Threatened Engine Out in IMC

Threatened Engine Out in IMC

---

I finally received confirmation of the ASRS submission so here's the story.

We were delayed three hours while waiting for the visibility and ceiling to
improve to the FBO's dispatch minimums for instrument rated pilots. I also had
to switch airplanes due to an inoperative autopilot in the original airplane.

After listening to the ATIS and picking up my clearance I taxied to the run-up
area. Run-up indicated fouled plugs on one magneto. I was able to burn-off the fouling without incident. No other concerns were detected, specifically the oil pressure and temperature were indicating normally. Departure was likewise uneventful and I made the normal call-out that pressure and temperature were green and airspeed was alive. We launched at approximately 12:50 local.

Climb was uneventful the sky condition was reported as OVC008 and coincided with our entry into IMC. We were sent to ATL departure, radar identified and given multiple altitude and vector assignments. We were turned over to another frequency and asked which approach we requested at KAHN. We levelled off at 5,000 feet and I engaged the autopilot. I began to setup for the ILS 27 into KAHN (I was previously setup for the ILS 25 back into KLZU as a standard precaution when launching into IMC.)

After an initial setup of the approach ILS 27 into KAHN. We were
above the first cloud layer in our immediate vicinity but below the
same layer in different areas. Visibility was poor and there was no
horizon. I considered flight by reference to instruments to still be
required.

I began to fine-tune the power and mixture settings for cruise and
noticed that the oil temperature was pegged hot off the scale. I
notified approach of our situation and requested a return to KLZU and
requested the ILS 25. It is my recollection that I never officially
declared an emergency. I'm not clear on the order of the following
exchanges: I recall the controller asking if I needed priority and
giving the position of another aircraft on the ILS. I recall thinking
that the other aircraft would be out of the way before I got there
and that I was not prepared for the approach at the moment anyway. I
declined. I recall the controller asking if I required assistance on
the ground. I declined, I expected no problems if we made it to the
runway.

During the descent and vectors I was cleared down to 4,000 and very
shortly afterwards to 3,000. *I recall trying to balance how much to
reduce power to try to save the engine but still stay in a relatively
normal configuration for an IFR descent. When given the initial
vector and descent *I tried to initiate the turn and descent
manually. When the autopilot resisted I disabled the autopilot and
resumed hand-flying. At this point I was also trying to setup the ILS
25 into LZU. At approximately 13:08 local the controller notified me
that she was indicating 2,500 and that I was assigned 3,000. I
remember thinking no, I'm at 3,500. She also cleared me for the
approach when assigning me 3,000 which I missed. I simply
acknowledged the altitude assignment. I discovered this as I
questioned the controller as I flew through the localizer. The
approach and landing were uneventful.

I learned later that the incident airplane was known to have a
problem with the oil temperature sensor. The latest attempt to fix it
had apparently not addressed the problem.

*These are keys in the "chain of events" in my mind. I was
overloaded, descending much more rapidly than I'm accustomed to in
IMC and when push comes to shove I'm clearly more comfortable handflying.
I need to get more comfortable with the autopilot and pay
special attention to altitude when overloaded.

Finally got my ticket wet...

I passed my instrument airplane checkride on 1/31/2007. Two months to the day 3/31/2007 the weather and my schedule finally came together to allow me to make my first solo trip into IMC.

Many pilots get their instrument rating with only simulated IMC. This is unfortunate because the real thing is very different. I tried to get as much actual IMC during my instrument training as possible. However, I only managed to get 3 hours actual. This is better than none, but flyable IMC is not always that easy to come by. Unless you are a VFR only pilot then there always seems to be a constant supply of days where the only problem is a layer of low clouds.

In my case, contrary to most, I have always found actual IMC to be easier than simulated IMC. This was especially true when I was wearing glasses. I intentially used the most draconian hood that I could find to make sure that my training was as realistic as possible. However, this meant that the hood, especially with glasses, was a constant distraction. As a result in actual IMC things were a little easier for me.

In any case, back to the story. I filed LZU->AHN then AHN->LZU a trip of about 30 miles each way give or take. LZU is my home airport and AHN is a nearby airport and I often use approaches at these two airports to maintain proficiency. (I'm flying an average of about six approaches per month rather than the legal minimum of six approaches per six months). LZU and AHN have uncomplicated ILS approaches on closely aligned runways (25 and 27). I decided this would make for a very smooth flight. In order to make things even easier, I filed two flight plans allowing myself to setup for the ILS 27 approach into AHN on the ground at LZU and the ILS 25 approach into LZU on the ground at AHN. Since this was the real deal, single pilot IFR in actual IMC with an autopilot that does not function properly in heading bug mode and I would therefore not be using.

