LogBlog - Learning to Fly IFR in Fire and Ice

LOGBLOG
An IFR business trip goes way past merely interesting when encountering an embedded thunderstorm, complete with hail, visible cloud-to-cloud lightning, and moderate to extreme turbulence, and to cap off the experience, St. Elmo's fire.

8/11/1982 - San Diego to Farmington New Mexico and return; one day business trip.

PA-28RT-201. N2057M. SDM - FDM - SDM. 7.9 total hours. (Night3.9, IFR 4.6) 2 VOR approaches.

I think it was the philosopher Nietzsche who said 'That which does not kill me makes me stronger." Words that fit for this flight! I knew we would have IFR on a business trip going to Farmington New Mexico. I worked as a computer salesperson for a small computer firm, and was taking our lead programmer over to our latest client, to complete an installation session.

We departed Brown Field near San Diego filing IFR from the start, and sure enough, we were in and out of clouds within the first 30 minutes, but it was early in the day, and they had not grown into anything menacing, yet. My plan was to wait until later in the evening for our return, knowing the forecast was for activity to die down after sunset. We were flying a Turbo Arrow III, a beautiful cross country aircraft. I noted on the way over that the AI made louder whining noises on start-up but quickly behaved normally after take off.

We stayed later than anticipated, with a programming problem, and left after 8pm for our return flight. It was dark and nearly solid cloud cover was expected for our return flight. I was concerned about remnant thunderstorms, so my plan was to monitor the other traffic, noticing who else was flying in our size range, and judge from that if I should continue or divert. Soon after contacting approach I heard several other small aircraft on frequency, one ahead of us, and the air was acceptable to them so I pressed on. We wre flying in the St. Johns area.

About 30 minutes after departure, level at cruise and in solid cloud, the controller asked if we would take a vector around a section in front of us he reported as showing 'heavy activity.' Gratefully I accepted and made the heading change. Within three minutes we hit our first 'whump' of turbulence, and it just kept getting worse. I recalled an older pilot telling me it's often better to push straight ahead under control than to lose control in a turn trying to avoid rough air,' so I pressed ahead.

The turbulence increased, then came the hail. Not just little bitty hail; hail so hard and loud I was terrified and in awe that the windscreen did not crack. Not that I had much time to look out, as I was very busy with my hands and eyes. I was making nearly full control deflections in all directions and up to 75% throttle adjustments, and just managing to keep airspeed in the green and altitude within 500 feet of of assigned. This was truly 'attitude flying' I remember thinking.

The hail grew louder. I was completely focused and time seemed to alternate between very fast and slower than normal. If the controller had tried to talk to me I don't think at that moment I would have acknowledged. Then everything got worse a notch, and I saw lightning flash to port of the aircraft and slightly behind. That was when I felt a cold sweat for the first time in the episode. Immediately after the lightning, the avionics began generating a strange clicking and humming, and the needles started to jump erratically and time seemed to slow down. In front of me, unbelievably, the tips of the propeller began to glow, describing a green arc, which intensified, and began moving down the propeller arc and started to flicker across the top of the cowling.

At that moment, for the first time, I was not sure of what I was seeing. Later I learned it was classic St. Elmo's fire, and the next incident was a stroke of true luck; we popped out of a wall of clouds into the most beautiful clear and calm night sky you could imagine, with a million stars twinkling over the desert sands down below. A moment later the controller came on the quiet frequency " Five Seven Mike, how is your flight?" "We're okay." I reported back, but it was pretty intense back there. "Glad I could steer you around the heavy stuff." he replied.

Twenty more minutes into the flight, the AI rolled over and died. I covered it with a piece of paper, told the controller, and we continued homeward, under mostly VFR conditions. The IFR approach through the thin marine layer at Brown field was anti-climactic even with the failed AI, after what we had been through.

The next day, examining the aircraft, all was fine except for the broken AI, and the paint on the leading edges of the wing in about a 1 inch wide stripe, was stripped to shiny aluminum. The rest of the plane was astonishingly clean, however.

