7DeltaLima
Well Known Member
Dear Doug,
Don?t you wish you had been proficient shooting that approach into Poteau last Sunday night instead of just legally current? Don?t you wish you had spent a few minutes with the 430 simulator going through a few scenarios so you?d have remembered which buttons to push to get the real 430 to do what you wanted it to do instead of fumbling around in the clouds with your wife in the seat beside you?
Sure you fly a lot compared to most GA pilots. You would be embarrassed not to as you?ve got one of the most well designed flying machines created by man. Sure you fly a lot of cross country and you even file IFR when it?s VFR just to keep yourself current in how the IFR system works. Sure was a little different Sunday night bouncing around in the muck than just hitting the ?direct to? key when you?re VFR or VFR on TOP on an IFR flight plan, huh.
I?ll give you a little credit though. You did do a few things right. You did a pretty good job on flight planning. You did decide to stop at Poteau for fuel instead of your usual Neosho on your way back from San Antonio. You did recognize that the weather was going to make it much more difficult at Neosho than Poteau. That was a good call. 1600 ? 2000 feet overcast sure beats 500-1000 feet overcast. Aren?t you glad that you didn?t fall into the trap of every trip has to be the same? Aren?t you glad you picked out a few different airports within a 50-100 mile radius of the mid-point so you?d have some options prepared ahead of time?
You even recognized that DFW Center was going to hand you off to Razorback Approach at the last minute and it was going to be a slam dunk approach. You even told your wife that this was going to happen. You told her that you weren?t going to be given the clearance until you?re handed off to Razorback and it was going to get really hectic really fast. (Would not have been nearly as hectic if you?d been proficient at using the tools in your plane
). Sure enough it happened exactly the way you expected it to happen. Given clearance almost on top of the IAF.
If you knew this was going to happen, why didn?t you do something to keep it from happening to you? You are PIC right? Sure you?d already asked for lower twice and gotten down from 11,000 to 7,000. Sure you?d reviewed the expected approach plate. You?d even reviewed it with your wife so she could help keep you honest about minimums. Why hadn?t you already loaded the approach that you expected to get? The wind was almost calm; you were headed almost due north from the Clear Creek VOR so the odds were really high that you were going to get GPS 36 as the approach. You?d already briefed yourself and your wife expecting this approach why not load it?
You sure were kicking yourself for not being as proficient as you usually try to stay when you dropped into those clouds at 6000 feet and was trying to load the correct approach, fly the plane, get the GPS (by the way it isn?t a stupid GPS, it?s just a box that does what you tell it ) to sequence to the correct fix, fly the plane and get to the appropriate altitude quickly. What were you muttering to yourself; fly the plane, stupid box, fly the plane, stupid weather, fly the plane, stupid controller, fly the plane, stupid PIC.
It was good to see your training and some common sense come through. You fessed up to the controller that you weren?t going to get this on the first trip through and asked for his help. He graciously provided vectors and boxed you back around to the approach which gave you the time to get set up like you should have been the first time. By the way, don?t ever worry about asking for help in the future. That?s one of the reason?s the controller is there. It?s stupid not to ask for help when it?s needed!! It doesn?t make you less of a pilot to ask for help, in fact it demonstrates a little maturity.
Glad to see you?ve learned some valuable lessons here. You?re right, it is time to get into the habit of an annual IPC instead of just talking about how great of an idea it is. Maybe the best time of the year for the IPC is early spring when you?re the most rusty. Sure is hard to stay proficient at IFR in the winter months in Iowa.
Glad to see you pull up the 430 simulator early Monday morning to see where you?d screwed up pushing the buttons. It was pretty simple sitting at the desk, no pressure, no clouds, no bumps, huh? Not wanting to beat a dead horse here but don?t you wish you?d been proficient and not just legal?
Just a heads up for you to consider in the future. You are building the 10 and putting even more glass and more capabilities in the plane. That?s great. More situational awareness is definitely better than less. Any tool that will help provide better information while in the clouds is worth its weight in gold when you?re in the soup. However, you should be warned. More glass wouldn?t have helped you a bit Sunday night if you were no more proficient at using the tools than you were using the tools that you have in the 7A
So when did you say you?re scheduling refresher training and an IPC?
