First 400 nm xcountry

OK, inspired by Jay's trip to Reno, here's a report on our trip to KOSU in
Columbus, OH from NJ and back last week. I, too have pondered the relative
merits of getting my instrument rating, and have reached most of the same
conclusions as Jay. The discussion is relevant to this trip, too.

7:00 AM Monday morning. Call FSS to see if the weather is as good as it was
supposed to be. Some fog at KSMQ (Somerset, NJ) that is supposed to lift,
but the real problem is beyond Harrisburg. Altoona and Johnstown are in
fog, that isn't predicted to burn off for a couple of hours. Other than
that, things are supposed to be VFR all the way, although there is a lot of
haze in Ohio. Ivan is still in the Gulf, and not expected to affect the
weather up here until Friday. So we go back to bed for an hour, and then
head to the airport. Susie's not real comfortable with weather problems,
and needs to get back in NJ later in the week. It looks like there should
be little problem getting back as long as we beat Ivan.

From the airport, the weather is still IFR at Johnstown, but expected to
lift shortly, so we wait for a bit longer and then depart just before 11:00.
Pick up Flight Following from Allentown. Plan a fuel/pee stop at Washington
County, PA. The GPS is showing 89-95 knot ground speed, so we have a bigger
headwind than I had expected. Nothing else noteworthy about the leg to
Washington at 6,500', except that the Pgh. Approach controller is obviously
bored to death and chats incessantly to anyone who comes into his airspace.
A very friendly guy who even asks one plane how he could get some stuff from
their company for their controllers' golf outing. Nice to hear someone so
friendly over the radio, but it seems a bit strange. The only traffic call
we have the whole leg is for someone 4,000 feet below us. Hardly a factor.

The cheap gas I was expecting at Washington, where I'd landed once before,
is $3.06. Cheaper than SMQ, but not that much cheaper. Call my brother to
tell him of our delayed departure and arrange a pickup at OSU. File a new
flight plan, and launch again. Try to pick up Flight Following from Pgh,
again, but are immediately handed off to Cleveland Center. Ground speed
picks up. The circulation centered over Western PA is now pushing us West.
The last 45 minutes the visibility gets progressively worse - heavy haze. I
descend to 4,500' to try and get a better look at the ground. Visibility is
less than 5 miles. OSU ATIS confirms marginal VFR, but still legal. We get
handed off to Columbus Approach and are told to descend at our discretion
and contact the tower with field in sight. I see an airport, which I deduce
from the GPS is OSU and not CMH, and contact tower. They clear us for a
straight in approach to 27 left, but there doesn't appear to be two runways.
Trying to make sure I line up on the correct runway, I confess that I am
"unfamiliar" and ask if 27 left is the long runway I can see. Tower
sarcastically tells me 27 left is the one with "L" painted on it. OK, I
deserve that, since I can now see a second short runway on the far right,
but I still can't read anything. We land smoothly, and Susie begins to
relax. Ever since we had a bad crosswind landing experience a couple of
years ago, she has been less comfortable flying with me. She still does,
though. A wonderful woman. Hobbs time, 4.2 hours. Not too bad given the
winds.

After a good visit with my brother, who is struggling with Lou Gehrig's
disease, we begin to think about a Wednesday departure. The plan to take
Dave flying on Tuesday is abandoned due to his being too tired. He's an
instrument rated private pilot with a lot more flight time than I do, so you
know he's hurting. It's really painful to see him going downhill so fast.

Wednesday morning the weather is not good. Showers and thunderstorms moving
up from the south toward eastern and central PA and fog over Johnstown and
Altoona again. The fog is supposed to lift, however, and it's clear skies
with haze again between Columbus and Washington, PA. We can't delay too
much, because the weather to the east is expected to worsen the next day,
and Ivan is waiting in the wings. So we decide to launch and make our way
at least as far as Washington, and see how things are. The good weather is
moving slowly east, so we may be able to get a bit farther.

Weather over Washington is fine, although we're above a broken layer that is
not getting any worse, yet, so we press on to Rostraver, and then Latrobe,
listening to AWOS reports up ahead as soon as we can pick them up. However,
when we get to Latrobe, we can hear from Johnstown that they are still 3
miles and 800 feet. A lunch stop in Latrobe seems appropriate. We drop
through a big hole in the broken layer and land at Latrobe.

