ATC: Charlie Golf Charlie Foxtrot Whiskey, what's your speed? K: About 130 true ATC: OK, no slower than that. I've gotta keep you fast, I'm hooking you up here. ATC: Yeah, don't, don't go any slower than that. K: I'll keep it up this high, CFW In my last video, I shared the very first IFR flight I did on my own after getting my rating, including a bit of a tense approach into Teterboro when the controllers kept telling me… Dr. Malcolm: Must go faster! [T-Rex roaring] But in the end, it actually went pretty smoothly and I got to Teterboro without much problem, thanks to the controllers working me in with the much faster jets that crowd Teterboro like tourists at Times Square. After 2 days in NYC for some meetings and a conference, it was time to head home. The planning for the return flight wasn’t quite as easy as the flight down – it was forecast to be IMC for most of the flight, and I was gonna have to keep a sharp eye on the outside air temperature to make sure icing didn’t become an issue. Departing in the middle of all these jets was sure to be easier than getting in…. ...right? First, though, I had to get my IFR clearance and familiarize myself with the SID, or Standard Instrument Departure, for the airport. ATC: CGCFW, ATC: cleared to CYOO airport, ATC: via the RUUDY SIX departure, ATC: radar vectors Sierra Bravo Juliette ATC: Victor 6 ATC: Foxtrot Juliette Charlie ATC: Tango 221 ATC: Then as filed ATC: Climb via SID (Standard Instrument Departure) ATC: Expect 6000, 1-0 minutes after departure ATC: Departure frequency 119.2, squawk 3-3-7-2 K: Cleared to CYOO via RUUDY SIX departure, SBJ, V6, FJC, T221, then as filed K: Follow the SID, cleared to 6000' 10 minutes after departure K: 119.2 departure frequency, squawk 3372, CFW ATC: CGCFW, just verify, on departure, climb via SID and expect 6000, 1-0 minutes after departure K: Climb via SID, expect 6000 1-0 minutes after departure, CFW K: [Reviewing the SID] So straight ahead to 520' K: Then turn towards DAVIM, cross WENTZ at 1500', K: Maintain 2000 K: OK K: Alright, gear up K: New York, it's CGCFW through 600' ATC: CGCFW, New York Depar ture, good morning, radar contact ATC: CGCFW, climb and maintain 4000 K: Climb and maintain 4000, CGCFW Other than a little traffic and a minor correction from ATC, the departure went smoothly, and before I knew it, the controller was redirecting me so I could skip a few legs from the SID and shorten the journey a bit. ATC: CGCFW, turn left direct to SOLBERG K: Turn left direct SOLBERG, CGCFW Before long, I was out of the New York airspace and being passed over to Allentown, where I had a bit of a flashback to the flight down, with the controller mistaking my aircraft type. K: Allentown, it's CGCFW level 4000 ATC: Comanche CGCFW, Allentown approach, Allentown altimeter 2996, expect higher in 11 miles K: Copy that, CGCFW Normally I wouldn’t mind being mistaken for a Comanche, but after being told to fly faster because a controller thought I was a Bonanza, I didn’t relish repeating that experience. Luckily, the controller caught the mixup himself. ATC: And I'm sorry, Sierra CFW, I'm calling you a Piper K: [Laughing] No problem, CFW K: Starting to rain a little bit K: clouds up ahead ATC: Navajo 166, do you have outside air temp? Navajo: I'm reading 9 degrees ATC: Navajo 166, thank you ATC: Navajo 166, say flight conditions otherwise Navajo: Flight conditions, I'm in IMC right now, uhhh... Navajo: looks like there could be some light, ah, layers up ahead, Navajo: maybe about 3-5 miles up ahead Navajo: where it might get a little, little less precip, Navajo: but I am in precipitation now ATC: Navajo 166, any turbulence? Navajo: Ah, very light, very light turbulence ATC: Navajo 166, thank you. Area of heavy precipitation 3 miles north of Pottstown VOR, ATC: the area's 2 miles in diameter. ATC: Contact Philadelphia approach 133.87. 3387, take care Navajo: 3387, have a good day K: OK Kamal, eyes in K: Getting into the soup here, looks like K: I can still see the ground K: Hey, there's a golf course down there K: But, have to be ready for it to be IMC any moment K: I mean technically it probably is K: Because of visibility Pretty soon after that, I was into the soup myself – my first time flying in IMC on my own. So far, it was pretty much a non-event, and I actually found it less difficult than flying with Foggles on. K: Entered IMC at 10:25 AM ATC: Sierra CFW, contact Wilkes-Barre approach, 120.95, take care K: Over to 120.95, take care, CFW A couple of things really helped make it go more smoothly. First, for good chunks of the flight, I was in between cloud layers. So although it was IMC, it didn’t feel quite as closed in as it does inside a cloud. And second, ATC was amazing at helping me avoid precipitation as much as possible. ATC: CGCFW, area of light and moderate precip all through my airspace. ATC: Looks like you'll be exiting it in about 10 miles, and then ATC: 25 miles past that it starts up again with the moderate stuff ending in about 50-60 miles K: Copy that, thank you, CFW Having SiriusXM through my Garmin GDL52 was also helpful. With all the usual caveats about not relying on it to thread your way through thunderstorms, it is nice to be able to see where the pockets of rain were, and where they seem to be heading. Between that and ATC giving me vectors, I was feeling pretty good about things. K: Ah, looks like we got some precipitation coming up, up ahead. K: We got a break in it, in about 5 minutes, and then another 25 miles later should get K: a block of about 50 miles of light to moderate precip, he said K: As long as there's no thunder and lightning... K: Everything's kind of moving this way, so I don't like that K: We'll see how that goes My main concern though, was keeping an eye on the outside air temperature, and frequently checking to make sure I wasn’t getting any ice build-up. K: Keep an eagle eye on that temperature gauge, Kamal Thankfully, the temp was staying at about 7-8 degrees Celsius, even at 6000’. So far, so good. I have to say, I am SO glad that I