Looking back, I can't believe I flew that IFR trip without onboard radar! In retrospect, on the plus side, I learned my training was good; it all worked for me that night. My judgement? In hindsight I would have picked up a motel room and left the next morning at sunrise under dewy clean sunlit morning skies.

The best advice I can offer: don't fly into embedded T-cells, period, even if you think they won't be a factor. The second best advice? If you do, just fly the attitude. Focus on keeping the wings level and the airspeed within reason and if you take care of these two issues, you'll stand a chance.

I know this sounds like a tall story, but somewhere out there, perhaps reading this and remembering, are a programmer who will never forget how nature displayed her use of charged electric particles, and a controller who probably still feels good about being able to help out a pilot just trying to fly home.

Onward & Upward! ~ rfb

REVIEW - Catalina Island, Excitement off the Southern California Coast

REVIEW
'Catalina Island is the place to be', as the old song says. Fun for pilots, fun for passengers, for a day, a hike, a swim, or an overnight adventure in Avalon.

Living in Southern California, Catalina was one of my favorite destinations. Once owned by Mr. Wrigley, of chewing gum fame, the airport was a private strip created by flattening the top of a mountain. Now it is a paved strip with an attendant, unicom, a restaurant and transportation into the town of Avalon down by the sea, and open to all.

Pilot challenges abound. First, you have to decide what altitude to use, which is dependant on whether you angle out to sea from the south coast or from the north prior to reaching the Los Angeles area, or choose instead to fly lower with less water to cross but having to communicate with LAX controlled airspace and watching out for large volumes of traffic coming from every direction.

It's a right-hand pattern when the typical runway 22 is used as the winds are blowing from the west, but here's where the real fun begins. The airport is at the top of a mountain, and on all sides terrain rapidly falls away towards the sea. Your turn to base and final are out over the ocean, over a thousand feet higher from a ground reference than you are used to at that point. It feels like making a turn in space, but remember, you are working not off sea level below you but the top of the mountain, which you are turning back to meet. This makes judging pattern and altitude tricky, yet it can be accomplished best by keeping a close watch on your altimeter and the VASI on final. The fun is not over yet, though. The wind blowing over the top of the mountain often creates strong laminar flow with a downturn - you guessed it - right before the landing touchdown zone, which means you have to be ready for a healthy addition of power on final to hold your glide path.

But wait, there is more! The runway has a slight rise, with a subtle peak in the middle. This means just as you touch down, you look down the runway and see the apparent length diminishing very rapidly. There are a LOT of brake skid marks from prior pilots who thought they were going over the edge on the far side, but just like you, they successfully crest the middle of the runway to realize they still have a half runway left. Turn off to the left, and find a parking space and register your plane inside the building.

Now the ground fun starts! For lunch, have a buffalo burger, at the restaurant with a spectacular view out to sea. The buffalo are from the island. They are rumored left over from a movie shoot early last century and are regularly harvested and served. I found it better than any hamburger I've had before.

You can sign up for a ride down the bumpy hill to the town of Avalon, which in all ways is a sleepy beach town with a great history. Visit the beautiful casino building at the end of the promenade. Tour the Wrigley mansion. Skin dive or S.C.U.B.A. dive and swim with orange Garibaldi, the California state fish; among one of many species you will see. Get a room for the night or a weekend. Rent a boat. Swim, or hike to the other side of the island on a week-long backpacking trip.

When you are ready to leave, there is one last treat the island airport offers. As you take off, when you would be typically 200 feet above the ground, the end of the runway drops away over a cliff and the zoom effect is stunning, you feel for all the world like you are in a rocket climbing to space.

I've flown many aircraft to Catalina; a Kachina Varga, Aeronca 11AC, Stinson Voyager, many Cessna's and Pipers, and a Cessna 320. The fun never ended and each aircraft allowed me an opportunity to explore the challenges - and rewards - one more time. Someone once flew a glider from the mainland, with photos on the walls to prove it, however they did need a tow back to the mainland.