Flight Services assures me that the fog in Johnstown should have lifted in
about two hours, so we enjoy a leisurely lunch. Arnold Palmer airport is a
beautiful place, but deserted. Our waitress in the excellent restaurant
overlooking the ramp area tells us that they recently lost their one
airline, and except for a casino flight to Atlantic City three times a week,
all they get are the odd corporate jet and a few little planes like ours.
Sad. Are the small town airports going the same way as small town railway
stations did 75 years ago?

After lunch another call to FSS is discouraging. The fog at Johnstown has
not lifted. Johnstown is in a valley, so it's highly likely that the tops
of the ridge on either side are obscured, and I have a great respect for
"cumulo granite" clouds. We have a couple of options. We can head north to
Jamestown, NY and get north of the bad weather. Then we should have clear
sailing via Binghamton, home. Unfortunately, this will add a huge amount of
distance. An alternative is to climb over the broken layer, head toward
Johnstown, and then see if we can get over the weather there. It's VFR once
we get to Harrisburg. No PIREPS for tops over Johnstown, but some earlier
ones had the tops at 9,000 feet. Within reach of the Archer, although I've
never had it up that high before. I figure that with full tanks I should be
able to see how it is heading east, divert north if necessary, and as a last
resort head back west or back to Latrobe and regroup. The fuel at Latrobe
is $3.60. Ouch, but I want to have full tanks.

We launch up through the now scattered layer and set our course for
Johnstown at 7,500'. The scattered layer rapidly becomes broken and then
solid. I'm not sure I'm 100% comfortable up here, since I know that we're
going to be in big trouble if the fan stops. OTOH, I would have the same
problem if I were IFR, so I relax a bit and console myself that the engine
has never even coughed before. Over Johnstown, which is still reporting 3
miles and 800', I can see a very high layer sitting on top of the cloud deck
out in the distance. Altoona is also reporting IFR conditions, but as I get
closer to the high clouds ahead, I can hear Harrisburg reporting 10 miles
and 2,500'. Unfortunately, the high clouds ahead seem to be sitting right
on top of Harrisburg.

I tell Center that I'm going to climb to 9,500' and see if I can get over
the layer ahead. The poor old Archer struggles up there, wheezing at 300
FPM for the last thousand feet. After releaning, I realize that never I've
seen the mixture lever that close to "idle cutoff" before. We level off,
looking hopefully at the layer ahead. Still looks a lot higher than us. As
we get closer, it becomes obvious that we're not going over in this plane,
and without oxygen, so I begin to consider the remaining options. The high
layer seems to taper off both to the south and to the north, and Susie
suggest that south looks better. I know that we will get better weather
north, however, and I can see some puffy clouds up that way. Perhaps the
solid layer begins to break up that way. I tell Center that we're diverting
to overfly Mifflin County airport to see if we can get around this cloud
layer. As we get near Mifflin, their AWOS is reporting 10 miles and 2,000'.
Great. It sounds like we can get around the bad stuff with only a 30 mile
diversion. That is, if I can get down below this cloud deck. Sure enough,
as I overfly Mifflin, the cloud deck begins to break up just like it looked
like it might from farther south.

A couple of miles north of Mifflin I overfly two big beautiful holes and can
see sunlit farms in the valley that Mifflin is in. Perfect. I can drop
down below the clouds and still have the option of landing at Mifflin if the
ridge tops are too close to the clouds. I tell Center what we're going to
do, and since I'm pretty sure from past experience in the area that they
won't be able to see me once I get below 3,000', I cancel Flight Following
and squawk 1200. Through the second hole as we spiral down from way up
there, I can see clearly the next valley east, which also has an airport in
it. We level off at 2,000, and find that we can easily get over the ridge
into the second valley. I still have that second airport as an option, and
it looks like we have at least an 800' gap between the next ridge and the
clouds. More importantly, beyond that next ridge, I can see that the ridges
get progressively lower, and the weather improves. We cross the second
ridge with a few hundred feet to spare, and set a direct course to
Harrisburg. Not great VFR conditions, but we know it gets better the
farther east we go.

We pick up Flight Following again from Harrisburg Approach, and head for
home.

