Still Kicking

The IFR Pilot and 2TB are alive and well. Only 34.3 hours of flying in 2010, and if the current weather patterns in Northeast Ohio hold true, there may not be any more flying this year. Hard to justify the economics of sole-aircraft ownership for that few number of hours. Early resolution for 2011: Find someone to link up with, or consider "scaling back" to something that flies behind an IO-360.

Meanwhile, The Dad came through with an early Christmas present: A Spot Satellite Messenger with GPS. Look for implementation of that on this website soon! Wish we had one of those when we made the Alaska trip in '05.

Oh, and with the most recent flight, the logbook hit 700.0 total hours!!!

Garmin 480 Instruction?

Any recommendations for a CFII, preferably located in the Great Lakes or Mid-Atlantic, who can offer instruction on the intricacies of the Garmin 480 (nee CNX-80) GPS? A recent event-filled flight suggested that a day or two of intensive instruction with someone who knows this box in and out would be well worth the investment. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Video of Put In Bay Water Landing

Earlier today, there was an apparent water landing in the vicinity of the Miller Ferry Dock in Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island. The Miller Ferry helped rescue the passengers, all of whom survived. Kudos to the pilot!

Watch this amazing video of the ferry and its crew coming to the rescue. Note also that the airplane sunk in less than the 2 minutes that this video lasts.

Procedure Turn?

Why, yes, there is proof that we executed the PT at DALTS. See for yourself!


Here's even more proof:

Back to the Skies

Today was the first flight I've taken since Mark passed away. It was a bittersweet moment, to be sure. He loved 2TB, thought it was the ideal platform for the missions that we had defined for ourselves. It will not be the same not having him sitting in the seat next to me, chiding me for not leaning the way he did, not navigating the way he did, and generally for not being him! :-)

However, I had to take to the skies because I needed 3 instrument approaches to remain current. So, I enlisted a brave CFI, DC, and we blasted off into skies that were reported SCT to OVC between 1300 to 1500. Perfect - low enough to do the approaches in actual, but reasonably high enough that we'd be able to return to the Home Base, which is VFR only.

I filed a flight plan just in case. Always strange to have departure and landing points be the same, and you've really got to finagle the AOPA Flight Planner to let you file something like that. I ended up using just a local intersection as an intermediate waypoint and put into the remarks section, "Requesting multiple instrument approaches."

Takeoff was a non-issue, and we remained VFR while contacting Akron Approach. We got the approaches we asked for: ILS 1 @ CAK, LOC 25 @ AKR, and GPS 2 @ 3G3.

When it was all said and done, about 1.5 hours later, I had 1.2 hours of actual, .2 hours of simulated instrument, and a great deal more confidence. While I used the autopilot for a lot of the vectoring and maneuvering, I hand flew the actual approaches, keeping things mostly within PTS.

The only hiccups were that I had a bit of trouble getting the Garmin 480 to understand that after AKR, I wanted to proceed direct DALTS and then turn inbound to execute the approach. Apparently, a bit more time with the GNS 480 manual and quick reference book are in order. The other hiccup was a 100 foot altitude excursion that I'm blame entirely on the autopilot. I put it into ALT mode at 2600', but it descended to 2500' and held that.

All in all, a good workout and confidence builder. Sorry, no pictures -- too busy flying!

From the Archives

In November 2009, MS and the IFR Pilot flew N62TB from her old domicile on the island of Friday Harbor, Washington, to her new home: The Home Base.

The insurance company required that we get checked out. So, while MS flew with the CFI, the IFR Pilot got the chance to shoot some video. In 7 years of flying together, this is the only video that I've located that actually shows MS at the controls.

He made a fine approach and the landing, although it appears rough, was pretty good when you consider it was his first time landing 2TB.

Enjoy. Godspeed, MS.

Night Flying

Summoned by the lure of a calm atmosphere and good weather, the IFR Pilot and MS decided to work out the kinks on the autopilots while flying a couple of ILS's at KCAK. After which, they headed back for night quals at The Home Base.

Fly By Night from IFR Pilot on Vimeo.

That is all.

Spring Abounds

MS and the IFR Pilot are in Tallahassee for about 18 hours. Weather was crummy leaving the Home Base, had to stay VFR below the scud for about 30 minutes. Then, we climbed above it, and just south of the mountains, it was CAVU.

MS spotted a lovely dam in the mountains:


Here we are landing at KAHN, Athens, Georgia:

There, we saw a lovely Avanti on the tarmac, just waiting for us to fly it. Alas, we didn't get a chance to do so. Perhaps someday?



They had an AWESOME objet d'art hanging from the room of the FBO at Athens. Witnesseth:


Finally, at TLH, we were joined by some Jet-A burners from the Navy:

What A Difference A Few Days Makes

Today's TAF tells a much different story from the fog seen earlier this week:

KCLE 021551Z 20009KT 10SM FEW120 BKN250 26/07 A3002 RMK AO2 SLP160 T02610072

Unfortunately, after spending the last 1.5 days on the couch, doing battle with some sort of flu-like bug, the IFR Pilot is strapped into the left seat in his office, pushing around papers.

The good news: MS and the IFR Pilot are off on a journey to Florida next Friday. Good times abound for the approximately-36-hour trip we're planning.

Foggy!

What a difference a few miles makes:

KBKL 301753Z 28005KT 3/4SM BR OVC001 03/02 A3004 RMK AO2 SLP177 T00280017 10033 20017 58012

KCLE 301751Z 33007KT 10SM SCT021 09/02 A3006 RMK AO2 SLP184 8/100 T00890017 10089 20033 58005

Still Around

Yes, the IFR Pilot does still exist. There simply hasn't been much flying lately, due to the crummy state of the weather in the Great Lakes. Even last night, after blue skies all afternoon, arrival at the Home Base was greeted with the contemporaneous arrival of a low-hanging post-rain scud that made even pattern work a no-go. *sigh* We'll try again tonight.

In the meantime, here's what arrived in today's "West Headnote of the Day":

48B Aviation

48BIII Airmen

48Bk122 k. Certificate or license in general.

It was not abuse of discretion for the Federal Aviation Agency to reject individual application for exemptions from the Agency's "Age 60 Rule" even if applicant demonstrated that he personally was a Superman immune from impairments that age normally inflicts.

Starr v. Fed. Aviation Admin., 589 F.2d 307 (7th Cir. 1978)