Hi there,
Any thoughts on this story would be appreciated.
Part 1:
I was flying back from Medford Oregon last August IFR to Paine Field in Seattle. It took me about 2hrs 45mins and I spent a good 80% in IMC enroute. I flew at 6000ft once I got past the hills as I knew there was ice above me between 8 and 10k.
O.k. so about 1.5 hrs in my plane was working great with my trutrak was doing all the work, when suddenly the plane dropped out from under me in a rapid dive momentarily. Simultaniously my altimeter swung up and down and my VSI did the same. Yea, one could say that this definitely got my attention in solid IMC! I should point out that I was in moderate precip at this time. I obviously rapidly caught the descent overriding the autopilot to bring myself back to level. I disconnected the autopilot as it was obvious that it this caused the decent but it was clearly a result of something going wrong with my static system..
Q: Did I get water in my lines? If so, then why the oscilation? Water flowing up and down the line maybe?
In any event, this happened one more time, but my attitude indicator was fine and my altimeter and VSI returned the the correct position almost immediately. My plans obviously changed to landing at Portland, but once I left the precip it stopped happening, so I continued to Paine Field.
Part 2:
As I continued on towards Paine, I noticed some static building in my radio's. Not enough to cause a major issue, and it appeared to dissappear when I touched the frame of the aircraft. I was now in a position to avoid any significant cloud and it soon completely disappeared. Another lesson here with another questions.
Q: Has anyone installed static wicks on an RV6 before? If so, where as I am very reluctant to put them on my ailerons as i have had to work hard to insure I did not have a heavy wing in the past. Thoughts here or pictures would be appreciated.
Part 3:
So as I approached the IAF for the ILS 16R after verifying the weather at Paine to be 800 OVC, I accepted my clearance and switched to tower. Tower then reported that a CRJ had just broke out a miniumums due to some moving cloud over the approach end of the runway. I decided to attempt the approach anyway but did not use the trutrak to help with the LOC (GPS overlay) as I was unsure about its reliability after the static port problem and while I was confident I could fly a stabilized approach, I did not want to recover a dive at 500ft it it came. I was ready for my alternate of BFI if I had to go missed and continued down the ILS. Now this is where I learnt something. People who fly short wing RV's IFR really need to keep their IFR skills sharp, and I was thankful that mine were. Just as I hit DH and began to power up, I broke through a cloud to visual and landed. I have to say that this was the most work I have had to do on an ILS since my training and I would urge anyone flying an RV IFR not to rely on the autopilot to always be there. Its absolutely critical that you practice flying under the hood manually to miniumums as much as you can.
Any thoughts on this story would be appreciated.
Part 1:
I was flying back from Medford Oregon last August IFR to Paine Field in Seattle. It took me about 2hrs 45mins and I spent a good 80% in IMC enroute. I flew at 6000ft once I got past the hills as I knew there was ice above me between 8 and 10k.
O.k. so about 1.5 hrs in my plane was working great with my trutrak was doing all the work, when suddenly the plane dropped out from under me in a rapid dive momentarily. Simultaniously my altimeter swung up and down and my VSI did the same. Yea, one could say that this definitely got my attention in solid IMC! I should point out that I was in moderate precip at this time. I obviously rapidly caught the descent overriding the autopilot to bring myself back to level. I disconnected the autopilot as it was obvious that it this caused the decent but it was clearly a result of something going wrong with my static system..
Q: Did I get water in my lines? If so, then why the oscilation? Water flowing up and down the line maybe?
In any event, this happened one more time, but my attitude indicator was fine and my altimeter and VSI returned the the correct position almost immediately. My plans obviously changed to landing at Portland, but once I left the precip it stopped happening, so I continued to Paine Field.
Part 2:
As I continued on towards Paine, I noticed some static building in my radio's. Not enough to cause a major issue, and it appeared to dissappear when I touched the frame of the aircraft. I was now in a position to avoid any significant cloud and it soon completely disappeared. Another lesson here with another questions.
Q: Has anyone installed static wicks on an RV6 before? If so, where as I am very reluctant to put them on my ailerons as i have had to work hard to insure I did not have a heavy wing in the past. Thoughts here or pictures would be appreciated.
Part 3:
So as I approached the IAF for the ILS 16R after verifying the weather at Paine to be 800 OVC, I accepted my clearance and switched to tower. Tower then reported that a CRJ had just broke out a miniumums due to some moving cloud over the approach end of the runway. I decided to attempt the approach anyway but did not use the trutrak to help with the LOC (GPS overlay) as I was unsure about its reliability after the static port problem and while I was confident I could fly a stabilized approach, I did not want to recover a dive at 500ft it it came. I was ready for my alternate of BFI if I had to go missed and continued down the ILS. Now this is where I learnt something. People who fly short wing RV's IFR really need to keep their IFR skills sharp, and I was thankful that mine were. Just as I hit DH and began to power up, I broke through a cloud to visual and landed. I have to say that this was the most work I have had to do on an ILS since my training and I would urge anyone flying an RV IFR not to rely on the autopilot to always be there. Its absolutely critical that you practice flying under the hood manually to miniumums as much as you can.