single pilot ifr trip tonight

Well, upon reflection, you will probably gain more from this flight than you
think.

I was caught somewhat unawares by yesterday's weather on a flight from HPN
to RDU (actually to my homebase of 8nc8). The forecast was for VFR and
improving conditions. I filed IFR as I usually do for long CCs post9/11 -
especially going past DC. There was a time when I would not have fretted
about not having all the charts or skipping some flight planning details
given the forecast. I've learned to always have everything lined up for IFR
flight if I file. It sucks showing up with 1/3 fuel at the now IMC
destination without the necessary charts.

After a 20 minute delay waiting for a clearance at HPN after my DUATs filing
fell short ("no one here knows where or what 8nc8 is"), I was rewarded with
a clearance via JFK. Wow! Seeing NYC in the morning light with foilage at
max saturation and 50 mile visibility was great! Being the major climb
obstacle obstacle for half a dozen departing heavies out of JFK was fun too
("Ecuador 1234 maintain 5,000, do you see the Maule 11:00, 2 miles at 6?" I
saw 'em all).

Anyway, down the shore and approaching Dover I notice that the layer over my
head is thickening rather than thinning and it looks hazy towards the south.
A few Cheap ******* inquiries and I see the TAFs are still suggesting VFR
but the METARS for Richmond and RDU are moving in the wrong direction. The
next round of TAFs is moving to MVFR but Richmond and RDU are 1200 - then
800. What the heck!

At Patauxant (sp) I enter IMC at 4,000 and never see the ground again. I
landed Richmond with ATIS reporting 800' ceilings and the tower asking when
I break out - which turns out to be 400'.

Obviously the forecast had flushed itself and the flight home was a new
deal. I never would have left Westchester if I had known. Now it was going
to be IMC from takeoff to landing at RDU and a cab ride home. After takeoff
my transponder decides to act up. I look and the interrogation indicator is
stuck on. After much cycling and such - the light stays on and I'm
reporting progress via Radials and DME reading without radar coverage. I'm
told that RDU won't want to take me with no blinker (4oclock in the PM with
400' ceilings, what's the problem...).Transponder stays belly up for nearly
40 minutes. I believe that Greensboro is a VFR out but I press on wanting
to get home. Main thing is that I'm single pilot IMC hand flying light
chop. Everything is a major chore and challenge. The easiest thing is to
fly to my planned destination.

Then, for relief, a Bonanza pilot reports within 20 miles of my location
that they need the location of the nearest ap. "Yeah, it's an emergency, we
just lost the engine for a few seconds" Everyone remains hyper cool - it
helps to have an autopilot and a copilot. "We think is was water in one
tank, we're going with the other tank.... but we'll continue on to
Richmond". It's an interesting 10 minute exchange with me thinking "is the
controller remembering I'm out here without radar coverage?"

They switch me to RDU. I take a quick look at the transponder and the light
is off but not blinking. I say Hi and look down and it is being interogated
and the controller treats the handoff routinely. When did it fix itself?
Sunspots??

So after a really sharp approach, I land. Sharp? After 3 straight
*unexpected* approaches to 400' ceiling in that same */?@@## weather
system, I had sharpened up a bit.

A lot of people on this list wouldn't fly my a/c in those conditions (what
happens if the engine quits, you encounter embedded moderate T, single vac
says bye, GSO socks in, your NAV fails, etc). I've made similar flights
ending at night - I wouldn't now.

I like to think I would have stayed on the ground for your flight given the
a/c, night, and the weather. But I've made comparable flights before. It's
too easy to self righteously state what one should or shouldn't accept as
risks - especially as one accesses better equipment and gains experience.
While trying to avoid that, I'd suggest that the flight you describe is not
one you want to repeat. Sometimes the most satisfying flights end up
teaching that they are best not repeated.

BTW, I just counted 4 working flashlights in my flight bag and know there is
at least one more in the plane. I have a fully charged backup nav(com?) but
no backup GPS...next on the list. IFR is just an excuse for more equipment.

