Aircraft: C172
Registration: C-GQUO
Dual Time: 0.0 Total: 42.4
Solo Time: 0.8 Total: 13.1
I was excited, damn excited if I had to describe it. I had my plan in hand, and the aircraft was ready! I went over my flight planning with Ryan, my first encounter with him and that went well. I had already filed the flight plan with WX Brief and walked out of the clubhouse with a smile. During pre flight I noticed that I could not see any oil on the dipstick at all. Hmmm. I KNOW how to read a dipstick but of course I did the typical thing, put it in, pull it out, look, scratch head. Repeat. I then obtained a cloth and dried that stick bone dry, then put it in again. There was but a fine drop on the very end of the dipstick.
I know that brand new oil can be tricky to read so I went back to the clubhouse for an expert opinion. Ryan came out to have a look. He repeated my actions with the same result. His answer was “it might be low, add some”. I added a full quart and THEN it registered about 4.2. WOW that was LOW! Strike 1.
Due to my interruption during pre flight I took a breath and went onwards, checking fuel and the entire left side of the aircraft. Satisfied that she was airworthy and full to the brim with fuel I jumped in, ran the pre start checklist and started up. As I shouted clear prop and looked around all was well. The engine roared to life and then I saw something funny, a fuel cup flew up and smacked the windscreen on it’s way to the rear of the aircraft. Funny it had the initials M.H. on it. I chastised myself and pulled the mixture to ICO. Climbed out of the aircraft, nervously looked around to see witness to my folly and fetched my fuel cup from the grass. Strike 2.
Back inside now I took off towards the west. Hmm the clouds in front of me do not appear to be at 2000′ and they are certainly less than “BKN”. No matter, I need to climb up to 4500′ and open my flight plan. Flight plan opened I called up Ottawa Terminal to let them know I was inbound for Carp. Terminal cleared me to 4000 but no more. As I climbed to 3000 I realized that if I did not level off here, I was going straight into a large cloud. I leveled off and told ATC “Unable 4000 now due to cloud, will maintain 3000″, He replied with an ok. I flew under that massive CU and noticed that CYRP was approaching fast. DILEMA! I wanted to be at 4500′ over Carp to be on my merry way. Here I was tooling around at 3000 and needed to climb now. Worse still was more clouds ahead and above me with even more lower.
I contacted Ottawa terminal and let them know I was moving up. Put the aircraft into a Vx climb for 4500′. I could see over the nose that the next aircraft carrier sized cloud was omnipresent out front. I was calculating my climb to just make it over the cloud, I could see Carp airport below me if I looked in between the patches. I was taking all of this in just as the cloud took out some lift from underneath my wings and I flew right inside. Strike 3, I’m out!
My eyes panicked first. Looking at the windscreen was useless, all white out there. I looked down at the AI and opened my mind. ”Ok Michael, you are just in the bump of that cloud, you’ll be out of this in a flash. The aircraft is NOT turning. Straight and level climb here, no inputs will mean less to fix so just relax“. I was NOT relaxed. I wanted to be anywhere else but I also had this niggling feeling in my brain that I was turning to the left. Checking the AI put me straight and level in a ~500 FPM climb. All I could think of was JFK Jr. and the damn 178 seconds piece. Then poof! Blue skies above, I was out and thru the cloud. I had a moment to think “Whew!” when I then realized that I was more or less “On Top”. I could peer down between the clouds and see mother earth, but if I looked to the horizon my angle was so shallow that all I could see was a solid deck of cloud. It was VERY difficult to line up to a horizon that did not exist.
I looked back at CYRP still just below and to the rear of my position. I could see it but even that field was being covered up by puffy cloud by the moment. I looked forward and down and could make out a clear path right down to Highway 417. I pulled out carb heat, throttle and began a fast descent in that clear section. ”Ottawa terminal, getting low vis up here, will be going back down to 2500′ then returning Rockliffe“. ”Approved“. I managed to get below the cloud deck at around 2600′. It was all hazy and difficult to see. I had a fleeting moment of insanity as I contemplated “It’s not soo bad I could just go on at this altitude” but a major bump of turbulence and my three strike rule had me turning tail quickly!
I overflew Carp at 2500′ and picked up a heading direct to the north shore of the river then on to Rockliffe. Runway 09 was active so I had to do the overhead procedure with a descent on the upwind side. My flying was sloppy. Numbers all over the map. As I turned downwind I considered that I needed to relax more. I flew down final with correct speed and crossed the fence to make my absolute worst landing ever. I know I say that a lot but at one point I almost felt my fillings coming out of my teeth. I think it was at or near bounce number 7. Ok I’m exaggerating a bit but it was a doozy. I parked the aircraft and returned to the clubhouse.
