[DakotaHawk]

Have you ever looked at a picture included in someone's post, and put on your Sherlock hat? I find myself doing that - someone posts a picture and then includes a little background about the picture - and then I look for the clues to back up "The Story".

For example...

I included this picture of my panel in another thread, and mentioned that I was descending into Provo airport KPVU. Now, descending into an airport is a pretty boring subject. There's no pizazz!! to such a simple sentence. But after looking at the picture, there's a lot of information that adds to the story.

For example, the radio frequencies are the correct CTAF and ATIS freqs for KPVU after the tower closes at 2100. But the clock on the Dynon says that the time is 2017. Am I on the wrong freq? (No, the clock is showing Pacific Time, but Provo is on Mountain Time).

The transponder shows a pressure alt of 7590ft descending, and the EFIS is showing a descent of about 1000fpm. This backs up the discrepancy between the manifold pressure/prop (12.6"/2400rpm) and the fuel flow of 4.3gph and the speed of 152 IAS/178 mph TAS.

The indicated alt is 7580, and the density alt is showing 10680'. This makes sense based on the temp of 79F. If you look real close, you may be able to see the Kohlsman window is showing almost standard pressure at 29.90.

So Watson... did I miss any clues?

 

[Casey Stewart]

More

You reset your G meter recently. I know this because you did a good amount of aerobatics the week prior. The readings would be much higher. You also have a passenger. I know this because i was the passenger

 

[David Z]

Prop

I'm no expert on Dynon avionics, so this could be completely wrong. Based on the yellow range on the tach, I'm guess you have a Hartzell prop with the RPM restrictions.

 

[Don Jones]

The wind!

You had a left x-wind shown on the dynons and backed up by the difference of your heading of 160 degrees and a ground track of 168 degrees shown on the trio.

 

[David Z]

Headwind

Likely a headwind too, based off the indicated airspeed and groundspeed. Without working it out a 10680' DA and 152kias with a 157kts groundspeed sounds like a headwind.

 

[Ironflight]

At 22% power, you could pull that red knob back to LOP with not even the remotest potential for engine damage, and get that fuel flow down!

 

[Bullseye]

Also, you must have been wearing two socks on your left foot that day.

 

[gasman]

You didn't have your hat on. But you were using your in ear headset.................

 

[apkp777]

What is your Vno on a -7? Looks like you have it set to about 143 MPH, seems really low?

 

[DakotaHawk]

Also, you must have been wearing two socks on your left foot that day.

OK, the ball is offset just a hair to the right, so I may have been resting my left foot on the rudder???

You didn't have your hat on. But you were using your in ear headset.................

I like my QT in-ear headset. Much better sound quality than my Lightspeed ANR.

At 22% power, you could pull that red knob back

Part of my Prelanding checklist - Mixture to full Rich.

10680' DA and 152kias with a 157kts groundspeed sounds like a headwind.

...and the EFIS shows TAS at 178mph...

You had a left x-wind shown on the dynons

I really like this feature - I can find best winds aloft easily.

Based on the yellow range on the tach, I'm guess you have a Hartzell prop

Yep!

You also have a passenger.

...a passenger who was having a blast during an evening flight. RV grin from ear to ear

 

[FresnoR]

This picture had to be taken over two months ago, for the temp in utah to be at 79F at 8:00 pm 7,500 ft. Isnt the ground temp into the 50's now?

 

[Casey Stewart]

What is your Vno on a -7? Looks like you have it set to about 143 MPH, seems really low?

Aerobatic reference and a good indication of where to keep it when its bumpy

This picture had to be taken over two months ago, for the temp in utah to be at 79F at 8:00 pm 7,500 ft. Isnt the ground temp into the 50's now?

It was taken July 18.

 

[TThurston]

Based on your altitude (7500 MSL) and Provo elevation (4500 MSL), you are about 3000 AGL. Then, based on your vertical speed (descending 1000 fpm), I'd say you were about 3 minutes away from the runway if you're on a straight-in approach, or 2 minutes from the pattern if you're doing a normal pattern. Or let's just make it easy and say you're 3 minutes from the airport.

Based on your direction (160), I'd say you were following I-15 south, coming from the Salt Lake Valley. Based on your speed (157 GS), about 2.5 nm per minute, I'd put you about 7.5 miles on the 340 radial from the airport. This would be a couple of miles north of the cooling ponds behind the old Geneva steel mill, on the edge of Utah Lake.

Since the tower is in operation, and you currently have the tower frequency tuned with the ATIS in the standby, I'm guessing you're already obtained the ATIS, and have already talked to the tower. So the tower has already assigned you a runway. The question is, which one?

The normal runway at Provo is 13, and you are in a good position for a tower-assigned straight-in approach to 13. So now we need to consider the winds. The Dynon indicates a strong crosswind from the left. There may be information I don't understand regarding winds on the Dynon, but as I understand it, your heading of 160 with winds from the left, indicates that the winds are from approximately 70. The runways available at Provo are 18, 36, 13, and 31. So it looks like the winds do not particularly favor any runway, so the default runway of 13 is probably what you were assigned by the tower.

So let's assume the tower did assign you 13. If so, that means in the next minute or so, you are going to turn right out over the lake to get lined up with a straight-in approach to 13. I think this is consistant with the XTK indication on the Trio as I undertand it, which seems to want you to move 1.44 to the right. This would put you right in line with runway 13.

After that all you have to do is watch out for that crosswind from the left as you settle down on the runway. I'm guessing the winds were not as strong on the runway as the were at your altitude, but still you had to deal with some crosswind, and there were probably a few bumps as the winds changed during the descent.

How'd I do?

 

[DakotaHawk]

Obviously TThurston knows the Provo airport and vicinity. I couldn't answer for all of the landmarks - it was pretty dark down on the ground during this flight - but you definitely hit the approach into Provo.