Here are a few useful links:

http://www.catalina.com/airport.html - About getting to Catalina Island and contact information.
http://airports.pilotage.com/avx/ - Specific airport info with a good aerial photo of the airport.
http://www.micheloud.com/FXM/Flying/Catalina.htm - An interesting site with many images and tips.
http://www.catalinachamber.com/ - Chamber of Commerce, official Catalina Island website.

This is one destination worth traveling to as you head up or down the coast, or as an end destination unto itself. Enjoy your flight!

Onward & Upward! ~ rfb


(the image shown is a computer generated image in Microsoft Flight Simulator accurately reflecting the approach to Runway 22 at Catalina. I applied digital filters to the image to make it more artistic and interesting).

FLYOSOPHY - Discussion Forum: 'Significant Others' & More Fun Flying

FLYOSOPHY - Flying, as in most other activities, can be more fun when shared with someone you care about. Does your significant other share your feelings for flight? If not, is there anything you can do to increase their participation?

This is meant to be an open forum topic. Please add thoughts, ideas, questions, solutions, anything you want on this subject and let's see where this goes. Frankly the subject is vexing and challenging to me as well! A reader recently suggested writing about Significant Others and getting them to fly. The reader also recommended it in a forum format, and I agree; that might be the best way to get to the bottom of this subject.

Why don't wives and girlfriends like to fly as much as the men? It is undisputably true, most flights in GA aircraft are made by guys, either on their own or with a few friends. When I was a Chief Instructor and hundred's of students showed up to learn to fly, guess what? Mostly guys. Why is that? Do they not have as much fun flying? Is it because they are brought up differently? I have a son and a daughter and I must admit, despite all attempts at equality in exposure, education, and the types of toys we allowed, my daughter increasingly gravitates towards experiental drawing, role play games and reading, my son increasingly gravitates to understanding how things physically work. He would far rather play with a toy he can take apart and reassemble, or help me with tools in the garage, or sword play with plastic light sabers.

In a nutshell, my son clearly prefers to play and experiment with how physical objects are made and how they move about in the world, While my daughter displays a desire to explore the social interactions of objects, real or imagined, in her play. Are these universal truths? Are we simply hard-wired this way?

When my daughter was two, I began giving her toy airplanes. My own social experiment. She enjoyed playing with them, but at age 4 asked me why I liked them so much and shortly thereafter dropped airplanes for cats. No explanation. It was a hard-wired and to me, inexplicable, preference.

In college, flying girls to lunch or a trip to an exotic island or mountain location was always a good show-stopper, but they always preferred looking out the window to actually touching the controls. My wife, who once worked for the NAA and on her first day on the job was in the back of a chase plane with a clipboard and stopwatch timing a time-to-climb record attempt is a rare exception to this trend and I was lucky to find her. But even she, when it comes to touching the controls, would prefer 'getting there' over 'doing it.' I must admit this is a surprise to me, as she enjoys driving a stickshift car and is an excellent driver who likes to drive. Why not fly?

- Is it a difference in our brains? Do we have different hardwired predispositions about flight?
- Is it cultural? Does our society set us up in ways that it's difficult to change?
- Is it how the money is spent?
- Is it a fear that we don't get; a fear of not being able to do it?

I'm not creating or supporting a sterotype; far from it. I am completely aware there are many women pilots, fighter pilots, aerobatic pilots and commercial airline pilots and flight instructors. What I want to know however, is why don't they match the population demographic? Why isn't the ratio of male:female pilots the same or even close to the same as the distribution of male:female individuals?

Let's hear some thoughts and experiences, ideas, solutions and frustrations on this topic. Please add your comments to this post.

Onward & Upward! ~ rfb

Mentor - Flight & Photography: 4 of 4, Photo art at Airports

Mentor
Walking out to an airport can yield interesting aviation photography. Close shots, strong color contrasts and unusual patterns, especially when edited into digital art, can create striking works of art.

The airplane is a dramatic form itself. Knowing that, interesting patterns can be uncovered in everyday airport scenes and at community airshows.

The formation flying image captured my eye in the three strong colors in the gold, white and blue, and the strong horizon line in contrast to the curved flight of the aerobatic team.

