Today, I completed my second flight in the Duchess. The original plan was to work on single engine operations, but instead, we flew IFR to West Palm Beach and back.
The weather at Melbourne was almost overcast at around 2,000 feet when I arrived at the airport at 8:30 am. Luckily, after a week of gusty winds, the winds today were calm. Many students were waiting for some holes to appear so they could fly out VFR. In addition to the weather, they were also waiting for something I’d never seen before. There was a large restricted area with a 200 nautical mile radius covering most of central Florida. The NOTAM said that the airspace was restricted for use by weather aircraft to collect data on the storm off the east coast. This was in effect from 7:30 am to 9:30 am. Since VFR flight was questionable, we decided to file IFR. Since we were filing IFR, I decided that I wanted to go somewhere new, so I chose West Palm Beach.
Like last week, the preflight was delayed when we found a lot of water in the tanks. Once we cleared the water, the preflight moved along and I started the right engine. At this point, with both doors open, the checklist was blown off my lap and across the ramp. I shut down the engine and Nick ran after it. Note to self, always clip the checklist to my kneeboard when the doors are open.
After starting the engines, I taxied to the run-up spot, did the run-up, then called Clearance Delivery to pick up the IFR clearance to Palm Beach International Airport. I copied the clearance, then read it back correctly. We were then cleared to taxi to Runway 9R at intersection Charlie.
The flight started similar to the last, with me pitching for 85 knots, then raising the gear and retracting the flaps. I set power for climb and flew straight out over the river.
Then things started to change. Being under IFR, I now had to follow all instructions. I was told to turn to a specified heading and climb to 4,000 feet. I turned and started to climb and it quickly became clear that I’d be getting flight time in actual instrument conditions. The last time I flew IFR was the time I flew the Commander across the country- in September of 2011, and there were no actual conditions during that flight. Needless to say, I was intimidated. It wasn’t so much the fact of flying through clouds, but more the fact that I now needed to concentrate 100% of my attention on the instrument panel. I’ve been flying VFR since way back then, so I try my hardest not to focus on the instruments. This was a big change for me. Also, the instruments that I need to concentrate on are not the same as they were back then. They are similar, and have the same data, but still, they are different.
For the next hour, we were in more than we were out of the clouds. As a result, we were getting bounced and rolled all over the sky. At one point, we were told to climb to 5,000 to avoid traffic. Once up there, I got a little bit of a break from the clouds and turbulence, but not much.
Before long, we were approaching Palm Beach Int’l. We were given vectors for Runway 10R, but then that was changed to Runway 14. That seemed odd because the ATIS had just reported that Runway 14 was closed. Approach quickly realized the mistake and vectored us for Runway 10R. Shortly afterwards, we were cleared for the Visual 10R approach, but we were still in and out of the clouds. Approach soon told us to descend to 2,000 feet and contact Tower. As we approached the airport, from 10 miles away, I could only see the main runway – Runway 10L. Runway 10L is 10,000 feet long and 150 feet wide. Runway 10R is 3,200 feet long and 75 feet wide. From a distance, it was barely visible.
As we neared, Tower cleared us to land. I ran through the Before Landing checklist and did the GUMP checks, then settled in for a very nice, well established descent to the numbers. I greased the landing and turned off at the next taxiway to the right. While I taxied back to Runway 10R, Nick picked up our clearance back to Melbourne.
After departing Palm Beach Int’l, we were told to turn north to avoid the flight restriction that sits over Mar-a-Lago. I turned left over the city, then headed direct to Melbourne at 4,000 feet. The flight back was a lot like the flight down, but this time, I decided to stop struggling to see the panel and put on my reading glasses. Oh what a difference that made. All of the jostling around in the clouds made it hard to read the small numbers, but my glasses enlarged everything and made staying on my heading and altitude much easier. And besides, I had no need to see what was going on outside the windshield.
As we approach Melbourne, Approach told us to expect the ILS 9R approach. Nick asked for the RNAV 9R approach, since I’d never done an RNAV approach with vertical guidance before. We were cleared to the Initial Approach Fix, then cleared to fly the approach. Nick pointed out that I was a dot or two to the left of the centerline and I corrected, while maintaining the glide path. At 300 feet, I took off my glasses and saw Runway 9R straight in front of me. I made my second smooth landing of the day, then taxied back to the ramp.
My main takeaway from this flight was the feeling that single pilot IFR flight in actual meteorological conditions is very hard and demands 100% of your attention. As a result, I was unable to fly the plane and handle the radios by myself. In one case, I set the heading 10 degrees to far to the right. In many cases, my altitude was off by more than 100 feet. Being proficient in these conditions takes a lot of time and practice. That said, I’m not sure I will be able to earn an Instrument Proficiency Check during my remaining time in the Duchess. I still need to work on single engine operations. We’ll see how it goes.
The flight track is below. Unfortunately, I did not start the recording before taking off from Melbourne.
| Flight track to West Palm Beach and back to Melbourne |
Flight Time: 2.6 hours
Multi-engine time: 21.0 hours
Total Time: 596 hours
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