It turns out that I was not the only one wanting to play in the clouds. I was however the only one that had filed something other than a round-robin flight plan. Atlanta approach was not accepting practice flights due to the number of IFR flights. Two planes in front of me modified their flight plans to stop at AHN and we all lined up waiting for relase.

Things went very smoothly as our unintential congo line of planes made our way from LZU to AHN lining up on the ILS. I broke out at about 700 ft AGL and had the only real "excitement" of the day in the clear as I passed within 200 ft or so from 10 - 15 turkey vultures circling a thermal from 500ft below to 500ft above me.

I landed at AHN taxied to the ramp, ignoring the FBO lineman directing me to parking. I parked at the very end of the ramp and setup everything for the return flight. Then I called for my clearance to find out the only flying mistake I made for the day. I had filed my return flight as AHN -> AHN (a round-robin practice flight). The tower graciously amended my flight plan and I was off.

Flying into LZU was fairly routine this is my home ILS I fly this approach every time that I fly approaches. The only excitement was that my route took me through the biggest cloud around. It wasn't that big but it was pretty bumpy. I broke out shortly after passing the FAF and landed wrapping up my first solo IMC.

Chris

New Aviation Weather Website

I just launched the beginnings of a new aviation weather website... Have fun and let me know if there are any bugs! http://www.flyboyweather.com

Not so severe clear! KLZU<->KMCN<->KMOB

On Saturday, June 10th I finally made the often postponed trip to Mobile, AL. The day started with a solo flight from KLZU to KMCN in order to pick up my Dad (also a private pilot but at the time he was not current).

The second and final leg for the day was from KMCN to KMOB via victor airways V323, V70 and V20. This is a flight of about two and a half hours in the Cessna 172-R that I rented from the flight school. We flew at 8,500 ft (the highest that either of us had flown at the time) and the trip down was uneventful for the most part. It was hazy, but at 8,500 ft it was smooth as silk and there were only a few very widely scattered clouds. The only criticism I really have about the flight down is that I mismanaged my descent and made a descent that reminds me of short-hop commuter flights. We had a good 1,500 fpm descent for the last five or ten miles leveling off only long enough to slow down and deploy the flaps. It worked out well, landing a little long avoiding a long taxi to the ramp.

After a night visiting with family we arrived at KMOB for the return trip. We didn't like what we saw on the drive to Mobile. It was clearly quite hazy with a low overcast that appeared to slowly be breaking up. I had spent quite a bit of time studying the weather and the conditions were considerably worse than forecast. The updated forecasts suggested little improvement in Mobile but that the weather was localized. (Ironically ATIS was calling the sky clear, so much for automated weather stations).

We waited a little while for the clouds to lift a little (up to about 2,500 - 3,500). We decided to go ahead with the flight based on a number of factors. 1) The weather was supposed to be better just north of our departure point. 2) The terrain is extremely flat with the highest elevation on the entire sectional (including obstacles) being about 650 ft. 3) The fact that given the tropical storm that was on the way if we did not depart in the morning we would be stuck for a number of days.

We departed KMOB and started back toward KMCN. The visibility was very poor (legal, safe, but not comfortable in unfamiliar territory). The ceiling (they were calling the layer scattered but I'd call it broken) we stayed about 1,000 ft below the clouds (as best as I could guess) which put us as low as 1,500 agl and as high as 2,000 agl.

We flew this way for about forty miles with the layer slowly lifting and becoming more scattered. We finally found a hole that was clearly large enough to climb through and decided to go for it given that there were plenty of holes large enough to descend through and that the conditions were supposed to continue to improve along our route. We climbed to 7,500 into clear, smooth air and breathed a collective sigh of relief.

During the climb to 7,500 ft I did forget to reset the GPS so we ended up off track. Thanks to the fact that I always try to get flight following, ATC's question: "Did you change your mind and decide to go direct?" prompted me to double check myself and discover my error.
The remainder of the flight to KMCN was pretty much uneventful we did climb to 9,500 ft in order to climb over "cloud layer" (I think it turned out to be smoke / haze) and to put a little more distance between us and the clouds.

The descent and landing at KMCN was uneventful though the turbulence was very unpleasant. I dropped off my dad, spent about 30 minutes recuperating and considering the wind conditions at my destination. All stations were reporting winds that were pretty well aligned with the runways but were generally gusting from 6kt to 18kt.

I departed KMCN knowing that I was going to be in for a ride. There was still a scattered layer at about 5,000 ft. I knew that flying under the scattered cumulous, plus a gusty wind, plus a really hot day was going to make for an unpleasant flight home.

