Finally, some real solo IFR practice!

Well, after enduring the blisteringly cold, icy, snowy, and windy winter
we've had up here in the Northeast, I _finally_ managed to get in some real,
honest to goodness, solid IFR practice!

It's been a couple of months since my last real instrument flight, but
tonight, the conditions were finally "just right" for practice. Ceilings
were generally 1,500 - 2,000 overcast, with some spots of broken below
1,000... a good, challenging scenario. Lots of rain, but mostly of the
stratus variety... no convection to speak of.

I started out at CDW and headed down to TTN. On climbout, I hit the lower
part of the cloud deck at around 1,200, pattern altitude. Didn't see the
ground again for about 35 minutes, as I navigated down to TTN. Got radar
vectored in for the ILS 6 approach, and asked the approach controller if I
could do some practice approaches in the beautiful IMC... we worked out an
approach into TTN, low approach over the field, then radar vectors to PNE
(Northeast Philly), LOC BC 6 approach into PNE, low approach, then back out
directly into the ILS 6 into TTN. The two fields are perfectly positioned
for this kind of workout, and I did it quite a few times with my instructor
last year.

For the most part, the clouds were smooth... lots and lots of rain though,
with a few dry pockets here and there. As I descended into each of the
approaches, however, things began to get a bit more dicey... a nice stiff
Northerly wind was gusting I'd guess from 20 - 30 kts, down to around 500
AGL... below that, things smoothed out considerably, but there was still a
good crosswind. I brought the plane down to around 300 AGL for the first two
approaches, then kept it lined up as best as I could on climbout. The third
approach, ILS 6 into TTN, I landed with a pretty good squeaker. Turned off
the runway, cleaned up the plane, then got my clearance back to CDW.

By now it was getting dark, so I double-checked to make sure my flashlight
and head mounted lights were in the side pocket, ready for use. Took off,
climbed up to 4000, and was in the thick of the soup again. I could see the
ground poking out between the clouds every once in a while, but I tried to
keep my focus on the gauges as much as possible. (I had autopilot and GPS
for this flight, however, each approach was hand-flown). Got vectored in for
the LOC 22 approach into CDW, and again, that nasty crosswind started
rearing its ugly head. This time, I actually made a mistake, and flew
through the localizer approach course. Controller asked if I wanted to go
around, I responded that I could still make it (I was about 8 nm out, with
the approach course plainly visible on the GPS, so I knew I had enough time
to correct my mistake). Got my bearings, got back on course, caught sight of
the runway, and then descended for a circle-to-land approach to runway 04.

2.3 hours, 4 approaches, enough turbulence on each descent to keep things
lively... I'd have to say that this was my best workout yet. Can't wait to
get another one in!

--
Guy Elden Jr.