Leg One
KMFR-KPDX Monday Jan 06, 2003 Medford weather: Clear, Winds 04
from 028, temp 38F Flight plan: KMFR BRUTE1.CUTTR EUG
MOXEE3 KPDX FL200 Equipment: Embraer EMB-120
Brasilia Sim: FS2002 / FS Meteo
/ Squawkbox / FS Nav 4.5 I kind of hoped for some more
“interesting” weather, but it was quite nice out and the passengers
were happy. SEA_CTR cleared me as filed at 16:02 local and I ran through
the start up procedures. At 16:08 I was cleared to taxi to 14 and we
were on our way. I received T.O.clearance immediately upon reaching the
hold line, we pulled onto 14 and began our takeoff roll at 16:14. We were configured for a light
load, so V1 came quickly. I rotated at 105kt and we easily began the
climbout. I reported airborne and worked on cleaning up the controls as
SEA_CTR cleared us direct BRUTE and FL200. I turned left toward BRUTE
and set the auto pilot for cruise altitude and 1700 fpm. Since we were
light, we climbed easily at 190kt IAS. We snaked around the BRUTE1 departure and made FL200 just
after CUTTR, settling at 270kt TAS. Not much action from here except the
entertaining exchange between SEA_CTR and an apparent “first time
flyer”. We all had a first online flight and made eyes roll at some
point, but this guy was a piece of work. Flight plan: “KPDX-Salt
City.”. Sample exchange… (after SEA_CTR offered a couple of
waypoints to help him on his way) SEA_CTR: …”from Kimberly, that’s
IMB, fly direct Boise.” [callsign withheld]: “Uh, what state is
Kimberly airport in?” SEA_CTR: “Kimberly is in Oregon sir.” [callsign
withheld]: “I can’t find it on my GPS, can you help me land
there?” This guy kept Center busy the whole
trip. Good thing it was a slow night, and I have to take my hat off to
SEA_CTR for his patience and helpfulness. Since there wasn’t a lot going
on, I thought it would be nice to give the GPS a rest and fly the
VOR’s (all two of them). At EUG, I set Nav 1 to BTG 116.6, and flew a
heading of 345. Shortly, I was cleared to descend to 12,000 at pilot’s
discretion. I began descent about 20nm south of WYLEE. At WYLEE, I was
instructed to 6000’ and 340. SEA_CTR told me to expect vectors to 10R
and asked if I wanted ILS or visual tonight. Since it was clear, I opted
for the visual. At 12mi. out I reported the field in sight and was told
to turn left to one zero zero. From here it was a by-the-book approach,
turning to an 8mi final at 2,500’ and about 155kt. I got lined up with 10R, reduced
speed at the OM to 130kt, crossed the threshold at about 120 and touched
at 105. After reporting clear of the
active, I taxied over to the F gates and shut down. All in all, it was a
very uneventful flight. But I guess that’s how the passengers like
them. Leg
Two
Flight Plan:
KPDX RIVER6.LTJ PDT KPDT FL190 I laid over in PDX and made an AM
flight to Pendleton the next day. The weather in Portland was good,
clear with winds from 130 at 04. I had some reservations about
conditions in Pendleton, as the latest METAR was showing the ceiling at
298’ AGL. At 08:30, Seattle Center gave
clearance for the RIVER6 departure with vectors to LTJ and once again I
began the engine start-up process. The F gates at KPDX are “head in
parking”, so we had no pushback to call for. I called Center when I
was ready to taxi and at 08:37 we were cleared to 10L via the ramp.
Holding short at 10L, again I
called Center and we cleared for TO. With a few more pax and 60% in each
tank, we didn’t reach VR until nearly 115kt. I pulled the nose up a
little, put the gear up and made my left turn to intercept the PDX 085
outbound radial for the SID. I cleaned up the flaps, engaged the AP and
checked Nav 1 for LTJ (112.3). Passing through 1,500’, Center called
with radar contact and cleared us direct to LTJ and FL190. We leveled
off a couple of miles west of Hood River. Things had slowed down a little, so
I took a few minutes to look out the window and enjoy the early morning
sun over the Columbia River Gorge (everybody really should
download Eddie Denny’s Oregon mesh scenery and fly up the river). I
spent a fair amount of the rest of the short cruise checking on weather,
and things weren’t looking any better at KPDT. Winds were still pretty
benign but the ceiling was stuck at under 300’. In most situations,
CatII minimums are 300-400’ and we were still below that. The correct
thing to do would have been to divert, turn back or canceled the flight.
Being a responsible, experience captain and pilot I made the only
reasonable decision… Lets take her in! Since I didn’t have to worry
about humiliating discharge from employment and the passengers would
miraculously come back to life with a reset, I gambled on the fact that
I have successfully pulled off this stunt several times before. The fly
in the ointment was the small matter that the DME/GS was only on rwy. 25
and 07 was just a backcourse. Winds were 07 from 060, so I was afraid I
was going to be sent to 07 with no good (even I have my limits)
way of finding my way down. The controller working Center didn’t make
mention of the visibility, so I didn’t know what his intentions were. Shortly after crossing LTJ, Center
told us to cross PDT (114.7) at 5,000. Since Center was busy, I decided
to wait for him to tell me what approach to expect before I asked him if
we could land with the wind. As we neared PDT, Center called to clear us
for the ILS 25 approach. Whew, one hurdle down. Now all I had to do is
actually land safely. We crossed PDT, descended to
4,000’ (2,500’ AGL) turned right to 120 for two minutes, left to 070
for the downwind and proceeded to 10nm DME before making a left turn to
base. We only stayed on base for a few seconds before turning to 280 to
intercept the localizer. We picked up the localizer at about 8 mi. out
and started getting configured for final. Since I wasn’t sure where we
were going to be when I finally saw the runway, I wanted to be ready to
flare in a hurry if necessary. I worked the airspeed down to 128 kt and
put in 30 deg of flaps. At about 3,500’ we began hitting some pretty
good bumps and the ASI and VSI were jumping around quite a bit so I
waited for the APP lock to stabilize on the LOC/GS before switching off
the AP. We were cleared for 25 and from here there wasn’t much to do
except make sure everything stayed where it was supposed to be and wait
for the runway to show up. I kept myself occupied trying to keep from
falling below the glideslope. I wasn’t having my best day for this
task. At 800’ AGL I started moving my
face forward a bit (you never know, it might help J),
hoping to get a glimpse. 600, 500, 400, still no break. At 300’ I was
beginning to question my judgment (sanity?), when at about 240’ the
threshold was staring at me. I had let the nose dip a bit, so I had to
do a quick pull back. Apologies to the guy in 6b whose lunch bounced off
his tailbone and on to the seatback ahead. With the nose back where it
belongs, we flared at about 30’ and set down smoothly at 95 kt. I
announced clear of the active and taxied over to the terminal building.
“Thanks for flying Upchuck Airways. We hope you enjoyed being
shortened by an inch or two and will come back and bounce around with us
again”. I figured since everything was up
and running and it wasn’t midnight yet, I’d go ahead and fly back to
my home base in Bend/Redmond, about 135nm away. I fired up the trusty
Falcon 2000 and headed for KRDM (Roberts Field, Redmond). I checked
ServeInfo for traffic & ATC and found SEA_CTR had closed and hopped
into a Cessna 421G for a trip from Pearson to KPDT. I messaged him and
he said that it sounded like I had so much fun he wanted to do it.
Flight-Simmers are a sick lot. BTW… Check out the extra
screenshot to see what visibility was at Redmond! For screenshots: http://www.woodartdesign.com/flightweb/misc/flightclub/jan03.htm Till next month, Tony |
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