Flying Missouri

July 8, 2012

Today is going to be a big day... one of the biggest of all my flight training to-date. It was finally time for me to prove to my instructor that I can fly long miles without ever looking outside the windows. This instrument cross country flight needed to be 250NM round trip, with a landing at three different airports and perform three different types of approaches. The total distance planned however was actually 300NM, which I've never even come close to flying that many miles, VFR or IFR. The only thing going through my mind is that I'm totally excited.

I planned out the IFR route last night, so this morning all I needed to do was get a weather briefing. My Dad gets to come along for the trip today, so I pick him up at 8:30am. We arrive at the airport and I preflight the plane. After going back inside, we say hi to my instructor Mark. We wait while he deals with some company business, then he reviews my plans. Looks good! We go into a room and close the door. I call up Flight Service Station to file my flight plans and get an updated weather briefing. Looks like there's some storms out on the west side of Missouri. We should be ok because they don't appear to be moving much. The clouds are between 6000-8000ft. With this information, we decide it's safe to continue.

My instructor, Dad and I get in the plane and prepare for departure. We taxi to the runway and contact St. Louis Clearance Delivery. They locate our IFR flight plan and give us our instructions. We're ready to go. We takeoff and fly direct to the St. Louis VOR. I'm wearing my foggles now, which will be on during the entire 300NM flight. From the St. Louis VOR, I track straight to the Foristell VOR, then onto V44 (Victor44 is the "highway" that we're flying on). Mark informs the controller that we'd like to perform the ILS Runway 30 approach. He vectors us around to set us up and clears us for the approach. I read my approach plate and follow it down. Mark tells me to look up and I instantly smile... the runway is straight ahead.

We land, taxi back, get our new clearance, takeoff, and begin on our course for Kirksville. The controller notifies us that the line of storms is right in our way. Mark tells him that we'll continue to the airport and will keep him updated with the weather situation. We didn't mind running into some rain but did not want the lightning, so we let the controller vector us slightly off course to go around the edge of the storm.

It was somewhere around this point that we started picking up turbulence. I'm still wearing my foggles, so for me it felt worse than it did for my passengers. the plane wants to climb, descend, roll to the right, roll to the left. My heart is racing as I fight to keep the plane straight and level. Eventually it calmed down. I peeked a couple times to look at the rain. It was stunning. 

This is what IFR flying is all about. We reach Kirskville and Mark requests that we practice an DME arc for the VOR-A approach. I've never done one of these before because we don't have any approaches nearby that offer this. This part turns into a lesson as Mark explains to me how to do it. I'm so confused. After completing the arc, we turn inbound for the approach. I fly us down and we taxi to the ramp. It's lunch time.

An airport employee greets us. We wait for him to fill the tanks with 100LL. Just off to our side is this crazy looking yellow airplane. I walk up to it and assume it's some sort of cropduster because I could see sprayers under the wings. Mark confirms my assumption.

The tanks are now full enough, so we walk inside and pay for the fuel. Mark checks out a courtesy car and drives us into town. He lived here for three years and his recommendation was Pagliai's Pizza. After an hour of eating, a post-flight discussion and some random chatter, we head back to the airport. The weather doesn't look so ominous now.

We taxi to the runway and pick up our IFR flight plan. The controller clears us for departure and we takeoff. No need to follow Victor highways this time as there are none close enough. I program the GPS to fly us directly home. We're cruising at 7000' and the temperature at altitude was 55 degrees. A nice change from 90 degrees on the ground. The clouds are scattered, white and puffy and we get to fly right through/ over them. Again, this requires me to peek.

See video on my YouTube page

I find that I can't stop smiling, even if I don't physically show it. This is fantastic. We pop in the clouds, then out, and over, then under. There's nothing quite like the feeling when we see yourself flying at 110kts, heading straight for this giant white thing that will clearly consume your airplane. The sensation leaves you feeling exhilarated and awestruck.

We fly by Mark Twain Lake in which my family has property at. My Dad searched for our lot and snaps plenty of pictures. It's another site that I had to peek at. Stupid foggles, I can't wait to leave these at home in the future. The lake is gorgeous.

Now 20NM from home, Mark tells the controller that we want vectors to set us up for the GPS approach. Once there, I follow it down. Not bad! We enter downwind, I take off the foggles, and land the plane. After 4.2 hours of flight time logged, we go inside, Mark compliments my performance. On a scale of 1-5 with 1 being the best, Mark gives me a 2. I'm thrilled. The news gets better when he tells me that I've proven my ability well enough that he's going to waive the next lesson's smaller cross country. Yay!

Now it's time to hit the books and study for my written knowledge exam. Any flight lessons from here on out are simply review. It's almost checkride time.