It was, though it was a good learning experience / confidence booster. I alternately flew the airplane and felt like I was flying a glider. (Some of the updrafts were pretty impressive). It was uncomfortable and nerve-wracking for the first fifteen minutes until I got used to the turbulence. Then it was just uncomfortable. The landing back at KLZU was uneventful and I shutdown with 7.9 hours for the weekend.

So what did I learn? A lot, I'm a low time pilot (I had just over sixty hours at the time we went on this trip). I learned a lot about flying on days that are not severe clear and calm. I had flown in some pretty serious winds during my training so that was not much of a factor but I trained during winter and was not accustomed to the typical fair weather cumulous and haze that we have here. I guess that's why they call it a license to learn.

I did become more convinced that I will start IFR training soon after building XC hours.

Fly safe!

Chris

Recently (yesterday) launched a crossword puzzle site.

I recently launched a crossword puzzle site...

http://www.freeinternetpuzzle.com - This site contains crossword puzzles, I will be adding at least one puzzle per day. (At this time, at launch only one puzzle was provided and it is aviation related if anyone is interested.)

In addition to a daily crossword puzzle there will be a library of crossword puzzles.

So if you enjoy crossword puzzles drop by! Bear in mind that as of 6/19/2006 there is only one puzzle, but I promise to at least have a daily crossword puzzle so you should see at least one crossword added per day. Hopefully a lot more!

Chris

Flying to Mobile?

Well, I've postponed this trip a number of times, but I will be trying to fly to Mobile, AL (KMOB) this coming weekend. We'll see how it goes. Everything I have tried to make this flight so far I have cancelled because of the weather.

Oh yeah, I created a stupid little website over the weekend. Mostly it's just me trying to mess around with .NET 2.0 and SQL 2005 in order to make sure my skills do not atrophy since my current job is database-only and SQL 2000.

Chris

Flying with the Family

Last Saturday we made our first trip as a family. We flew from KLZU (Lawrenceville, GA) to KPXE (Perry, GA) to visit with family and generally burn some 100LL.

I arrived at the airport about half an hour before my wife arrived with the kids. You would be surprised how hard it is to load two car seats into the back of a Cessna 172! I had double checked the weight and balance to make sure that I could have all three of them set in the back. This is a luxury that I have that most do not when loading four people into a 172.

I weigh in at 160lbs, my wife is normally about 100lbs (but she's still losing the pregnancy weight). Our two year old is 30lbs and his two month old brother is a little over 12 lbs.

Still when you add in a flight bag, diaper bag and two car seats we were within 50 lbs of max gross weight with full fuel. After finally figuring out how to load two car seats into the back of the 172 we jumped in and departed. The flight was uneventful going down and both boys were at least tolerating the trip pretty well.

We spent several hours in Perry visiting with my parents and left at about 4PM. The trip back was also uneventful but the visibility was a very hazy "10 miles". I've seen better visibility when they've called it "5 miles" but that's another story. The boys both gave in to the drone of the engine on the return trip and my wife was able to take a number of pictures on the way back (including the one above).

So I finally managed to put the PPL to use! (After $8,000 and seven months.)

- Fly safe!

PP-ASEL

I guess my check-ride story starts two days before the "big day". I was scheduled for my check-ride Tuesday afternoon and was scheduled for my last pre-check-ride dual lesson the Sunday before (which turned out to be Palm Sunday). We were baptizing our newborn son that morning and I was skipping out on the post-baptismal dinner in order to be able to go on this lesson.

We went up and went through all of my maneuvers which were fine and came back to KLZU for some short and soft field landing practice. This is where I had the typical "worst flying of your training" experience. In every short field landing I floated too far down the runway and was generally off. I began to be very frustrated with myself and my instructor (myself for performing poorly and missing out on the festivities and my instructor because he didn't seem to be much help). I landed wanting to give it up. I thought my instructor was going to postpone the check-ride and I was so frustrated I wanted to quit.

We went inside the school to de-brief and my instructor was much more upbeat than I expected. He said that we did need to get together again and work on the short field work but that otherwise I did very well and showed that I was ready for the check-ride.
I ended up taking an additional day off of work and we met the next day to nail down the short field landings. This time everything clicked and we ended the lesson early and I went home to prepare for the oral exam.

Tuesday morning I was rushed trying to get all of the cross-country planning completed. I finally got everything done and we left only about thirty minutes late. (We had a couple of hours built into our schedule to allow us to fly around where the check-ride was and time to practice a few more short field landings).