During debrief Ryan simply said “YOU FLEW INTO A WHAT!!??” so I passed it off, “no, it was just the top bump of a cloud, hardly anything at all” but I know for sure I was inside that mother for at least 30 seconds. 30 seconds that felt like a full hours’ flight worth of stress.
Now I’m at a crossroads, (Again! I know). Having not experienced this particular flight condition on any dual, I did not have the right tools to handle the situation. I certainly did not use them effectively. How can I learn how to fly about the clouds, if we’re simply told to avoid them. This was supposed to be a 2/8 day but it was closer to 5/8 if not more.
I’m glad that this happened during my training and not on my first outing with the family but honestly why can’t I get a break?!! All I need to do is fly this simple cross country, pass my test and then I can go out and do my “real” learning but if I can’t even surmount this tiny hurdle then whiskey-tango-foxtrot am I doing?! Since this obstacle I’ve cried a bit, talked about it ad-nauseam with Rica and friends and am happy that the turn out was good. I just am missing that piece. I don’t even know what it is but it’s quite real.
More experience needed? YES! More co-pilot time? Would be nice. I don’t think that any amount of dual instruction is going to fix this issue. I need to go up with someone as a passenger and work it out in my own mind. I believe that by following a map and being relieved of all other duties will give me more confidence. Poking around clouds wouldn’t hurt either. Experiencing some real turbulence, some real “g’s” anything to get me over this hump and back on the horse.
I’m booked on an Air Canada to Boston tomorrow but somehow that doesn’t fit the bill. I booked a solo for Saturday. Not to go back to Kingston but perhaps to go back to basics. again…..
Tags: Cross Country, Fail, Solo
Sure, you messed up, but don’t waste time trying to prepare for what you can’t prepare for: digest your lessons learned quickly and get right back to your cross-country solo and finishing the PPL. You’re leaving the training phase where you try to fly using simplistic rules learned in ground school or dual, and moving on to the phase where you have to develop and rely on your own judgement in complex situations. This was one of those.
You misjudged the size and height of the clouds. That happens all the time, sometimes even to experienced pilots, and it’s not something you can learn in advance — you have to experience it. Next time, you’ll know that the clouds are bigger than they seem and give them a wider berth. You’ll also be more flexible with your plans (maybe a different route or a lower altitude).
BTW, even though you violated one of the main rules they teach you in flight training — making the 180-degree standard-rate turn out as soon as you blunder into IMC — I think you did the right thing. You knew you were in broken clouds, and that you’d get out faster by continuing straight ahead (you also avoided any disorientation from maneuvering). You kept the plane under control, evaluated the situation, formed a plan (cancel the trip and return to Rockcliffe), and executed it. You’re a pilot, and that’s what pilots do.
It’s OK to kick yourself for a day or two, but don’t use it as an excuse to delay your training any further. Anyone who hasn’t experienced what you experienced at least once hasn’t done much serious cross-country flying.
Thank you David. Every time I seem to have found “the bottom” you sure have a knack for putting me back on course! Let’s see if I can’t get this thing finished!! I am booking my TC written exam for this weekend….. Almost there.
Like David said, you did the right things – not exactly the way we were taught but the outcome was safe and you remained in control, bringing the flight to a successful conclusion.
Don’t worry about the original “mission” to get to Kingston, you actually learned more about yourself and flying from this episode than if the trip had gone perfectly. If all our flights and landings were textbook perfect, we would not be as able to respond appropriately when external factors such as weather or airplane systems go sour.
I have had days like this when the clouds seemed to gang up on me, with bases lower than I wanted to fly and tops above 12,000. Once I was between Sudbury and Wawa with almost nowhere else to divert to. Just focused on flying the plane and remaining calm. I must have flown triple the distance going around clouds looking for clear air. After 30 minutes I suddenly popped out into clear air and 40nm vis. The rest of the flight was clear and calm – I was amazed that I had such extremes during one flight.
Don’t worry too much. You wouldn’t be a good pilot if the weather was always ‘perfect’. It is those days we learn the most. I probably would have been tempted to clear that cloud too…on the other hand, my instructor gave me some hood and cloud time so 30 seconds can seem like eternity.
I suspect you will stay away from clouds for awhile now or at least when you are solo:)
All the best! Martin
Yikes! I get shivers down my spine just think about the possibility of this happening to me on a solo x-country. And I’m impressed. You flew into IMC and you flew out of it. You survived, you didn’t get lost, you didn’t damage the plane or yourself, you didn’t panic… This kind of thing is called experience, and what makes a great pilot is lots and lots of experience. You have just acquired some, bringing yourself one step closer to being a great pilot. You may not feel jubilant about the whole thing, but I offer you my sincere congratulations. Consider me crazy if you like, but I even envy you a little bit.
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