clumpinglitter (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} clumpinglitter) wrote,@ 2006-08-18 23:22:00 |
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fun IFR for real
It's a nice IFR day. It sucks to pay for flight time, but if you have to pay, it may as well be splitting multiengine cross-country actual instrument in a super-cheap twin. So we're taking the Duchess out for a trip to Rochester and back. I make up a flight plan and go preflight while Mike files. We'll each do an approach at RST and MIC. Neither of us needs to hold, so fine.
Tower tells us to position and hold while he waits for our clearance. I hate this, but it will be tolerable if I can see final approach. Unfortunately, the act of straightening out the nose wheel aligns us right down the runway. I suppose I could have opened my door to look out or something. No big, we get our clearance and take off. We're in the clouds at about 1,000 feet AGL, and we get vectors around MSP and then sent direct to RST. We don't see anything outside until about the FAF at RST. I make Mike put the hood on when we start to come out of the clouds. The ATIS here said there was no ceiling, but that's a load of crap. There's definitely an overcast ceiling, and the visibility is kind of bad, too. Not as bad as I would like, but still fun.
I fly the ILS after the missed to a full stop, which means I end up being the one taxiing, not one of my favorite things to do. A rampie is standing over with his arms out in front of him, so it would make sense that we're supposed to go turn around and park in front of him. Apparently so, and they chock us. We see a helicopter taxiing on wheels. We go inside, because after all this hard work, it's time for a break. There's a restaurant sort of on the field, and the FBO says we'll want to take the car. The restaurant has a 172 hanging from the ceiling. The food is decent.
It's the same deal going back -- into the clouds a minute or so after takeoff, solid IMC for the next 80 miles, and vectors around MSP. ATC offers the visual, but we request two approaches. On the first one, approach doesn't hand us off to tower until way late, and the tower controller is laughing when we check in. We go missed for another one, and on this one, the tower controller informs us that we've had a stuck mike for about two minutes. This is highly distressing, because I can't even imagine what kind of stupid stuff ended up getting broadcast all over the place. I hope it wasn't my transmitter. Fortunately, the airport isn't busy. And the chitchat is usually mostly airplane related when flying an approach. Still. After landing, I repeat our taxi instructions and apologize to the controller and say that I hope we didn't say anything too stupid. She laughs again and says no problem. Doh! Note to self: include transmitter light in the regular engine instrument scan.
It's a nice IFR day. It sucks to pay for flight time, but if you have to pay, it may as well be splitting multiengine cross-country actual instrument in a super-cheap twin. So we're taking the Duchess out for a trip to Rochester and back. I make up a flight plan and go preflight while Mike files. We'll each do an approach at RST and MIC. Neither of us needs to hold, so fine.
Tower tells us to position and hold while he waits for our clearance. I hate this, but it will be tolerable if I can see final approach. Unfortunately, the act of straightening out the nose wheel aligns us right down the runway. I suppose I could have opened my door to look out or something. No big, we get our clearance and take off. We're in the clouds at about 1,000 feet AGL, and we get vectors around MSP and then sent direct to RST. We don't see anything outside until about the FAF at RST. I make Mike put the hood on when we start to come out of the clouds. The ATIS here said there was no ceiling, but that's a load of crap. There's definitely an overcast ceiling, and the visibility is kind of bad, too. Not as bad as I would like, but still fun.
I fly the ILS after the missed to a full stop, which means I end up being the one taxiing, not one of my favorite things to do. A rampie is standing over with his arms out in front of him, so it would make sense that we're supposed to go turn around and park in front of him. Apparently so, and they chock us. We see a helicopter taxiing on wheels. We go inside, because after all this hard work, it's time for a break. There's a restaurant sort of on the field, and the FBO says we'll want to take the car. The restaurant has a 172 hanging from the ceiling. The food is decent.
It's the same deal going back -- into the clouds a minute or so after takeoff, solid IMC for the next 80 miles, and vectors around MSP. ATC offers the visual, but we request two approaches. On the first one, approach doesn't hand us off to tower until way late, and the tower controller is laughing when we check in. We go missed for another one, and on this one, the tower controller informs us that we've had a stuck mike for about two minutes. This is highly distressing, because I can't even imagine what kind of stupid stuff ended up getting broadcast all over the place. I hope it wasn't my transmitter. Fortunately, the airport isn't busy. And the chitchat is usually mostly airplane related when flying an approach. Still. After landing, I repeat our taxi instructions and apologize to the controller and say that I hope we didn't say anything too stupid. She laughs again and says no problem. Doh! Note to self: include transmitter light in the regular engine instrument scan.