"Guy Elden Jr." wrote in message
news
Just got back from a good proficiency practice flight. This was the first
time I'd flown single pilot IFR at night with conditions that could
potentially deteriorate to actual instrument. (cloudy, rain developing as
the flight progressed, visibility dropping somewhat)

The basic rundown... got the plane, preflighted in the dark, and realized
that it was the first time I had actually done a full preflight at night.
All the other night flights I did the preflight at dusk or earlier.
Definitely took me a few extra minutes to get oriented to the darkness and
using my flashlight.

I got through that ok, ready to do, and poof! My flashlight _light_ (not
the
batteries) goes out! Just like the bright, microsend flash of illumination
you see from a normal light bulb then total darkness. Crap! Fortunately, I
had a spare light, smaller, but did the job. I was a bit disappointed in
the
bulb that burnt out though... it was a Maglight, and barely over a year
old
with hardly any use. I'm tempted to send it back to them for a
replacement.

Takeoff out of CDW was uneventful, although the controller was a bit pushy
when I wanted to clarify the squawk before departing... she said "You need
to get rolling" after confirming the code was correct... somebody on
downwind was undoubtedly going to plow into me I guess if I didn't hurry
along. Needless to say, I didn't hurry. (I was still holding short, so if
need be could've just continued to hold short, but she (the controller)
was
obviously in need of some excitement on a dreary night with barely any
traffic to manage).

So up up and away we go, didn't even have time to make the initial turn to
180 before departure vectored me to SAX. Then enroute to SWF for a
practice
ILS.

I noticed before departing that one of the two radio / nav units in the
plane was not functioning... it's one of those that has a primary and
secondary freq, but the display was completely dead, so I decided to just
leave it off. So even before starting the flight, I knew I had only one
working com and one working nav / vor unit operational. No problem, if
things got too heavy, I could just cancel IFR and continue VFR... clouds
were definitely high enough on the way up (around 6000 OVC). As I got
closer
to SWF, I tried tuning in the NDB so I could identify an intersection
along
the LOC. No dice. I didn't hear the magic morse in the background, and the
needle spun and spun til I got dizzy. Strike two on operational components
in the plane! Still, I managed to get to SWF safely, and taxied off to the
side to get myself setup for the trip back to CDW.

Departure out of SWF was a bit more interesting, as I had to read the
SWF.4
departure procedure. Easy to do, and so off I went. Unfortunately, the
routing back home wasn't optimal... was supposed to go out to HUG then
turn
south to head to CDW, so I asked for a shortcut to SAX instead. After
getting handed off to NY Approach on 127.6, I had a helluva time hearing a
transmission from the controller. I asked to hear it again, and again,
even
with the volume all the way up, it was barely audible. I got the
instruction
ok tho... left turn to 170. And fortunately the gremlin in the radio
cleared
itself up on the next transmission. But this turns out to have been strike
3
for equipment in the plane... I encountered this problem a couple other
times, fortunately when other pilots were transmitting, and not ATC.

Getting back in to CDW was a bit dicey, as the rain had started to come
down, and the mist was making it difficult to pick out CDW (which is
difficult enough these days anyway with 4/22 being closed for repairs). I
told the controller at one point that I had the beacon in sight, but that
wasn't good enough for him. 2 miles later, I could make out 9/27, so I was
handed off for a visual approach, which wasn't my best approach, but was a
squeaker of a landing.

So to sum up: I had 1 VOR, 1 COM, and no backups in the plane for this
trip.
And the COM was flaky toward the end. Methinks this plane is about to be
decommissioned from the flight line, because the owner refuses to put any
more money into it. It also just came out of 100 hour, so should (in
theory)
be at its best operating capacity. I know I won't be trying any more trips
at night or IFR in it anytime soon, but I'm glad I had the chance to push
the boundaries a bit with the bare minimums for night IFR flight.

--
Guy Elden Jr.