IFR Visit to the Texas Capitol…
The weather folks got it right for a change. Sunday emerged as a beautifully clear day. There were no clouds to be seen when I woke up. I had planned to file IFR to Austin to do the ILS there and to stop and grab a courtesy car for a bite to eat. It was looking likely that this would be a solo flight.
To my surprise, however, my wife made a quick decision to join me. She recently underwent surgery to repair a complete tear of the ACL in her knee. This would be her first flight since December. At about the same time I glanced out the window to see cumulous clouds floating across the sky. The clear skies were filling with clouds!
This was good news! I’ve been waiting for a day with a nice scattered to broken cloud layer to poke holes through as it’s been awhile since I’ve earned some actual instrument time. I went ahead and filed IFR to Austin via Victor 550. I’m starting to learn which routes ATC prefers on certain hops and knew from past experience that Victor 550 was the way to go.
By the time we arrived at the airport the clouds had already started breaking up. Arrgh!! Despite this, we boarded our trusty 172 Skyhawk SP and climbed to 5,000 enroute to Austin. A few clouds came close but none landed in our direct path.
Austin approach was soon providing radar vectors and told us to expect the visual approach. I was hoping to get an ILS approach on this trip but soon discovered why ATC was eager for me to take the visual. The taxiway to Runway 35R, as we descended on final approach, was backed up with commercial jets. We counted one 757 waiting for the runway with two Southwest 737’s, a Learjet and a Beechcraft Baron.
The landing in Austin was smooth, aided by light and variable winds at 6 knots. We had the tanks topped off at Trajen Flight Service and took a courtesy car into town. Our $100 hamburger was a quick grab at a nearby Fuddrucker’s on the way back to the airport (I took my wife to REI to let her gaze over all the hiking and camping gear).
We returned to the airport after a couple of hours and departed Austin VFR. Like my last flight, I asked for permission to do a single orbit of downtown Austin since I had Shannon with me and knew she’d be eager to grab some great shots with her Canon EOS 1D Mark II. As always she didn’t disappoint!
As we pointed south for home I climbed to our cruise altitude of 6,500 feet. This soon proved to be a problem. A scattered to broken cloud deck was occupying that airspace! I hadn’t noticed how many clouds had returned to the sky since our arrival. Just as I was about to descend to 4,500, Shannon suggested I “use that IFR ticket” and that I did.
Inside a big cumulous cloud enroute back home
We picked up an abbreviated clearance in the air from ATC and were told to descend and maintain 6,000 feet. This was perfect. We were now on a direct collision course with the deck of cumulous clouds. We bored holes through several clouds. Some were quite large and dark but offered just minor turbulence. It was great to earn some actual instrument time - eyes scanning the “six pack” as the view outside disappeared.
I find it quite exciting to fly in and out of scattered to broken clouds. The sensation of speed as you approach a cloud is quite a rush. You almost want to “duck” out of the way. My wife captured some nice video of this during the flight using our Canon ZR-85 digital camcorder.
About 30 minutes after leaving Austin we were coming in for our landing at San Antonio. Unlike my last Austin flight, the crosswind I faced would be in San Antonio. Winds were 240 at 11 with gusts to 16 knots. We were landing on Runway 30R. Lovely! A nearly 14 knot crosswind during the 16 knot gusts.
The landing turned out to be MUCH less work than the Austin experience (with gusts up to 19 knots and a direct crosswind) although I did have to do some fancy footwork during the landing roll since we were hit by some wind gusts and had landed with a higher airspeed than I’d planned on.
All in all a wonderful way to wrap-up a weekend that started out with rain and gloom!
