Quickie Bay Area IFR Practice?

Speaking of quickie IFR practice... well, not so much real varied
practice, but a cheap way to stay legally current...

I fly out of Palo Alto and just yesterday did a bunch of approaches
into Moffet Field. Moffett is closed to public traffic, so you can't
actually land, but you can fly the approaches. I flew the ILS 28R and
LOC-only for about 6 approaches in a bit more than one hour. You're
flying totally pilot nav, so you're responsible for getting back to the
IAF (or less far if you want to start closer in) on your own (here's
where a safety pilot is good for "vectors").

I was amazed at how quickly I could get a bunch of shots in, and its
nice to have an ILS so close to home. I'm even going to consider it in
the future as an alternative to get into PAO. (Shoot the NUQ ILS and
then scud over to PAO)

One major caveat: The missed approach is based off NUQ -- a TACAN. That
means no course guidance -- though DME works. If you were to fly this
for real, you'll *need* a different plan for your missed. However, as
VFR practice, you can make up another fix.

Minor caveat: You'll see these approaches in the gov't plates, but not
in the Jepps unless you get the military subscription.

Anyway, kinda cool.

-- dave j

Jerry wrote:
Hello,
My and my slow airplane are based at San Carlos, CA. Got up this
morning, looked out the window - the whole bay is blanketed in coastal
stratus. We get a lot of mornings like that.

Having gotten the rating last year, it sure would be nice to keep
proficient. The usual IFR practice run around here is to go out to the
valley and do the Stockton-Tracy-Livermore loop. Or to go out to
Watsonville/Monterey/Salinas. Either of these are a bit time consuming
because you actually have to fly somewhere.

I'm thinking of filing a pair of IFR flight plans - SQL to LVK and
LVK-SQL. Or maybe even SQL-OAK,OAK-SQL OR SQL-HWD-SQL. Sort of an
IFR version of pattern practice. Yielding the max practice per unit
time & fuel. Any Bay Area locals doing such? Or is the airspace just
way to busy to even contemplate it?

- Jerry Kaidor ( )