Sorry, I should have posted a trip report. Here it is...

The trip went pretty well. I went to Chandler via the south route
(Yuma). Somewhere past Yuma, I got an updated clearance that was
basically as I had filed but take out the last checkpoint and vectors
after the last VOR (forget the name right now). I had a non pilot
friend on board who is very interested in learning to fly and is good
at holding heading and altitude so it was nice to be able to copy the
clearance, look at and refold the maps, etc. while my human autopilot
flew.

I didn't even get to the last VOR (the one about 10 -15 miles SW of
chandler)when they started vectoring me as everyone told me they
would. They cleared me for the visual at CHD which was new for me.
There is no published visual approach so I figured they meant normal
VFR traffic pattern.

The first surprise was the visibility. I'm from So. Cal and it's
usually pretty smoggy or hazy there. In AZ, 10 miles from the airport
looks like 4 miles in CA. I was 10 miles out just like my GPS and the
controller said, I could see an airport with parallel runways like
Chandler does but I refused to believe it was 10 whole miles away!

I had two more gotchas on the landing that had nothing to do with IFR.
The first thing is, I got behind the power curve on base! Someone I
talked to blamed this on the heat and high density altitude. I've
flown into Big Bear at 6,700 feet several times and haven't had that
problem before so I'm not sure if that was it.

The second gotcha was that I focused on the larger runway on downwind
even though my runway was the closer, shorter one. It made me end up
on a tighter base to final turn than I would have liked with someone
turning to final on the parallel runway at the same time. This and
being behind the power curve were a good setup for a classic base to
final stall accident. Luckily, I kept a good eye on my airspeed and
did what I had to do to keep it over 65 kts.

Also, we had a stronger headwind than I anticipated and didn't see
much over 100 kts groundspeed for a good part of the trip in our 172,
the trip took about 20 minutes longer than I anticipated.

Going back, we went the north route (via Blythe). Much bumpier this
time and my passengers had a hard time with airsickness. I landed in
blythe for a while to give them a rest. I think next time I'll just
go via Yuma. fewer mountains.

Thanks for all the help!

Jeff wrote in message ...
Stacy,
Did you make your flight to phoenix yet? If so how did it go?

We just moved to phoenix area and I am basing my plane out at CHD, moved
from las vegas, I have a butt load of flights into the phoenix area,
mainly falcon and williams gateway, several IFR departures and arrivals in
IMC and several IFR departures/arrivals in VMC. IFR and VFR I always get
vectors in and out.

One thing about the controllers at phoenix sky harbor is that they if they
can do it, they will vector you around their airspace instead of through
it.

let me know how they bring you in, I am thinking they will bring you down
near the south end of the class B then turn you up to CHD.

"S. Sherman" wrote:

Hello,

I'm relatively new to IFR (got the rating in Jan.) and also have never
flown into the Arizona area.

I'll be flying from the San Diego area into Chandler (CHD) and I want
to do the flight IFR. I have some questions:

1. Does ATC normally route you to CHD using one of the PHX STARs? I
did not see any that were really applicable to a non turbojet coming
into CHD from the west. What can I expect?

2. I expect clear skies when I arrive so I don't expect to need the
VOR approach (although I could to it for practice). Will they
normally just clear me for the visual or should I cancel IFR when
close?

3. What can I expect leaving CHD under IFR as far as routing is
concerned?

Thanks!

-Stacy