The rest of the trip is pretty unevenful, except for my blundering into a
thin rain cloud hanging below the rest near Allentown. No big deal, we were
out in five seconds and got some of the bugs washed off the windshield, but
I never saw it coming. We set down at Somerset, and notice the tail of a
Cessna 185 amphibian sticking out of the T-hangar it tried to park in with
the doors closed and a Commanche already inside (see previous post "Stupid
Pilot Tricks" for details). 4.3 hours on the Hobbs. A long day, but we're
home without too many new gray hairs. Susie points out that it took 7 hours
door to door, and that we could have driven it in 9 hours for a lot less
money. I have no answer to that.

Thinking back, I believe I made all the right decisions. With Ivan coming
up the coast, we would have been there for four more days had we not gone
when we did. The only thing that made me uncomfortable was flying a long
way on top of a cloud deck that I could not get down through without my
instrument rating. OTOH, I made sure I had plenty of fuel, and a couple of
option cards to play. I knew that good weather was moving in behind us, so
I could always turn around if absolutely necessary. An instrument rating
would have helped, since I could have stayed on top, gone around or through
that high cloud deck, and then descended beyond Harrisburg. That would have
saved some time, but probably not reduced the risk much. I would have been
in just as much trouble had the engine failed, regardless of which rating I
have.

Sorry if this is long, but I thought perhaps a discussion of the decision
process might help other low-time VFR pilots like me. Flame away.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love
America

Bob Chilcoat wrote:

Sorry if this is long, but I thought perhaps a discussion of the decision
process might help other low-time VFR pilots like me. Flame away.

Good job, good post. Been there. No flames here.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

Gosh Bob, you must have arrived about the time I was departing Don
Scott. I had to fly to Oakland-Troy Michigan (7D2) to pick up my wife
that afternoon. I departed OSU at 4 PM. I filed IFR due to the thick
haze. Up around Mansfield (KMFD) there were a couple of buildups with
the bases at 6,000 MSL. In-flight visibility was 8 miles with no visible
horizon.
I departed Oakland-Troy at 8 PM to return to OSU, again IFR. Night,
thick haze, no horizon. This was not a flight I would have made VFR,
given the conditions.

Sorry you encountered our "nasty" tower operator. That guy is so surley
we are filing complaints with the FAA. OSU has had a contract tower
since the late-80's or early-90's. That guy is the worst I have ever
come across, anywhere... well, except maybe Wakashau WI.

The area between Latrobe and Harrisburg is notorious for making its own
weather. That was one reason the old FSS's were set up so close together
at Pittsburgh, Johnstown and Altoona.

You forgot to tell your wife that the drive time was 9 hours each way,
for a total of 18, more than double the 7 hours by air.

Thanks for the write-up.

Sorry we missed you, John. The tower operator at OSU was a bit sarcastic,
but I must have sounded kinda squirrelly on the radio. The left runway is
the one on the left! Doh!

That haze was pretty bad. I actually had to stay on the gauges a lot to
keep on course. As you point out there was no horizon at all, and all I
could see of the ground was a cone perhaps 4-5 miles around us. I was three
miles out from OSU before I spotted the runway. My main concern was not to
line up with CMH! I understand a 737 did just the opposite a few years ago
and actually landed at OSU. Talk about a career-limiting goof!

I like flying VFR, because I prefer looking outside than concentrating on
the panel. Haze like last week's becomes a problem because I find that I
have a lot of trouble staying on course while scanning for traffic. If I'm
looking for traffic, I'm not concentrating on the gauges, and without any
horizon, it's easy to drift into a shallow turn. I did a bit better this
time than in the past, but I did have flight following helping with the
traffic.

The seven hours Susie mentioned was just the return flight, including
preflight, runup, and the stop in Latrobe. From driving away from Dave's
house, to pulling into our driveway. We saved a couple of hours, but I
found it much more fun than following I 70 all day, which I've done on
numerous occassions. Will she go again? We'll see.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love
America

"john smith" wrote in message
...
Gosh Bob, you must have arrived about the time I was departing Don
Scott. I had to fly to Oakland-Troy Michigan (7D2) to pick up my wife
that afternoon. I departed OSU at 4 PM. I filed IFR due to the thick
haze. Up around Mansfield (KMFD) there were a couple of buildups with
the bases at 6,000 MSL. In-flight visibility was 8 miles with no visible
horizon.
I departed Oakland-Troy at 8 PM to return to OSU, again IFR. Night,
thick haze, no horizon. This was not a flight I would have made VFR,
given the conditions.

Sorry you encountered our "nasty" tower operator. That guy is so surley
we are filing complaints with the FAA. OSU has had a contract tower
since the late-80's or early-90's. That guy is the worst I have ever
come across, anywhere... well, except maybe Wakashau WI.