After meeting the DE we started with all of the paperwork and the DE gave me two written exams to take while he worked on some of the paperwork. I finished the two exams and the oral started in earnest. First he graded the exams. After grading the first one (on airspace regulations) he said that I had not missed any questions and that in his eighteen years as a DE he had only had two previous applicants miss no questions on that exam. After grading the second one (on airport signage) he said that I had again not missed any questions and that he did not think that in the eighteen years he's been a DE he had never had a student score 100% on both exams. (Given that I scored a 97% on the written exam and knew ahead of time which questions I missed I wasn't that surprised.) At this point I became much more relaxed about the oral exam. He continued to quiz me for about an hour and then said "let's go fly".

I was somewhat nervous about the flying portion of the exam. Mostly I was nervous about the short and soft field landings. I performed my pre-flight and we jumped in and taxied to the end on the runway. He wanted a soft field takeoff and made me think I blew it in the beginning. As soon as I lifted off he was shadowing the controls. I later decided that this is a very critical phase of flight and that he simply doesn't know much about the candidate's flying ability and is just being prepared in case something goes wrong.He had given departure instructions that included intercepting a radial on a nearby VOR. After intercepting the radial he failed NAV radios and had me navigate to my first checkpoint by pilotage. At this point he had me run a ground speed check and then diverted me to the airport that was my first checkpoint.

He pulled my engine in such a way that we were way high. After slipping and dumping in flaps he asked me where my aiming point was (since I guess I was still high from his perspective). I told him the 1,000ft markers and he asked me why so long. I said with an engine out I was to be 100% sure that the field will be made (it was a 5,000ft runway.) He told me to aim for the numbers instead. So we did a bit of a dive and about twenty feet up he had me do a go-around.

We stayed in the pattern and did all of the short and soft field work. This was way easier than normal for a number of reasons. First the field has a displaced threshold. Second he did not have me simulate a 50ft obstacle on landing. Third there was a headwind of about ten knots. The displaced threshold removed some of the "we're too low" urges I normally get on a short field landing. The lack of a 50ft obstacle removed one more variable and the headwind helped mitigate any float.

After completing this work we left the pattern and he gave me the foggles for the instrument work. This was pretty standard and posed no problems.
Next up was the maneuvers slow-flight, stalls, steep turns and ground reference maneuvers. This was again pretty standard and posed no problems. He did have me do my stalls while turning which we had never done during training. It was actually a little easier than what we practiced.

Finally came this DE's well known finale. I had been warned by my CFI and by the DE that this was coming and was excited because I knew this meant that I had passed and all I had to do was follow directions. The foggles came back out and you follow his directions. He brings you in for the approach and you land blind!

After removing the foggles he shakes my hand and tells me that if I can get us back to the ramp safely I'm a pilot.

During the de-brief he said that I was a methodical and thorough pilot. He said that his only complaint was that I didn't use the rudder enough but that he has that complaint about all PPL applicants. He encouraged me to get my instrument rating and he said that we need more CFI's that are methodical pilots like I am and he encouraged me to continue and work toward becoming a CFI.

Total Time: 52.6

Wrong lake!

After the fiasco landing / go-around during my first solo cross-country flight, I was even more nervous on my second solo cross-country flight. This time I was flying to Chattanooga, TN a Class "Charlie" airport and then from there to Dalton, GA an un-towered airport and back to Lawrenceville, GA. Since I had never been to either Chattanooga's airport or to Dalton's airport this was a better test of my navigational skills.

I departed Lawrenceville late since the intercom in the airplane I was flying was broken. This was very annoying since I personally squawked this item and the airplane had just come back from its 100 hr inspection. We found out that the headset would work but not the microphone on the headset. The chief CFI suggested that as long as I was comfortable I could use the hand-held microphone in combination with my headset. I told him I was fine with that, I had thought I would have had to plug into the co-pilot plugs and use the co-pilot's push-to-talk switch. I was not comfortable with that idea.

The trip to Chattanooga was a good one in that I was able to test my skills at getting un-lost. I had the GPS set for direct to Chattanooga, but my flight plan was not direct. I also had a VOR radial tuned in but did not think that it was reliable at the distance I was at to begin with. I hit my first couple of checkpoints and then thought I saw my next checkpoint and headed toward it!

I was supposed to fly just south of Carters Lake but the lake was off to my South (I thought I was north of my desired track). I flew toward the lake for five or ten minutes and realized that I was flying toward Lake Allatoona! This put me about ten miles off course so I corrected, located Carters Lake and intercepted my course.

The landing in Chattanooga was not great, but not scary and I taxied to the ramp and took an hour break. The return trip was picture perfect except for being unable to raise Nashville FSS to open my flight plan. The landing a Dalton was actually decent and the one at Lawrenceville was nothing to be proud off but again nothing scary.

