little R&R. This would be my
longest flight to date and even surpassed what I did for my commercial long
XC a couple of months ago.

The totals we
One way distance = 614NM
Total Time: 13.5 hours
Time in IMC: 5.5 hours
Aircraft: C172S


We left from 3CK on the Northwest side of the Chicago Class Bravo airspace
headed to Vicksburg, MS. The Friday we left was a lousy IMC day and
conditions at our fuel stop, Cape Gerardo were bad, we delayed departure by
two hours in hopes our destination would improve from below minimums as
'promised' in the forecast. We departed in IMC and it was going to be solid
for the first hour or so. We got held for release on the ground by Chi-App
for about 10 minutes but were able to get into the system. Then Chi-App
vectored us around for a while, winds were not as forecasted and we were
much slower than planned. Because conditions at the Cape and all around were
bad my alternate was Evansville, IN. Which was a whole 100NM to the NE of
the Cape. So after about 2 hours it became apparent that I would not have
enough fuel plus reserve to be able to make my alternate if I had been
unable to get into my primary airport. Looking at the charts and seeing the
weather was still really crapping with visibilities at 1/2 to 1 mile and
ceilings of around 300-400 OVC we found a new airport and diverted to
Decatur. I shot my first ILS in actual to minimums, a great confidence
builder! We refueled and went on now about 3 hours later than planned.

We reached the Cape and were supposed to have lunch but it was 3pm and the
winds still were not any better even though the weather was getting better.
I wanted to limit the night portion of the flight since I was unfamiliar
with the area I was flying to and if I had to shoot the approach the last
thing I wanted to do was a night NDB at an unfamiliar airport. I quickly
calculated new arrival times for our final leg, confirmed we could do it in
one hope, raided the vending machine and off we went. We got into Vicksburg
4 hours late, 7pm, just as the sun had set, and the total trip time was 8
air hours with 4.5 of it in IMC.

The return flight on Monday was better, some low hanging crude in Vicksburg
but I got my IFR clearance and up we went. There was some T-Storm activity
to the far west but nothing in our flight path. But I started to see some
build up in our path. 1 hour later when we were getting close to the Tenn.
border. I climbed up to 9000 to try and go over the build up but we then
needed to head east to get around stuff that was building even faster to
west. We then had to start deviating around and went eventually over Memphis
International but could not see it being in and out of IMC. It was there
that we started hitting REAL moderate turbulence (stuff bouncing around and
my wife breathing heavily, not in a nice way, into the headset mike) and I
decided higher was not working and we were entering a small area with lower
clouds. Checking the MEM ATIS they were reporting a BKN layer at 7000 so we
requested and got down to 5000 but were still IMC. I did not want to fly
into some embedded stuff so I request lower and got another 2000 and we were
in the clear, the air was much smoother too. I figured under the worst of
conditions I could at least find a place to land if it got any worse. We
continued northward and could see it really going down hill to the west but
we could see bright sunshine 30NM north, our G.S. was 130knots so I knew we
could beat it. Eventually we got into VMC and all was well. for the rest of
the trip.

The northward trip was with great winds and was a total of 5.5 hours long,
1hour of it in IMC. It was a great experience! The airport at Vicksburg,
KVKS, was really nice and they helped us out with whatever we needed. The
town was great too and we even found where on the battlefield my wife's
relatives had encamped and fought.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott F. Migaldi, K9PO
MI-150972
PP-ASEL-IA

Are you a PADI Instructor or DM? Then join the PADI
Instructor Yahoo Group at
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-----------------------------------
Catch the wave!
www.hamwave.com


"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we.
They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country
and our people, and neither do we." - George W. Bush

-------------------------------------

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 10:40:59 -0500, "SFM" wrote:

I decide to take the plane and really go on a long XC flight, well beyond
snip
We left from 3CK on the Northwest side of the Chicago Class Bravo airspace
headed to Vicksburg, MS. The Friday we left was a lousy IMC day and
conditions at our fuel stop, Cape Gerardo were bad, we delayed departure by
two hours in hopes our destination would improve from below minimums as
'promised' in the forecast. We departed in IMC and it was going to be solid
for the first hour or so. We got held for release on the ground by Chi-App
for about 10 minutes but were able to get into the system.

Curious - did you get your release via FSS or 120.25? If possible, I
try to pick my clearance up in the air as approach doesn't answer
120.25 too often.

-Nathan (based @ 3ck)

I usually call Chi-App at 1.847.289.1326 as 120.25 does not always work but
this time I got them on 120.25 which is why he held me for release on the
departure end of 08 for about 10 minutes. Once airborne I called departure
on 120.55 and it was the same guy. I now suspect that the reason they are
hard to reach on the ground is not related to poor reception but to being
just plain busy.

Scott

--
------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott F. Migaldi, K9PO
MI-150972
PP-ASEL-IA

Are you a PADI Instructor or DM? Then join the PADI
Instructor Yahoo Group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PADI-Instructors/join
-----------------------------------
Catch the wave!
www.hamwave.com


"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we.
They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country
and our people, and neither do we." - George W. Bush

-------------------------------------
"Nathan Young" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 10:40:59 -0500, "SFM" wrote:

I decide to take the plane and really go on a long XC flight, well beyond
snip
We left from 3CK on the Northwest side of the Chicago Class Bravo
airspace
headed to Vicksburg, MS. The Friday we left was a lousy IMC day and
conditions at our fuel stop, Cape Gerardo were bad, we delayed departure
by
two hours in hopes our destination would improve from below minimums as
'promised' in the forecast. We departed in IMC and it was going to be
solid
for the first hour or so. We got held for release on the ground by
Chi-App
for about 10 minutes but were able to get into the system.

Curious - did you get your release via FSS or 120.25? If possible, I
try to pick my clearance up in the air as approach doesn't answer
120.25 too often.

-Nathan (based @ 3ck)