The Travel Air is a beautiful aircraft under any condition. This one was meticulously restored and looked good at an angle capturing the whole craft and in a close up on the amazing structure of the rotary engine.

The Virgin Atlantic jet was on the ramp next to my jetliner at Dulles, waiting for a thunderstorm to clear the area. I was struck by the intensity and color in the dying thunderstorm behind the jet, as well as the strong angular line of the clouds jutting down to the airliner, reminiscent of an additional vertical fin.

Onward & Upward! ~ rfb

airport

Mentor - Flight & Photography: 3 of 4, Photos from a Jet Airliner window

Mentor
The Aerial photos from a jetliner are fun, and with digital photography and editing, can create amazing art and photos.

For starters, you don't have to worry about any FAA regulations. But you do need to secure a window seat and not over the wing. In front of the wing is best as you won't pick up distorted air imagery from thrust gasses exiting under-slung engine pods. Try to pick a clean window, for obvious reasons.

When shooting from an airliner window, glare is your enemy. Here are a few tips: Wear a dark shirt, as lighter colors reflect back onto the plexiglass and alter your photo. Nothing worse than a ghostly shirt button floating in the middle of your photo! Also, be aware of sunlight slanting into the plane through the window. Avoid it if you can, but if you cant, increase the angle between your camera lens and the angle of entry of the sunlight for best results. Go crazy on the shutter, and experiment with different angles.

Back on the ground, you'll be glad for all the images you shot as not all will be usable. For the ones that are, you want to minimize the effects of the airliner window. Sharpen the image as best you can, and increase brightness and contrast, playing with the balances. Reflections can sometimes be eliminated by selectively altering contrast and brightness for specific large areas of the image.

All of the photos shown here were taken from an airliner departing from or arriving into the Pacific Northwest. Whenever I could I took shots of Mt. Hood, and was rewarded by capturing the seasonal changes on the mountain over the course of a year. Looking at a glacier carved river valley from the Flight Levels gives new perspective to the awesome ancient power of flowing ice which can carve out valleys and leave a smooth sculpted curve pathway that lasts forever.

Don't be afraid to include the wing, sometimes it increases the effect, as with these unusual cloud rows of The Northwest Bitteroot Mountains.

Onward & Upward! ~ rfb

Mentor - Flight & Photography: 2 of 4, Urban and Scenic Aerial photos

Mentor
The two most common types of aerial photographs are urban and of structures or scenic. Start with scenic first, then move on to buildings and cityscapes

Aerial photography in a scenic environment is a good way to start . You will be using wide angles, so you'll pick up less vibration. There will be less traffic (but still have a friend help with another pair of eyes), less radio traffic to monitor, and most likely no need to make preflight arrangements with a controlling entity for airspace access or to contact and communicate with a controller during your photo shoot. Also, you will not need to make tight circles, and can spend more time composing and planning your imagery.

When I shoot structures or cityscapes I begin by telling the FSS about my flight plans as they may be aware of any restrictions since aerial photography is different from destination-oriented flights. I plan out my altitudes carefully and while flying I always note at least two places to put the plane anywhere in the vicinity of the photoshoot. If there is any controlled airspace, contact them before entering their area with your request.

A typical controlled airspace call might sound like this: "XYZ control, Cessna ABC, 10 miles south, would like to enter your airspace at 2,000 feet and conduct aerial photography in a three mile radius centered around the downtown core, for the next 15 minutes." A typical response would be "Roger Cessna ABC, request approved, squawk 1234, and advise when ready to leave the area." Then you monitor the control frequency while you set up and conduct the shoot.

Plan your shoot before the flight, and if you have access to it, I find it useful to pre-fly the flight in Microsoft simulator, which helps develop a sense for the area and what you may experience during the shoot.

Onward & Upward! ~ rfb

Mentor - Flight & Photography: 1 of 4, Technique & Art

Mentor
Any pilot can create aerial photographs. Aerial photography does not require expensive equipment or owning an aircraft, though either can be helpful. Here are a few tips and examples.