The area between Latrobe and Harrisburg is notorious for making its own
weather. That was one reason the old FSS's were set up so close together
at Pittsburgh, Johnstown and Altoona.

You forgot to tell your wife that the drive time was 9 hours each way,
for a total of 18, more than double the 7 hours by air.

Thanks for the write-up.

Reminds me of a flight I once took from Erie, PA back home to White Plains,
NY (HPN)..


I hated being on top VFR as the holes were getting fewer and farther
between...

I ended up turning around and dropping through a hole over Williamsport
after not seeing a hole for about 10 minutes and deciding I might not have
a lot of options once I get to HPN (weather reports were not looking
happy!)

It was also one of the factors that convinced me to go get my IFR... Now,
weather like what you described is not really much of an issue at all,
assuming no TStorms and no Icing... Admittedly, even with the IFR I have
had to cancel several flights over the last 8 months - for TStorms, Ice,
and even weather that was just too low for a newly minted IFR pilot to wade
around in. But I also have had the opportunity to use the rating for
several flights, including one (or two, if you count round trip) from HPN
to Findlay, OH (about 60 nm NNE from OSU)... And let me tell you - if
nothing else, it's peace of mind. Although it also comes with its own set
of new responsibilities and things to watch out for. But on days like last
week when the freezing level is way up at 11,000 and there's no convective
weather to talk about, flying in the soup is actually quite pleasurable...


Definitely worth getting your Instrument Rating if you ask me. And from
what it sounds like, you've got some good XC time VFR so it shouldn't be a
big stretch to get it done quickly. (Got mine with less than 41 hrs logged
Instrument Time.)



"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in
:

OK, inspired by Jay's trip to Reno, here's a report on our trip to KOSU
in Columbus, OH from NJ and back last week. I, too have pondered the
relative merits of getting my instrument rating, and have reached most
of the same conclusions as Jay. The discussion is relevant to this
trip, too.

7:00 AM Monday morning. Call FSS to see if the weather is as good as
it was supposed to be. Some fog at KSMQ (Somerset, NJ) that is
supposed to lift, but the real problem is beyond Harrisburg. Altoona
and Johnstown are in fog, that isn't predicted to burn off for a couple
of hours. Other than that, things are supposed to be VFR all the way,
although there is a lot of haze in Ohio. Ivan is still in the Gulf,
and not expected to affect the weather up here until Friday. So we go
back to bed for an hour, and then head to the airport. Susie's not
real comfortable with weather problems, and needs to get back in NJ
later in the week. It looks like there should be little problem
getting back as long as we beat Ivan.

From the airport, the weather is still IFR at Johnstown, but expected
to lift shortly, so we wait for a bit longer and then depart just
before 11:00. Pick up Flight Following from Allentown. Plan a fuel/pee
stop at Washington County, PA. The GPS is showing 89-95 knot ground
speed, so we have a bigger headwind than I had expected. Nothing else
noteworthy about the leg to Washington at 6,500', except that the Pgh.
Approach controller is obviously bored to death and chats incessantly
to anyone who comes into his airspace. A very friendly guy who even
asks one plane how he could get some stuff from their company for their
controllers' golf outing. Nice to hear someone so friendly over the
radio, but it seems a bit strange. The only traffic call we have the
whole leg is for someone 4,000 feet below us. Hardly a factor.

The cheap gas I was expecting at Washington, where I'd landed once
before, is $3.06. Cheaper than SMQ, but not that much cheaper. Call
my brother to tell him of our delayed departure and arrange a pickup at
OSU. File a new flight plan, and launch again. Try to pick up Flight
Following from Pgh, again, but are immediately handed off to Cleveland
Center. Ground speed picks up. The circulation centered over Western
PA is now pushing us West. The last 45 minutes the visibility gets
progressively worse - heavy haze. I descend to 4,500' to try and get a
better look at the ground. Visibility is less than 5 miles. OSU ATIS
confirms marginal VFR, but still legal. We get handed off to Columbus
Approach and are told to descend at our discretion and contact the
tower with field in sight. I see an airport, which I deduce from the
GPS is OSU and not CMH, and contact tower. They clear us for a
straight in approach to 27 left, but there doesn't appear to be two
runways. Trying to make sure I line up on the correct runway, I confess
that I am "unfamiliar" and ask if 27 left is the long runway I can see.
Tower sarcastically tells me 27 left is the one with "L" painted on
it. OK, I deserve that, since I can now see a second short runway on
the far right, but I still can't read anything. We land smoothly, and
Susie begins to relax. Ever since we had a bad crosswind landing
experience a couple of years ago, she has been less comfortable flying
with me. She still does, though. A wonderful woman. Hobbs time, 4.2
hours. Not too bad given the winds.