Lakes make great checkpoints in my neck of the woods but make sure it's the right lake!

Fly Safe!

How not to land an airplane!

I remember thinking "I should have taken the renter insurance"...

Less than 1% of the population in the United States holds any kind of pilot license. Learning to fly in the United States is not a cheap proposition. I was quoted around $5,000 to get my private pilot license. As with many things this number is based on several unrealistic assumptions. If you wish to learn to fly in most major metropolitan areas you can expect to spend between $5,000 and $10,000 and five months.

Learning to fly is a process, as you might expect. A good student that has spent years dreaming and studying about flying can usually taxi, takeoff and maneuver the airplane during his or her first flying lesson. Landing is a different story. During those early lessons your certified flight instructor (CFI) will at least help out on your landings. The first third of your training is geared toward that glorious day where you are able to kick your CFI out of the airplane and fly for the first time by yourself. Today, this takes place after about sixteen hours of instruction on average. (I soloed at 15.6 hours.)

Once you solo your training changes direction and you learn to navigate. You finally get to go somewhere. This is a big deal since most of us want to do more than just fly around the airport like bees flying around a hive. As with your early training this is a process and leads to you eventually doing a solo cross-country flight. No, you do not get to fly from the East coast to the West coast. The term "cross-country" has a specific meaning as determined by the FAA. It means that you have to land at least fifty nautical miles (one nautical mile is about 1.15 miles) away from the airport that you departed from. In the rest of this post, I will simply use the term "miles" for either "nautical miles" or "statute miles". In most cases pilots do not indicate one or the other since which is used is standard based on context.

I did my first solo cross-country flight from Lawrenceville, Georgia to Macon, Georgia. As an over-achiever this is not a bare-minimum solo cross-country flight. It is 78 miles from Lawrenceville to Macon and both airports are controlled. This route takes you within 2.5 miles of Atlanta's airspace. Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is the busiest or second busiest airport in the country depending on if you count passengers or airplanes. (Chicago's O'Hare is the busiest or second busiest airport in the country, again depending on how you count things.) I chose this route specifically to challenge me and force me to deal with a heavy radio workload.

The flight down to Macon was routine. I navigated to Macon with no trouble avoiding Atlanta's airspace and talking to Atlanta Approach for en route traffic advisories. The landing was not a great one but it was fine for a student with the number of hours that I had at the time. The return flight was not so smooth.

I left Macon and immediately after leaving the ground the oil door popped open. This is a small door in the nose of the airplane that we use to gain access to the oil dipstick to check the oil in the engine. I had closed the door but did not get it latched during my pre-flight. I notified the tower of my problem and requested a precautionary landing. This was no emergency but flying is an endeavor where caution is the better part of valor.I left Macon again and navigated back to Lawrenceville with no problems. Landing turned out to be an entirely different story.

Lawrenceville was calling for winds at 230 degrees at 4 knots. This is a very calm wind and the direction indicated that the winds were close to right down the runway. Pilots are always concerned about winds during landings because the wind will often try to blow you off of the runway centerline or literally blow you off the runway after you have landed.

The first mistake I made was paying too much attention to the reported winds and not watching the windsock and paying attention to the cross-wind corrections that I was making while approaching the runway. I listened to the wind report and translated it into "winds no factor". As a result I landed as if there were no cross-wind (the component of the wind that tries to blow you off of the runway).

Shortly after touchdown the plane swerved to the right. I tried to correct to the left and the correction combined with the cross-wind lifted my left wing. After a few worsening attempts to gain control I had decided that this was it, I would survive but the right wing was going to hit and I was going to destroy the plane. You are taught that when in doubt on a landing, go-around. I had also been taught that it was not too late to go around after you had touched down. I applied full power and figured I'd do a very late go-around. Power was like a miracle elixir and I re-gained control of the airplane and lifted off to give it another try.

I realized the mistake that I had made. Returning to land, I now knew that contrary to the reported winds I did indeed have a cross-wind to contend with. Ironically cross-winds have been something that I have done quite well with during my training. This time I touched down on the upwind wheel and maintained directional control on the rollout.

While taxiing back to the school I noticed that the wind sock was indicating a direct cross wind at about seven knots. Taxied back and let my CFI know about the events for the day.

So I am still here in one piece and the old adage says that a good landing is any landing that you can walk away from and a great landing is when you and re-use the airplane. What we mean by the adage is that landing is hard and every pilot has a few bad ones.

Here is the morale of the story... for other pilots out there.

• First, every landing is a cross-wind landing.
• Fly the airplane until all of the pieces stop moving.
• If you have enough runway it is never too late to go-around.

Fly safe!