Today was another first for me. I had my first cross-country flight under instrument conditions. I know I said I would have an update for you about my flight to Daytona, but that flight was scrapped yet again today. It was a little more frustrating this time because the plane we were supposed to use was broken. The heading indicator (the dial that has 360 degrees of magnetic bearing) was broken. One of the guys down here got in the plane, turned it on and it just started to rotate clockwise continuously. As it turns out, not knowing the direction you are going makes navigating really difficult.
So, back to the story at hand. This was my first instrument flight. For those who flew with me in Montana, instrument flying is quite a bit different than flying using only visual references. First, as a VFR pilot, you as the pilot are responsible to ensure you don't run into anything. As an instrument pilot, you are still responsible for your aircraft and can't fly knowingly into people and things but Air Traffic Control now plays a big role in ensuring you don't fly into other planes or the ground. As such, they run every flight plan through a computer to best de-conflict anyone flying in a particular area. We filed our flight plan almost directly towards the La Belle airport but to keep us away from other commercial aircraft, we we "radar vectored" on a different course.
Radar vectored? What is that you might ask? Great question. When you file an IFR flight plan, you have to either follow your flight plan to the T or Air Traffic Control will assume the responsibilities of your navigation. In our case, our flight plan was amended by Air Traffic Control and given to us before we left (more on that in a different post). We climbed to 1600 and then shortly after were headed up to 3000. After our take-off, ATC gave us a heading to follow and instead of clearing us to the La Belle Airport as filed, vectored us down the coast and away from traffic. We got there in a little under 38 minutes. There, I conducted my first ever GPS approach.
Before I go on, I should mention that for the entire portion of the leg to La Belle, I was "under the hood." Maybe I can get a picture on my next flight but essentially put on a visor with a "view limiting device" attached. I flew using only my instruments the entire way there. I had to...I literally couldn't see anywhere else. So, I flew the approach down to minimums. Minimums during an approach detail the lowest you can go using your instruments. If you don't have the airport in sight by the time you reach your minimum altitude, which was 500 feet for us, you have to perform a missed approach. For me, I leveled out when we reached our minimum descent altitude and he pulled off my hood and told me to conduct a normal landing.
Let's just say this landing was terrible. It was honestly one of the worst landings I've had since starting flying again in 2010. There was a fairly stiff crosswind while we were on approach to La Belle. I crabbed into the wind (where you angle your nose to fly into the wind in an effort to fly in a straight line while the wind tries to blow you off your course). When we got down to 200 feet, I put in my landing crosswind correction. A proper crosswind correction while landing includes a small bank into the wind and rudder in the opposite direction. This allows the horizontal component of lift to counteract the force of the wind trying to blow you off the runway while the nose in the opposite direction keeps you from turning off your heading and allows you to fly straight while banked. In a good crosswind landing, you will land one wheel at a time. In this case, we had a crosswind coming from the right. I banked to the right and added some left rudder. As I approached the runway, I briefly noted that I was moving a little faster than I would have liked. My right main wheel hit the ground...and I mean it HIT the ground. In fact, we hit so hard that we bounced. Luckily, as I said earlier, we had enough airspeed to land normally after the bounce but it was still pretty embarrassing. Had I come in a little slower, I wouldn't have bounced. Damn.
So, we took off right away and picked up our IFR clearance climbing out of La Belle. We were cleared to 4000 feet and given a new clearance. This time, we were going to be flying through and around building thunderstorms. Instead of taking the 38 minutes it took on the way down, it took almost an hour to get back to St Pete. Strong winds? Nope. We were radar vectored all over the west coast of Florida. The best part of this was the fact that we were in literal "Instrument Meteorological Conditions" (i.e. flying through clouds). Luckily for you, I took a few pictures!
I think the pictures speak for themselves. They were all taken within about a minute of each other. What an awesome view!!
So, as we were getting close to St Pete, we got word from ATC.
ATC: "Seminole 23PE, turn right to 360. Descend and maintain 3000. Expect vectors for the ILS Runway 17L. approach."
This was a little different because we had been told ten minutes before to expect a visual approach. Clearly, as we had been flying the conditions at St Pete had deteriorated. We had flown for another minute or so and ATC comes back and says... "Seminole 23PE, St Pete International directly off your right wing. Report airport and sight and let me know if you want the visual." As I look to the right, the clouds break a little and all of a sudden the airport appears off our right wing.
Us: "Tampa Approach, airport in sight and we would like the visual approach. Seminole 3PE."
ATC: "Seminole 23PE fly 360 and expect the visual in about 1 mile."
As we look ahead of us, another cloud bank in directly ahead of us. If we flew for a mile, we would probably be in the soup again.
Us: "Tampa Approach, if we fly another mile, we will be back in the clouds. 3PE"
ATC: "3PE. Cleared immediately for the visual approach Runway 17L. Contact Tower 118.7. Have a good day."
Since we are now doing a visual approach, we aren't allowed to be in the clouds anymore. I push the nose down to avoid flying through some clouds ahead of us and start a pretty steep descent. We were 2000 feet above the runway where we would normally only be 800. I lower the gear, lower the flaps and pull the power almost all the way out. I begin a 1000+ foot per minute descent which was way above our normal 500 fpm descent. We are cleared to land by the tower and by the time I turn on final, I'm back on normal glide slope. I add some power and realize I get to produce another crosswind landing. Oh boy. I put in the crosswind correct and this time my right, my left, and then my nose gear comes down as it should.
No comments:
Post a Comment