After a good visit with my brother, who is struggling with Lou Gehrig's
disease, we begin to think about a Wednesday departure. The plan to
take Dave flying on Tuesday is abandoned due to his being too tired.
He's an instrument rated private pilot with a lot more flight time than
I do, so you know he's hurting. It's really painful to see him going
downhill so fast.

Wednesday morning the weather is not good. Showers and thunderstorms
moving up from the south toward eastern and central PA and fog over
Johnstown and Altoona again. The fog is supposed to lift, however, and
it's clear skies with haze again between Columbus and Washington, PA.
We can't delay too much, because the weather to the east is expected to
worsen the next day, and Ivan is waiting in the wings. So we decide to
launch and make our way at least as far as Washington, and see how
things are. The good weather is moving slowly east, so we may be able
to get a bit farther.

Weather over Washington is fine, although we're above a broken layer
that is not getting any worse, yet, so we press on to Rostraver, and
then Latrobe, listening to AWOS reports up ahead as soon as we can pick
them up. However, when we get to Latrobe, we can hear from Johnstown
that they are still 3 miles and 800 feet. A lunch stop in Latrobe
seems appropriate. We drop through a big hole in the broken layer and
land at Latrobe.

Flight Services assures me that the fog in Johnstown should have lifted
in about two hours, so we enjoy a leisurely lunch. Arnold Palmer
airport is a beautiful place, but deserted. Our waitress in the
excellent restaurant overlooking the ramp area tells us that they
recently lost their one airline, and except for a casino flight to
Atlantic City three times a week, all they get are the odd corporate
jet and a few little planes like ours. Sad. Are the small town
airports going the same way as small town railway stations did 75 years
ago?

After lunch another call to FSS is discouraging. The fog at Johnstown
has not lifted. Johnstown is in a valley, so it's highly likely that
the tops of the ridge on either side are obscured, and I have a great
respect for "cumulo granite" clouds. We have a couple of options. We
can head north to Jamestown, NY and get north of the bad weather. Then
we should have clear sailing via Binghamton, home. Unfortunately, this
will add a huge amount of distance. An alternative is to climb over
the broken layer, head toward Johnstown, and then see if we can get
over the weather there. It's VFR once we get to Harrisburg. No PIREPS
for tops over Johnstown, but some earlier ones had the tops at 9,000
feet. Within reach of the Archer, although I've never had it up that
high before. I figure that with full tanks I should be able to see how
it is heading east, divert north if necessary, and as a last resort
head back west or back to Latrobe and regroup. The fuel at Latrobe is
$3.60. Ouch, but I want to have full tanks.

We launch up through the now scattered layer and set our course for
Johnstown at 7,500'. The scattered layer rapidly becomes broken and
then solid. I'm not sure I'm 100% comfortable up here, since I know
that we're going to be in big trouble if the fan stops. OTOH, I would
have the same problem if I were IFR, so I relax a bit and console
myself that the engine has never even coughed before. Over Johnstown,
which is still reporting 3 miles and 800', I can see a very high layer
sitting on top of the cloud deck out in the distance. Altoona is also
reporting IFR conditions, but as I get closer to the high clouds ahead,
I can hear Harrisburg reporting 10 miles and 2,500'. Unfortunately,
the high clouds ahead seem to be sitting right on top of Harrisburg.

I tell Center that I'm going to climb to 9,500' and see if I can get
over the layer ahead. The poor old Archer struggles up there, wheezing
at 300 FPM for the last thousand feet. After releaning, I realize that
never I've seen the mixture lever that close to "idle cutoff" before.
We level off, looking hopefully at the layer ahead. Still looks a lot
higher than us. As we get closer, it becomes obvious that we're not
going over in this plane, and without oxygen, so I begin to consider
the remaining options. The high layer seems to taper off both to the
south and to the north, and Susie suggest that south looks better. I
know that we will get better weather north, however, and I can see some
puffy clouds up that way. Perhaps the solid layer begins to break up
that way. I tell Center that we're diverting to overfly Mifflin County
airport to see if we can get around this cloud layer. As we get near
Mifflin, their AWOS is reporting 10 miles and 2,000'. Great. It sounds
like we can get around the bad stuff with only a 30 mile diversion.
That is, if I can get down below this cloud deck. Sure enough, as I
overfly Mifflin, the cloud deck begins to break up just like it looked
like it might from farther south.

