1st solo IFR/IMC experience

We needed to get the Arrow to the avionics shop at another airport and
both partners are out of town. Gee, that means I have to fly the plane.
What, you mean skip work to fly, since the avionics shop is open
8-5…and the problem with that is...what? :-) Even better, it was a
Monday. What a way to start the week!

Yesterday's forecast for today was looking decent. Checking weather in
the morning though, it was looking like a 50/50 chance of needing to
file IFR. Hey, I can do that now! So I decided to get an IFR flight
plan on file and use it depending on current conditions when I got to
the airport. When I arrived at my airport, the weather was scattered
at 2200 and overcast at 3400 with visibility of 10 miles. Weather at
the destination was "Better than five thousand and five" according to
the ATIS". Hmmm, looking at the clouds in the general direction of my
destination though, it didn't look nearly as good. I decided to call
the McClellan AWOS. Overcast at 1100…no wonder it looks crappy that
direction. My next call was to the area E folks of the Norcal Tracon to
pickup my clearance.

I experienced a few butterflies as I'm about to depart and look over at
a very empty right seat. No CFII to bail me out. It was a similar
feeling to the first solo when you realize that it's all up to you…but
you also have the confidence of knowing that you can do this, you have
done this, just not with an empty right seat.

After checking in with Norcal, I'm in the clouds. Not solid clouds but
in/out of clouds pretty rapidly. At this point, the "Just fly the
plane" voice kicks in and everything goes well as I level off above the
overcast layer and below a scattered to broken layer. It's *very*
bright outside. Here and there I can see the ground as I cruise along.
I was offered the visual approach to 20 but opted for the ILS 02 with
a circle to land. Mostly, this was because I didn't yet know where the
lower clouds went from overcast to scattered. I also couldn't remember
at that instant exactly what criteria I needed for a visual approach…so,
opted for the ILS.

The approach went well and I flew through one last small cloud as I was
vectored to final. Picked up the airport at about 8 miles out, executed
the circle at minimums, got my first "Zero four tango, take it straight
to the numbers" right after I'd turned base (there was a citation on a
straight in, he opted for a 360 for spacing), and pulled off a pretty
good landing.

Apologies to MarkH. We'd planned to fly yesterday but canceled as the
weather was less than desirable. One of these days Mark, I'll actually
prove to you that our plane really does fly :-)

For any instrument students out there, keep at it. It's a ton of work
(you probably already know that) but when you can get some IMC under
your belt and have a chance to fly when otherwise you couldn't, it is a
really cool experience.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

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