Observation

I was coming back from Buffalo to Baltimore last night. I spent much of the
day on ADDS, checking weather. It was supposed to be good straight through.
Lots of green dots on the Java METAR display, and the TAFS were benign. Two
calls to FSS, one to the default 1800WXBRIEF, and one to the 866 number to
Leesburg, in part for weather and in part for ADIZ. When I got to the
airport, things were a little different. It looked hazy and overcast.

About 40 miles sourth of Buffalo, the weather deteriorated. It appeared
there was a line of low, showery clouds running from southwest to northeast,
generally following the terrain. The ridge tops were generally visible. I
started heading east, trying to find a slot to head south.

When I got about 20 miles north of Elmira, things got worse. There was now
light rain, and deep gray skies three-quarters of the way around me. There
was a path to the northeast that was relatively clear, so I always figured I
had an out. I called Elmira approach and got their weather. They were good
VFR, despite what I was seeing through the windows. I was low, and looking
through the valleys for routes to get to Elmira, which was the closest
airport which I knew would have weather, services and a place to RON if
necessary.

It was clear I could not fly straight to the airport, since straight ahead
was a ridge shrouded in black. I got flight following, and told ATC I had
to pick my way through the weather to remain VFR. No IFR traffic could
possibly be as low as I was, and I thought that as long as ATC was getting
my return, I should get a heads up on any other aircraft in the vicinity.

By picking up shades of gray, I was able to find a VFR route to Elimira. As
I crossed the last ridge north of the airport, the weather improved to just
haze, so I cancelled my landing and continued south. Elmira was kind enough
to give me a system code for flight following, and I kept that until just
north of Baltimore.

Reflecting back, the thing that helped the most was my Garmin 295. I really
don't think it would have been possible to navigate the way I did without
it. I think I was too low for VORs, and the weather would have made pilotage
very, very difficult. The terrain is uniform and without distinguishing
features. Even reading the chart in dim light, while trying to avoid ridge
tops, would have been a challenge.

The next upgrade will be another GPS, Anywhere Map or something like that
(Yes, I'm working in the instrument ticket). One will run off the AC bus,
and one will run off of freshly recharged Lithium batteries.

In a previous article, "LWG" said:
Reflecting back, the thing that helped the most was my Garmin 295. I really

What would have helped you more would have been to actually listen to the
weather briefer when he reads you a TAF that says haze and temporary low
visibilities and low ceilings in thunderstorms, like all the TAFs for BUF
and ROC (and I assume everywhere else on your route, but I was only
checking BUF and ROC) did yesterday.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"We sealed our federal pact without bloodshed and without exploitation of
the weak by the strong. All it took was fairness, justice and some
compromises on both sides." - George-Etienne Cartier.

LWG wrote:

I was coming back from Buffalo to Baltimore last night. I spent much of the
day on ADDS, checking weather. It was supposed to be good straight through.
Lots of green dots on the Java METAR display, and the TAFS were benign. Two
calls to FSS, one to the default 1800WXBRIEF, and one to the 866 number to
Leesburg, in part for weather and in part for ADIZ. When I got to the
airport, things were a little different. It looked hazy and overcast.

That's interesting. I didn't check DUATs weather yesterday, but live
just 20 miles south west of ELM and ELM is my home field. Both the
weather channel and Accuweather were calling for hot, hazy, and humid
with a chance of thunderstorms pretty much all day yesterday and today
(and for the 4-5 days prior as well). We in fact had storms both
yesterday and today. Neither day was good VFR weather between noon and
dark.


Matt

It was clear I could not fly straight to the airport, since straight ahead
was a ridge shrouded in black. I got flight following, and told ATC I had
to pick my way through the weather to remain VFR. No IFR traffic could
possibly be as low as I was, and I thought that as long as ATC was getting
my return, I should get a heads up on any other aircraft in the vicinity.

How low were you? What about other VFR traffic that was =not= on flight
following, or was below their radar? What if ATC got busy (not
unexpected when there's weather like that) Flight following is no panacea.

Reflecting back, the thing that helped the most was my Garmin 295. I really
don't think it would have been possible to navigate the way I did without
it. I think I was too low for VORs, and the weather would have made pilotage
very, very difficult.

What would you have done if the Garmin quit? (damn, I thought I charged
those batteries!)

This is one of the reasons I practice flying low, on pilotage and dead
reckoning alone. Sometimes the safest thing is to land, but it gives me
a greater margin.

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where
it keeps its brain."
(chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

On 2005-06-13, LWG wrote:
Reflecting back, the thing that helped the most was my Garmin 295. I really
don't think it would have been possible to navigate the way I did without
it.

It's perfectly possible to navigate without it - just keep track of
time, heading and make a rudimentary log. The log needn't be anything
complex or long-winded - it can be as simple as noting minutes past the
hour on your chart and keeping track of heading. It takes seconds to
do (and headings can be easily estimated on the chart using any nearby
VOR compass rose).