A couple of miles north of Mifflin I overfly two big beautiful holes
and can see sunlit farms in the valley that Mifflin is in. Perfect. I
can drop down below the clouds and still have the option of landing at
Mifflin if the ridge tops are too close to the clouds. I tell Center
what we're going to do, and since I'm pretty sure from past experience
in the area that they won't be able to see me once I get below 3,000',
I cancel Flight Following and squawk 1200. Through the second hole as
we spiral down from way up there, I can see clearly the next valley
east, which also has an airport in it. We level off at 2,000, and find
that we can easily get over the ridge into the second valley. I still
have that second airport as an option, and it looks like we have at
least an 800' gap between the next ridge and the clouds. More
importantly, beyond that next ridge, I can see that the ridges get
progressively lower, and the weather improves. We cross the second
ridge with a few hundred feet to spare, and set a direct course to
Harrisburg. Not great VFR conditions, but we know it gets better the
farther east we go.

We pick up Flight Following again from Harrisburg Approach, and head
for home.

The rest of the trip is pretty unevenful, except for my blundering into
a thin rain cloud hanging below the rest near Allentown. No big deal,
we were out in five seconds and got some of the bugs washed off the
windshield, but I never saw it coming. We set down at Somerset, and
notice the tail of a Cessna 185 amphibian sticking out of the T-hangar
it tried to park in with the doors closed and a Commanche already
inside (see previous post "Stupid Pilot Tricks" for details). 4.3
hours on the Hobbs. A long day, but we're home without too many new
gray hairs. Susie points out that it took 7 hours door to door, and
that we could have driven it in 9 hours for a lot less money. I have
no answer to that.

Thinking back, I believe I made all the right decisions. With Ivan
coming up the coast, we would have been there for four more days had we
not gone when we did. The only thing that made me uncomfortable was
flying a long way on top of a cloud deck that I could not get down
through without my instrument rating. OTOH, I made sure I had plenty
of fuel, and a couple of option cards to play. I knew that good
weather was moving in behind us, so I could always turn around if
absolutely necessary. An instrument rating would have helped, since I
could have stayed on top, gone around or through that high cloud deck,
and then descended beyond Harrisburg. That would have saved some time,
but probably not reduced the risk much. I would have been in just as
much trouble had the engine failed, regardless of which rating I have.

Sorry if this is long, but I thought perhaps a discussion of the
decision process might help other low-time VFR pilots like me. Flame
away.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to
love America

Great post, Bob.

One of the great things about aircraft ownership is being able to use your
plane for honest-to-goodness transportation, rather than just $100 hamburger
flights.

To be able to fly where you want, when you want, with whom you want, is just
priceless to me.

And tell your wife that she should get her ticket, so you can kick back and
read the paper once in a while. It really is nice, especially on long
flights!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Bob,

Interesting & detailed writeup. My thoughts as a low time pilot who just got
his IFR ticket below:

7:00 AM Monday morning. Call FSS to see if the weather is as good as it
was
supposed to be. Some fog at KSMQ (Somerset, NJ) that is supposed to lift,
but the real problem is beyond Harrisburg. Altoona and Johnstown are in
fog, that isn't predicted to burn off for a couple of hours.
SNIP
From the airport, the weather is still IFR at Johnstown, but expected to
lift shortly, so we wait for a bit longer and then depart just before
11:00.

If you had the option of going IFR, would you have been able to depart
earlier?

Trying to make sure I line up on the correct runway, I confess that I am
"unfamiliar" and ask if 27 left is the long runway I can see. Tower
sarcastically tells me 27 left is the one with "L" painted on it.

There's also a localizer on 9R, which you could have tuned and read as a
back course to 27L. Assuming of course the reverse sensing didn't scramble
your egggs even worse, as lord knows it does for plenty of instrument
pilots. Just an idle thought...

