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
posted by The Geek @ 19:47
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