Saved you again,
G
Don?t you wish you had been proficient shooting that approach into Poteau last Sunday night instead of just legally current? Don?t you wish you had spent a few minutes with the 430 simulator going through a few scenarios so you?d have remembered which buttons to push to get the real 430 to do what you wanted it to do instead of fumbling around in the clouds with your wife in the seat beside you?
Sure you fly a lot compared to most GA pilots. You would be embarrassed not to as you?ve got one of the most well designed flying machines created by man. Sure you fly a lot of cross country and you even file IFR when it?s VFR just to keep yourself current in how the IFR system works. Sure was a little different Sunday night bouncing around in the muck than just hitting the ?direct to? key when you?re VFR or VFR on TOP on an IFR flight plan, huh.
I?ll give you a little credit though. You did do a few things right. You did a pretty good job on flight planning. You did decide to stop at Poteau for fuel instead of your usual Neosho on your way back from San Antonio. You did recognize that the weather was going to make it much more difficult at Neosho than Poteau. That was a good call. 1600 ? 2000 feet overcast sure beats 500-1000 feet overcast. Aren?t you glad that you didn?t fall into the trap of every trip has to be the same? Aren?t you glad you picked out a few different airports within a 50-100 mile radius of the mid-point so you?d have some options prepared ahead of time?
You even recognized that DFW Center was going to hand you off to Razorback Approach at the last minute and it was going to be a slam dunk approach. You even told your wife that this was going to happen. You told her that you weren?t going to be given the clearance until you?re handed off to Razorback and it was going to get really hectic really fast. (Would not have been nearly as hectic if you?d been proficient at using the tools in your plane
). Sure enough it happened exactly the way you expected it to happen. Given clearance almost on top of the IAF. If you knew this was going to happen, why didn?t you do something to keep it from happening to you? You are PIC right? Sure you?d already asked for lower twice and gotten down from 11,000 to 7,000. Sure you?d reviewed the expected approach plate. You?d even reviewed it with your wife so she could help keep you honest about minimums. Why hadn?t you already loaded the approach that you expected to get? The wind was almost calm; you were headed almost due north from the Clear Creek VOR so the odds were really high that you were going to get GPS 36 as the approach. You?d already briefed yourself and your wife expecting this approach why not load it?
You sure were kicking yourself for not being as proficient as you usually try to stay when you dropped into those clouds at 6000 feet and was trying to load the correct approach, fly the plane, get the GPS (by the way it isn?t a stupid GPS, it?s just a box that does what you tell it ) to sequence to the correct fix, fly the plane and get to the appropriate altitude quickly. What were you muttering to yourself; fly the plane, stupid box, fly the plane, stupid weather, fly the plane, stupid controller, fly the plane, stupid PIC.
It was good to see your training and some common sense come through. You fessed up to the controller that you weren?t going to get this on the first trip through and asked for his help. He graciously provided vectors and boxed you back around to the approach which gave you the time to get set up like you should have been the first time. By the way, don?t ever worry about asking for help in the future. That?s one of the reason?s the controller is there. It?s stupid not to ask for help when it?s needed!! It doesn?t make you less of a pilot to ask for help, in fact it demonstrates a little maturity.
Glad to see you?ve learned some valuable lessons here. You?re right, it is time to get into the habit of an annual IPC instead of just talking about how great of an idea it is. Maybe the best time of the year for the IPC is early spring when you?re the most rusty. Sure is hard to stay proficient at IFR in the winter months in Iowa.
Glad to see you pull up the 430 simulator early Monday morning to see where you?d screwed up pushing the buttons. It was pretty simple sitting at the desk, no pressure, no clouds, no bumps, huh? Not wanting to beat a dead horse here but don?t you wish you?d been proficient and not just legal?
Just a heads up for you to consider in the future. You are building the 10 and putting even more glass and more capabilities in the plane. That?s great. More situational awareness is definitely better than less. Any tool that will help provide better information while in the clouds is worth its weight in gold when you?re in the soup. However, you should be warned. More glass wouldn?t have helped you a bit Sunday night if you were no more proficient at using the tools than you were using the tools that you have in the 7A
So when did you say you?re scheduling refresher training and an IPC?
Saved you again,
G
