rje@cae780.UUCP (Bob Evans) (03/13/86)
I went flying last weekend for the first time in a month, and had an
'interesting' ending to the flight. I was on about a three mile final,
with the airport in sight, when visibility went to zero ! No view
ahead, or below. The clouds above had opened up with a rain shower
that was _heavy_ !
I transitioned to instruments immediately, (bless my instructor for all
that hood time), got straight and level, (the downdraft was about 400 FPM)
and called the tower to to report that I 'no longer had the airport in sight'.
The tower responded that 'visibility to the east was currently less than
3 miles' :-) (a mild reproval ?),
and to maintain present course and altitude until overhead the field.
I just hoped I'd be able to tell when I _was_ 'overhead the field' !
After about 90 seconds I flew out of the shower and found myself just
short of the approach end of the field. I made a normal overhead entry to
right traffic, and had a nice normal landing.
The weather had been light showers around the bay area most of the day,
with occasional thunder showers reported. I hadn't seen any shower
activity for 20 - 30 minutes. Now, I'm not instrument rated, nor have
I ever flown in anything like this before (or again soon, I hope).
But ...
I was lucky that the shower was small, even though very heavy. What
do you do if it isn't small ? I was also lucky to be over the flat
surface of the bay rather than coming through a pass in the hills.
That was the first time I ever felt _really_ unhappy about being in
the air instead of on the ground !
FROM: Robert J. Evans, CAE Systems Division of Tektronix, Inc.
UUCP: tektronix!teklds!cae780!rje
{ihnp4, decvax!decwrl}!amdcad!cae780!rje
{nsc, hplabs, resonex, qubix, leadsv}!cae780!rje
USNAIL: 5302 Betsy Ross Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95054
AT&T: (408)727-1234 x4819ladkin@kestrel.ARPA (Peter Ladkin) (03/15/86)
In article <1951@cae780.UUCP>, rje@cae780.UUCP (Bob Evans) writes: > > I went flying last weekend for the first time in a month, and had an > 'interesting' ending to the flight. I was on about a three mile final, > with the airport in sight, when visibility went to zero ! No view > ahead, or below. The clouds above had opened up with a rain shower > that was _heavy_ ! That caught out one of the ATPs from our club, too, on the way to Hayward from Palo Alto. It's been hard to predict around here for the last few weeks. It can happen to everybody, and it's always anxious. Even if the pilot is rated, he's not following instrument procedures, which are what guarantee obstacle clearance, and there are all those VFR pilots flying around in the soup with him all of a sudden.......... Thank goodness they don't last for long. Peter Ladkin
marcum@sun.uucp (Alan Marcum) (03/18/86)
> I was on about a three mile final, > with the airport in sight, when visibility went to zero ! No view > ahead, or below. The clouds above had opened up with a rain shower > that was _heavy_ ! > > I was lucky that the shower was small, even though very heavy. What > do you do if it isn't small ? I was also lucky to be over the flat > surface of the bay rather than coming through a pass in the hills. What I'd recommend if the shower was larger would be to initially do exactly what you did: fly the airplane, then contact the tower. If it was a big shower, I'd be prepared to declare an emergency, and request vectors away from terrain and other planes. Getting the proper vectors may require a frequency change to approach, or center, or whomever. An interesting question arises if you're not at a controlled field (especially one without even an FSS on field). Then, I'd probably, again, fly the plane, and go to 121.5 and declare mayday. Perhaps the REAL interesting question is how a non-instrument rated pilot would begin to know what to do, especially a low-time pilot! -- Alan M. Marcum Sun Microsystems, Technical Consulting ...!{dual,ihnp4}!sun!nescorna!marcum Mountain View, California
petolino@chronon.UUCP (Joe Petolino) (03/18/86)
>Perhaps the REAL interesting question is how a non-instrument rated >pilot would begin to know what to do, especially a low-time pilot! >-- >Alan M. Marcum Sun Microsystems, Technical Consulting As a low-time, non-instrument-rated pilot, I resent the implication that I would not begin to know what to do. I suspect that many others do, too. Perhaps not experienced enough to carry out the proper plan of action with 100% chance of success, but certainly not ignorant of what to do - that's part of Private Pilot training.
marcum@sun.uucp (Alan Marcum) (03/20/86)
> >Perhaps the REAL interesting question is how a non-instrument rated > >pilot would begin to know what to do, especially a low-time pilot! > >-- > >Alan M. Marcum > > As a low-time, non-instrument-rated pilot, I resent the implication that I > would not begin to know what to do. I suspect that many others do, too. > Perhaps not experienced enough to carry out the proper plan of action with > 100% chance of success, but certainly not ignorant of what to do - that's > part of Private Pilot training. Looking at my OWN abilities as a low-time, non-instrument rated pilot, and talking with others about theirs, I raised the above question. In the San Francisco area, and various other areas, many of us are blessed with having to learn to fly in the system nearly from first flight -- we don't just learn about, we LIVE Towers, TCAs, ATAs, TRSAs, CZs. From a very real standpoint, much of the airspace around here is so IFR-like that flying on an IFR flight plan, and learning about the whole IFR system, is almost more a relief than anything else. If you resent an inference you drew from my statement, well, that's probably good -- you're flying skills are pretty good, I reckon. Oh, and I guess I might clarify what I meant by "low-time": let's say under about 100 hours, or under about 50 hours a year. [I suspose I just opened myself up for some turbocharged flaming with that last sentence, but, what-the-heck; yes, clearly, someone who flies 50 hours a year, and does all of that in about 3 months preceeded by a good flight review with an instructor, is in a different category.] -- Alan M. Marcum Sun Microsystems, Technical Consulting ...!{dual,ihnp4}!sun!nescorna!marcum Mountain View, California
rje@cae780.UUCP (Bob Evans) (03/21/86)
In article <5830@kestrel.ARPA> ladkin@kestrel.ARPA (Peter Ladkin) writes: >In article <1951@cae780.UUCP>, rje@cae780.UUCP (Bob Evans) writes: >> >> I went flying last weekend for the first time in a month, and had an >> 'interesting' ending to the flight. I was on about a three mile final, >> with the airport in sight, when visibility went to zero ! No view >> ahead, or below. The clouds above had opened up with a rain shower >> that was _heavy_ ! > >That caught out one of the ATPs from our club, too, on the >way to Hayward from Palo Alto. It's been hard to predict >around here for the last few weeks. > . > . >and there are all those VFR pilots flying around >in the soup with him all of a sudden.......... >Thank goodness they don't last for long. > >Peter Ladkin Being one of those VFR pilots, I hope the reference "Thank goodness they don't last for long." was to the storms and not the pilots ! :-) (just a joke, Peter ...) FROM: Robert J. Evans, CAE Systems Division of Tektronix, Inc. UUCP: tektronix!teklds!cae780!rje {ihnp4, decvax!decwrl}!amdcad!cae780!rje {nsc, hplabs, resonex, qubix, leadsv}!cae780!rje USNAIL: 5302 Betsy Ross Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95054 AT&T: (408)727-1234 x4819