Ed_Wischmeyer
Well Known Member
On Friday, the mission was to fly the RV-9A from Savannah down to Jesse Saint's shop near Ocala, Florida, to get cracks in the boarding steps welded. The morning weather in coastal Georgia was low clouds and ugliness, but no rain. I thought. Fortunately it was localized.
Departure was easy, with the autopilot engaged 500 feet up. Instead of TOGA, I used autopilot vertical speed mode and heading hold to comply with the departure instructions. One minute in the clouds and we were on top. The rest of the flight was clear of clouds in smooth, cool air till the descent when I was in and out of the puffy clouds in warm, bumpy air. So an hour and a half flight was easy with only a few minutes of IFR but if I'd tried VFR, I would have been on the ground waiting for the weather so I could bump along in warm air. And IFR, I was careful to not fly over regions of low ceilings where I would have no chance of finding a landing spot if I had to descend through the goo after a power failure.
Coming back this morning, departure was all in VMC, but the radar (cellphone app on the ground, ADS-B uplink in the air) showed a line of showers coming in off the Atlantic. With the moving map and heading hold on the autopilot, I deviated inland to avoid that weather, using the ADS-B to help me figure out which clouds were worth the closest visual inspection. The big cloud ahead didn't show up on the ADS-B but as I got closer, there were little puffs coming out the top, indicating that vertical development (bumps, in other words) were starting. I deviated farther inland, went through 30 seconds of cloud with only the lightest turbulence, and then was in another air mass with all kinds of beautiful clouds in the distance. The deviations cost me maybe 10 minutes of flight time, but smooth air instead of hefty bumps in the clouds was well worth it.
Close to home, I skimmed the tops of clouds at 2000 feet before intercepting the glideslope, breaking out at maybe 1200 feet. This was my first ILS in actual IMC in the RV-9A, and the autopilot did just fine. I disconnected at 500 feet so I could make the first turnoff.
So once again, ugly VFR was super simple IFR, both ways. And I used the technology to avoid the bumps as well. Wish I could do that in the RV-8, but that would require an approved navigation radio, a backup attitude indicator, autopilot, and a new panel. Worth doing on a new plane, but not on a retrofit.
On another note, the steps received white powder coating that matched the white paint on the airplane, replacing the dark blue paint that they had originally. The nice result was that the steps now contrast nicely with the lower fuselage without having to be in some obnoxious orange.
And on a last note, the folks at ITEC aviation were all just great. They are all mission (as in missionary) oriented, and I've met so many missionaries that were just great folks. At the back of the hangar was a mural, 40 feet wide, painted by Lawrence Saint who got his start restoring stained glass windows in Europe after WWI. His son Nate Saint was martyred in the Amazon in 1956, and Nate's oldest son Steve wound up living a few years in the jungle with the tribe that killed his dad. Jesse is Steve's oldest son. Many stories there worth the telling and looking up on the web.
Departure was easy, with the autopilot engaged 500 feet up. Instead of TOGA, I used autopilot vertical speed mode and heading hold to comply with the departure instructions. One minute in the clouds and we were on top. The rest of the flight was clear of clouds in smooth, cool air till the descent when I was in and out of the puffy clouds in warm, bumpy air. So an hour and a half flight was easy with only a few minutes of IFR but if I'd tried VFR, I would have been on the ground waiting for the weather so I could bump along in warm air. And IFR, I was careful to not fly over regions of low ceilings where I would have no chance of finding a landing spot if I had to descend through the goo after a power failure.
Coming back this morning, departure was all in VMC, but the radar (cellphone app on the ground, ADS-B uplink in the air) showed a line of showers coming in off the Atlantic. With the moving map and heading hold on the autopilot, I deviated inland to avoid that weather, using the ADS-B to help me figure out which clouds were worth the closest visual inspection. The big cloud ahead didn't show up on the ADS-B but as I got closer, there were little puffs coming out the top, indicating that vertical development (bumps, in other words) were starting. I deviated farther inland, went through 30 seconds of cloud with only the lightest turbulence, and then was in another air mass with all kinds of beautiful clouds in the distance. The deviations cost me maybe 10 minutes of flight time, but smooth air instead of hefty bumps in the clouds was well worth it.
Close to home, I skimmed the tops of clouds at 2000 feet before intercepting the glideslope, breaking out at maybe 1200 feet. This was my first ILS in actual IMC in the RV-9A, and the autopilot did just fine. I disconnected at 500 feet so I could make the first turnoff.
So once again, ugly VFR was super simple IFR, both ways. And I used the technology to avoid the bumps as well. Wish I could do that in the RV-8, but that would require an approved navigation radio, a backup attitude indicator, autopilot, and a new panel. Worth doing on a new plane, but not on a retrofit.
On another note, the steps received white powder coating that matched the white paint on the airplane, replacing the dark blue paint that they had originally. The nice result was that the steps now contrast nicely with the lower fuselage without having to be in some obnoxious orange.
And on a last note, the folks at ITEC aviation were all just great. They are all mission (as in missionary) oriented, and I've met so many missionaries that were just great folks. At the back of the hangar was a mural, 40 feet wide, painted by Lawrence Saint who got his start restoring stained glass windows in Europe after WWI. His son Nate Saint was martyred in the Amazon in 1956, and Nate's oldest son Steve wound up living a few years in the jungle with the tribe that killed his dad. Jesse is Steve's oldest son. Many stories there worth the telling and looking up on the web.