Solo IFR flight - 1/2 hour of IMC…
Eager to earn more actual instrument time, I reserved and flew Skyhawk 321WF on Friday. “One Whiskey Fox” is a 2001 Cessna Skyhawk C172R from Wright Flyers that has a nice Garmin 430 IFR certified GPS unit. It’s a 160 horsepower Skyhawk versus the 180 horsepower SP version I often fly.
Skyhawk 321WF - a 2001 Skyhawk C172R
This would be a solo flight since my wife had a doctor’s appointment and couldn’t join me. I was looking forward to a calm, relaxing flight using a local profile I fly often for IFR proficiency - San Antonio Intl to Castroville to Stinson then back to San Antonio. I decided to change this up and filed my flight plan to Stinson first which would give me a different entry into the holding pattern for the GPS/VOR approach there…(a parallel entry versus the teardrop entry that usually occurs when coming from Castroville).
The San Antonio ATIS reported, “Information Tango, Winds 180@5, Visibility 10, 2700 Overcast, Temp 17/Dewpoint 12, Altimeter 30.07″. I’d filed for 3000 feet on the cruise altitude since the hop from San Antonio to Stinson is less than 15 nm.
I took off and zoomed just below the bottom of the overcast layer as I entered the holding pattern for Stinson’s GPS Runway 32 approach. I love the way the Garmin 430 draws the complete holding pattern and approach on its display. It makes you almost feel guilty doing an approach with so much situational awareness. I had a few moments of confusion when I noticed that the GPS was in “VLOC” mode rather than “GPS” mode which changes how the 430 communicates with the external CDI. With that fixed I flew the Stinson approach and was soon receiving instructions to head west for Castroville.
During the Castroville GPS approach I began communicating with a VFR pilot who was entering the traffic pattern. I was reminded, once again, how important it is to self-announce one’s position at an uncontrolled field.. This was especially critical since I was making a straight-in approach for Runway 33 (following the instrument approach procedure). The VFR traffic was on a downwind for Runway 15 since the winds were favoring that runway. This potential conflict was easily resolved by two-way communication between me and the other pilot. As he turned base, I announced my missed approach and saw him below me as I followed the published missed approach procedure.
Back with San Antonio Approach, I was advised to climb to 4,000 feet. This, much to my excitement, placed me smack dab in the middle of what was now a broken layer of clouds. The view outside disappeared and I was on the gauges - scanning away while enjoying smooth air inside the stratus layer of clouds.
I was advised to change my approach control frequency and then it happened…
I joined a frequency that was very active. At least two airline captains scolded the controller for the instructions they were receiving. One said, “Ok…what are you having us do now?” - the controller replied, “I’m giving you a vector for spacing, it just didn’t work out the way I’d planned.”. I had told the controller before this one that I was fine with a visual to the smaller, parallel runway. This was a wise decision as the traffic build up for the ILS was insane.
So here I was. IMC in smooth air at 4,000 feet. I lost count of the airlines ATC advised to “Descend and maintain 4,000″. The controller’s voice was shaky as he barked quick commands for vectors to a slew of different airlines. I received a quick heading change to 360 degrees. I then noticed my SureCheck Micro was SOLID RED.
This means that it believes there is traffic within 1 nautical mile. Needless to say, this was a bit disconcerting. Was the controller behind the power curve with all those blips on this screen? Was an airliner lurking nearby in the same white blindness that was consuming me?
My only comfort was that most if not all airliners have more sophisticated traffic collision avoidance equipment and would see me clearly as a potential threat. In fact, a few minutes earlier one of the agitated airline captains had advised the controller that they’d picked up a traffic alert for a Skylane that was also swimming in the soup.
It wasn’t long before I was advised to descend to 3,000 feet. This brought me back out of the clouds and to a level of comfort having my Mark I eyeballs available to scan the sky for all that other traffic.
Over the numbers, I made a decent landing and taxied to parking. It was a fun flight, with a little stress but a good 1/2 hour in solid IMC!