I agree that GPS is nice, and it's a great workload reducer, but I'd
also advise when using GPS, also keep that simple log I mentioned
earlier on your chart in case you lose the GPS signal or the GPS dies -
that way, if the GPS does die you are not lost and can fall back to
chart navigation very easily because you've already been keeping track
of waypoints on your chart and therefore know exactly where you are.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

"Jose" wrote in message
. ..
It was clear I could not fly straight to the airport, since straight
ahead was a ridge shrouded in black. I got flight following, and told
ATC I had to pick my way through the weather to remain VFR. No IFR
traffic could possibly be as low as I was, and I thought that as long as
ATC was getting my return, I should get a heads up on any other aircraft
in the vicinity.

How low were you? What about other VFR traffic that was =not= on flight
following, or was below their radar? What if ATC got busy (not unexpected
when there's weather like that) Flight following is no panacea.

I didn't say it was a panacea. I said I thought it was a good idea. I was
Class G, clear of clouds. The FF gave me more information. If they got
busy, or missed a call, I was still see-and-avoid. Legal VFR can be dicey,
and I'm going to do whatever I can to up the odds.


Reflecting back, the thing that helped the most was my Garmin 295. I
really don't think it would have been possible to navigate the way I did
without it. I think I was too low for VORs, and the weather would have
made pilotage very, very difficult.

What would you have done if the Garmin quit? (damn, I thought I charged
those batteries!)

That was really the point of post. It wasn't to get snippy replies about
listening to briefers. If I didn't fly any day when "chance of
thunderstorms" was in the forecast, I wouldn't fly from June to September.
Like today, there was a similar forecast for occasional thunderstorms. I
flew a cross country (but shorter than the one in the post) and there was
hardly a cloud in the sky. Sure, there was plenty of haze, but nothing
below 3500'. I guess I should have listened to the briefer and pulled the
covers over my head and gone back to sleep. The vast majority of my trip in
the first post was well above basic VFR, some was at the low end of
marginal. I didn't venture into areas I couldn't get out of. There was
fairly decent weather around, just not in the direction I was heading.
Picking my way through was tough.

I think my next purchase will be a backup GPS, either something like a AWM
or a 196, mounted on the other yoke and running fresh batteries.


This is one of the reasons I practice flying low, on pilotage and dead
reckoning alone. Sometimes the safest thing is to land, but it gives me a
greater margin.

Again, that was my point. I've done my share of that, too. But given the
weather and the (to me) featureless terrain, pilotage would have been
extremely difficult. I couldn't fly straight long enough to make any
attempt at ded reckoning.




Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it
keeps its brain."
(chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

I didn't say [flight following] was a panacea

No, but you did say:
No IFR
traffic could possibly be as low as I was, and I thought that as long as
ATC was getting my return, I should get a heads up on any other aircraft
in the vicinity.

which I think puts more on them than is warranted. I do however agree
FF is a good idea, especially in this case. How low were you? You make
it sound like dicey scud-running, but you'd have to be at a radar
altitude to even get FF.

But given the
weather and the (to me) featureless terrain, pilotage would have been
extremely difficult. I couldn't fly straight long enough
[presumably because of dodging weather] to make any
attempt at ded reckoning.

Yep. This is where GPS shines. I recently did something similar,
though on top rather than underneath, dodging thunderstorms, and getting
FF to help with weather info and to be in contact when would finally
need an instrument approach. Going VFR allowed me a more direct route,
a simpler flight in weather, and let me skip a gas stop.

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where
it keeps its brain."
(chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

I don't see the value of Flight Following in this case. (Sarcasm) Does the
controller somehow get in the airplane and make this ill-advised flight
safer?

Here is my suggestion.
If one wants to do stupid airplane and pilot tricks, why not do them with an
audience at your local airport on a Saturday or Sunday morning?

Scud running rarely attracts a crowd (except at the very end.)

"Jose" wrote in message
...
I didn't say [flight following] was a panacea

No, but you did say:
No IFR traffic could possibly be as low as I was, and I thought that as
long as ATC was getting my return, I should get a heads up on any other
aircraft in the vicinity.

which I think puts more on them than is warranted. I do however agree FF
is a good idea, especially in this case. How low were you? You make it
sound like dicey scud-running, but you'd have to be at a radar altitude to
even get FF.

But given the weather and the (to me) featureless terrain, pilotage would
have been extremely difficult. I couldn't fly straight long enough
[presumably because of dodging weather] to make any attempt at ded
reckoning.

Yep. This is where GPS shines. I recently did something similar, though
on top rather than underneath, dodging thunderstorms, and getting FF to
help with weather info and to be in contact when would finally need an
instrument approach. Going VFR allowed me a more direct route, a simpler
flight in weather, and let me skip a gas stop.

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it
keeps its brain."
(chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

I don't see the value of Flight Following in this case. (Sarcasm) Does the
controller somehow get in the airplane and make this ill-advised flight
safer?

in which case?

In my case, (high altitude flight to Cleveland) it ensured I would be in
communication with the controllers when I was ready for an IFR
clearance, and it gave me some information on weather ahead (which may
have been available from flight watch too).

I disagree that my flight was ill-advised.

Are you referring to the OP's flight? (low altitude dodging weather)

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where
it keeps its brain."
(chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.