was able to get probably 6 or 7 hours of actual IMC time during my instrument training. I’ve heard of so many pilots who get their instrument ratings without actually ever getting to experience IMC because they did their training in some dry, sunny place like Arizona where there's almost never any clouds. Here in Toronto, though, we get IMC pretty frequently, and I got to experience it a fair bit with my instructor sitting next to me. So punching into the clouds on this flight was no big deal for me mentally, because I knew what it would feel like. I can’t imagine having to do this for the first time alone without ever having experienced being in white-out conditions in a cloud. I did a video series on my instrument training, and there’s one video where I talk about learning to fly approaches in actual IMC. I’ll put a link to it up in the corner in case you want to check it out. K: Back up to 8 degrees outside, that's nice ATC: CFW, showing an area of moderate precipitation from your 11 to 1 o'clock, in 6 miles ATC: about 5 miles wide, moving east. Let me know if you want vectors around it. K: Ah thank you, I'll take vectors around to the west ATC: CFW, turn left heading 315 K: Left 315, CFW K: Alright, there's a little bit of moderate precipitation to the north of me, K: so ATC has routed me around slightly to the west K: But now I seem to be heading straight for this big pocket over Buffalo K: And it seems to have little bits of heavy precip in it, so hopefully it... K: I mean, it's an hour away, so hopefully it either, um... K: Hour and 15 minutes away K: So hopefully it either lightens up a little bit or they vector me around that, too K: I do not want to be going through heavy precip As I got closer to Rochester, Buffalo and that large system hanging out there, ATC jumped in with some more guidance and talked me through my options. That, combined with the radar returns on Foreflight, were a huge help in making me feel more comfortable flying through that system. ATC: CGCFW, area of light to moderate, actually light to heavy precipitation, 12 o'clock ATC: Extends about 50 miles on both your right and left sides K: Copy that, ah, is it possible to get vectors, maybe south and west of that? ATC: CGCFW, I could try and get you slightly south, there seems to be a whole...turn l.... ATC: ...disregard ATC: CGCFW, it's a pretty large system, it's covering up our entire airspace, ATC: to get around it, you'd have to fly about... ATC: about 70 miles west K: Gotcha, are you getting any reports of turbulence in there? ATC: No reports of turbulence, just light to moderate precipitation ATC: If you see anything that you would like to avoid, we can just ATC: kind of bob and weave through it K: Copy that, thanks, I'll keep it on this heading for now, thank you, CFW ATC: CGCFW, do you have weather radar on board? K: I have Sirius XM Weather ATC: Roger And ATC kept doing what they could to keep an eye out for me. ATC: Piedmont 6103, say flight conditions Piedmont: IMC right now, currently smooth, and ah... Piedmont: Not bad ATC: Roger K: [Laughing] "Not bad", what does that mean? ATC: CGCFW, Embraer 145 reported smooth flight conditions at 4500 on their climbout K: Copy that, thank you, CFW ATC: CGCFW, about 25 miles northwest of your position an Embraer 145 reported ATC: light to moderate turbulence at 6000 K: Copy that, ah, can I get, ah, down to 4000? ATC: CGCFW, descend and maintain 4000 I cannot say enough good things about these air traffic controllers. They’re such a big help, and they really seem to keep an extra eye out for us little guys out there. ATC: CGCFW, should be getting into the moderate precipitation now, that's going to be intermittent between moderate and light for the next 45 miles, after that it should be clear K: Copy that, thanks, I'm in it now, CGCFW ATC: Might even be less than 45 miles cause it's heading southeast-bound toward you Before much longer, I was past Buffalo, and it was time to start preparing for the approach into the Oshawa airport. K: Toronto Center, it's GCFW level at 4000 ATC: GCFW, Toronto good day, identified, plan RNAV runway 30 at Oshawa. ATIS Oscar, altimeter 2977 K: Plan for RNAV 30, I have Oscar, CFW ATC: And CFW, roger, you can proceed direct to KEVGO or NUDED, your choice K: I'll go direct KEVGO, thanks, CFW ATC: Roger K: OK, so, let's brief the plate, since I know what I'm going to get K: Alright, at KEVGO, I want to be at 3100' at least K: And I can...I don't want to drop down, but I will if I'm in the clouds and the temperature's below...2 K: Alright, so it's gonna be a slight right turn, probably, to a heading of 032 K: Then a left at NUDED K: And then I can start the descent K: I could even stay at 4000 at NUDED if I want to K: No, that might be a little high, I'll do like 3700 K: Then slowly descending to 2100 at the final approach waypoint K: Continue on, minimums are 696, assuming it's LPV, or 250 above ground...threshold K: Missed approach - climb straight out on a track of 302 to 3100' By the time I was crossing back over Lake Ontario, the clouds had really begun to break up, and it was looking like my approach into Oshawa might actually be VMC. As it turned out, I actually ended up in and out of the clouds a bit during final, but I broke out of the clouds for good about 1500’ above airport elevation. After the hour and three quarters that I’d spent surrounded by the white stuff, I couldn’t have been happier to see that big beautiful ground coming up to meet me. My first IMC flight had been a success. I’d learned a bunch, and built a lot of confidence in my ability to handle IMC. With the weather warming up, I’m hoping my next IMC flight won’t be quite so touch and go in terms of having to avoid icing, but I know I’ll be able to do the planning and handle not seeing anything around the plane, no problem. That’s it for now. Thanks for watching everyone. If you enjoyed the video, give it a thumbs up and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel. I’ll see you in the next one, and in the meantime, fly safe!