Mention 'aerial photography' and most people think of satellite type imagery, razor clear, shot at noon to minimize shadows and usually from directly overhead. Typically this is used by government agencies, land-use groups, engineers, contractors, and sometimes for art. It is accomplished with high performance aircraft, often twin engine, and expensive belly-mounted cameras. Yet a handheld digital camera and a rental Cessna can also accomplish amazing and rewarding results. Here are some specific considerations, in the order I think are most important:

1.
Plan the flight for safety first. How low can you legally go over the ground? If it is an urban area, you may need to use a strong telephoto lens, 180mm or more, to compensate for the extra altitude required above the ground. You may need to be in communication with any nearby controlled airspace. You will need someone to help keep an eye out for traffic or share flight and photographer responsibilities, and you need to discuss strategy before the fight; who does what, and when? How long for the shoot? Plan for safety first, all else comes later.

2.
Plan for camera angle and 'window shooting angle.' High wings seem best, but lowered wings can block angles and gear and struts can block views. Sometimes Low wing aircraft with small vent windows can work well - remember, the camera lens is small; you only a small opening for a clear air shot. Know your aircraft well enough to know where the best angle occurs, and practice putting objects in that view. Sometimes that requires a turn. I remember successful shoots from a Diamond Katana where the camera went out the plexi vent window, and the plane was banked about 20 degrees wing down, providing an arc around a medium distance ground target and offering an unobstructed view of the photo-target. If you don't like the angle, get closer or farther away, or higher or lower; always mindful of safety of course. Don't worry about looking through the viewfinder, I find it seldom matters. Practice locating the object you want to shoot in the best 'shoot window' for your aircraft and point your camera straight through that opening, and concentrate on flying while clicking away. You can edit and compose later.

3.
Plan for the light. Cloudy days are good if you want to eliminate shadows. Sunny days can be good if you want dramatic lighting effects which occur with low sun angles in morning and evening, and strong yellow orange light as the suns rays go through the longer section of atmosphere before striking the ground. Mid-day sun is good for strong colors and minimized shadows. Don't worry if you have to shoot through plexi glass, you can use digital editing available on most mid-level editing programs to edit out effects from Plexiglas. Shoot with the sun behind you or up to 90 degrees from behind you. Shooting towards the sun creates silhouettes and usually poor imagery.

4.
Plan for emotion. You see with your eye a special scene. It moves you. You shoot it with your camera, and later you realize it is a bad photograph, cluttered, or otherwise un-dramatic. Why? This is because your emotions are triggered by the image but the camera does not capture emotion. So you have to be willing to edit out power lines, etc, later, or plan for dramatic low level light , or practice placing the object in the viewfinder in a unique way. Cameras do not capture feeling, only light. Think about how to convey feeling and meaning.

5.
Plan for vibration. Shoot at shutter speeds of 1/1000 sec or higher. I've had success down to 1/125th of a second, but at that speed it is hard. Wide angle lenses pick up the least motion blue, telephotos the most. and touching any part of the camera to any part of the aircraft during the shoot guarantees engine vibration will alter your image. When my primary responsibility is photographer in the aircraft, I often make a crook of one arm, bracing that had on my shoulder, and resting my camera hand on this vibration absorbing brace, or if the shutter speed is high enough, I just make sure the lens and camera are as far from vibration sources as possible.

6.
Type of camera. I've used many different types. I've been happiest with two, a Canon Powershot for simple scenics and when I travel, and a larger professional Nikon with interchangeable lens ranging from 18mm to 300mm.

7.
Editing is key. Slide film is go,d I used Kodachrome 64 ASA for years, but despite it's brilliant color saturation and detail, digital is getting good enough to be the best thing going. With digital you want the largest screen size, finest resolution and as many megapixels as you can afford. The ones you see in this blog were mostly taken with 4 megapixels so judge accordingly. More sophisticated editing programs are available, but Microsoft Digital Editing Suite does a nice job for the cost. Experiment with contrast, saturation and many other digital editing techniques until you find the photo pleasing or until you decide to use filters to turn it into your own unique digital art. Remember to always save a file copy before beginning your edits, just in case!

Bottom line - get a friend, get a plane, get a camera and go give it a try!

Onward & Upward! ~ rfb