Weather over Washington is fine, although we're above a broken layer that
is
not getting any worse, yet, so we press on to Rostraver, and then Latrobe,
listening to AWOS reports up ahead as soon as we can pick them up.
However,
when we get to Latrobe, we can hear from Johnstown that they are still 3
miles and 800 feet. A lunch stop in Latrobe seems appropriate. We drop
through a big hole in the broken layer and land at Latrobe.

This is the part where I always became really uncomfortable. My rule was
that I never went up above anything I wasn't sure of being able to make it
back down through.

Flight Services assures me that the fog in Johnstown should have lifted in
about two hours, so we enjoy a leisurely lunch.

Sounds like it was for the best, but again I'd ask whether IFR capability
would have allowed you to keep the schedule better.

Sad. Are the small town airports going the same way as small town railway
stations did 75 years ago?

For now, yes. If the microjets succeed at hitting their operating cost
targets, however, we could see a major resurgence. When I used to travel a
lot on business, I'd always point out to my boss as we drove two hours from
the major airport to the client site when we passed a small municipal
airport ten miles away. If I only had a faster plane...

it. We level off at 2,000, and find that we can easily get over the ridge
into the second valley. I still have that second airport as an option,
and
it looks like we have at least an 800' gap between the next ridge and the
clouds. More importantly, beyond that next ridge, I can see that the
ridges
get progressively lower, and the weather improves. We cross the second
ridge with a few hundred feet to spare, and set a direct course to
Harrisburg. Not great VFR conditions, but we know it gets better the
farther east we go.

You've flown in this area before, and sound like you have a pretty good grip
on how the weather behaves around there. As a non-local pilot, unfamiliar
with the area, VFR-only, this is not a situation I'd want to be in. A little
bit more fog, haze, virga, etc. and it seems to me like there could be a lot
of doors slamming in your face pretty fast. For me it's not just about what
I can get away with (and I'm speaking here about practical, not legal) but
what I feel comfortable with.

home without too many new gray hairs. Susie points out that it took 7
hours
door to door, and that we could have driven it in 9 hours for a lot less
money. I have no answer to that.

The journey is the destination. When you get up to a 150+kt airplane though
the speed factor starts to really kick in for people for those inclined to
see it as merely transportation.

With Ivan coming
up the coast, we would have been there for four more days had we not gone
when we did. The only thing that made me uncomfortable was flying a long
way on top of a cloud deck that I could not get down through without my
instrument rating. OTOH, I made sure I had plenty of fuel, and a couple
of
option cards to play. I knew that good weather was moving in behind us,
so
I could always turn around if absolutely necessary. An instrument rating
would have helped, since I could have stayed on top, gone around or
through
that high cloud deck, and then descended beyond Harrisburg.

Personally I was never comfortable VFR only in these situations. Up here in
New England the weather is famous for completely ignoring what the
forecasters tell it to do, and I didn't like the idea of having to divert
50-100 miles if things started going downhill. So for me, I probably
wouldn't have taken off with the situation as you describe, VFR-only. Now I
would file IFR, and if things turn out a lot better than expected, just
cancel it in the air.

For now, at my experience level, I see my IR as a tool to recover the
MVFR/MIFR days that we get an awful lot of in the Northeast. Pick any couple
of days and a route of say 100-200 miles, and you'll often find haze, fog,
low clouds, or something getting in the way for some part of the route and
day. Being rated and equipped (and current) gives me more confidence that I
will be able to successfully manage the risks of completing a significantly
larger percentage of flights.

Of course, an instrument ticket is no guarantee of being able to keep a
schedule either, even if you're flying a radar-equipped known-ice beast with
kerosene heaters on the tail. Ratings and equipment simply increase options.
And the point about engine loss is certainly valid. Indeed, there are also
cases where going VFR is safer than going IFR. Everything has its place.

Ultimately I think we all tend to see these things through the prism of our
own prejudices. I liked the idea of mastering instrument flight skills, and
never seriously questioned that I would, sooner or later, get the rating. I
enjoyed the training about as much as I suppose anyone can enjoy that sort
of thing, and think flying an approach in actual conditions is possibly the
coolest thing I've ever done in an airplane. So that colors how I look at
everything, for sure.

Best,
-cwk.

Only if the ILS is turned on. They usually turn it off if they are not
using 9R/L.

C Kingsbury wrote:
There's also a localizer on 9R, which you could have tuned and read as a
back course to 27L. Assuming of course the reverse sensing didn't scramble
your egggs even worse, as lord knows it does for plenty of instrument
pilots. Just an idle thought...