Hand flown partial panel yesterday...to mins...

[FN FAL]

Got to fly a hand flown ILS down to one-mile vis and 100 foot ceiling yesterday. Lost the vacuum driven Attitude Indicator on the pilot's side.

Thank goodness for postie notes. Since I had vacuum and couldn't trust the co-pilot side Heading Indicator... (at the time it seemed as if it was lagging...but it could have been my imagination) ...I covered it with postie notes as well. On this aircraft, the King setup has vacuum driven AI on the pilot's side and vacuum driven HI on the co-pilot's side.

Since the localizer for our company base of operations was within 10 degrees of my course and right underneath the plane, I chose to go into the base at that time. My destination weather was 1/2 mile vis, 100-foot ceiling and the Sequenced Flashing Lights were "Notam'd" out of service. Flying back to VFR conditions and landing was also an option, but I thought I would give a partial panel approach a shot. If it started to get a little shaky, I would power up and go where I could land VFR.

It went pretty well, a hundred times better than I have done in the sim with that same malfunction.

The mechanics made a swap out immediately and I was on my way. I guess the reason I wanted to go into the home base (besides the fact that it was just a glide slope away) was the fact that the radar was sloping with the heading indicator and I just didn't want to be out flying all over with an inop radar while a line of thunderstorms was heading my way.

Since there was a real tailwind that morning, I was able to get on the approach at the destination airport pretty quickly...and with good timing...the Sequenced Flashing Lights were now "Notam'd" back in service. By the time I got into my parking spot, the field went "Zero/Zero".

In the back of flying magazines, you'll find the ad for those orange balls you see on power lines. The ad reads, "Your BALLS saved my life!" I was thinking that an ad for postie notes could read, "Your postie notes saved my BALLS!"

 

[rumpletumbler]

Great job!

 

[nosehair]

Ya loved it, didn'tcha?,...c'mon, you know you did!

 

[TonyC]

Too bad there's not a forum for flying-related posts....









That's what it's all about, eh?





.

 

[Jmmccutc]

"Your postie notes saved my BALLS!"

my one buddy would go into parties and start talking to these really large unattractive women and give them a hug placing a postie on their back...he said it was so at the end of the night he'd know not to take home a "drop dead" female with a postie on her back...and his moto was she might look different through the bottom of a beer bottle but you can still see the yellow warning sticker...so yes posties have saved balls...

 

[FN FAL]

Hahaha...you guys are too kind!

Ditto Tony C!

Yes, nose hair...I did enjoy it! I hope my next sim training with the same failure, goes much smoother now...I plan on bringing some posties with me when I go...and not those postage sized ones I got in flight bag. Dang, I think it took three to finally get the horizon out of view.

It's funny how much your focus tightens up, when you know you really need to perform sharp. Looking back on it, I only referenced the co-pilot side AI as a sampling...I did my best to keep heading changes to minimum. I think small adjustments and light touch is the key here.

I do think that being almost on the localizer helped out a lot, as it only required about a ten degree heading change to get on it. Plus, it was pretty smooth out and although there was a good tailwind coming up the tail pipe, it was right on the tail. Even with power back to 500 foot pounds of torque and ten degrees of flaps, the ground speed was screaming.

Milking in another ten degrees helped me keep from over flying the slope, because the tendancy seemed to be putting me one dot to two dots high. I think If I would have had a headwind, it would have just given me more time to think too much and screw it up. You hate to go less than 500 ft lbs on the torque, because then you get that whole prop surge thing going on when you need to make small power adjustments...plus with a full load of freight, the Caravan gets that teeter totter thing going on with those prop surges. It's a funny feeling, even when things are going well on a normal approach.

Thanks rumpletumbler!

Hahaha Jmmccutc...looks like your friend is on to something! In my case, I'd have to (if I was single) put my phone number or e-mail address on those postie notes!

 

[TDTURBO]

Isn't a 100 ft ceiling below minimums on any ILS unless it is a CatII and the pilot is qualified?

 

[FN FAL]

Isn't a 100 ft ceiling below minimums on any ILS unless it is a CatII and the pilot is qualified?

Negative. Take a closer look at 91.175

(c) Operation below DH or MDA. Except as provided in paragraph (l) of this section, where a DH or MDA is applicable, no pilot may operate an aircraft, except a military aircraft of the United States, at any airport below the authorized MDA or continue an approach below the authorized DH unless—

(1) The aircraft is continuously in a position from which a descent to a landing on the intended runway can be made at a normal rate of descent using normal maneuvers, and for operations conducted under part 121 or part 135 unless that descent rate will allow touchdown to occur within the touchdown zone of the runway of intended landing;

(2) The flight visibility is not less than the visibility prescribed in the standard instrument approach being used; and

(3) Except for a Category II or Category III approach where any necessary visual reference requirements are specified by the Administrator, at least one of the following visual references for the intended runway is distinctly visible and identifiable to the pilot:

(i) The approach light system, except that the pilot may not descend below 100 feet above the touchdown zone elevation using the approach lights as a reference unless the red terminating bars or the red side row bars are also distinctly visible and identifiable.

(ii) The threshold.

(iii) The threshold markings.

(iv) The threshold lights.

(v) The runway end identifier lights.

(vi) The visual approach slope indicator.

(vii) The touchdown zone or touchdown zone markings.

(viii) The touchdown zone lights.

(ix) The runway or runway markings.

(x) The runway lights.

(d) Landing. No pilot operating an aircraft, except a military aircraft of the United States, may land that aircraft when—

(1) For operations conducted under paragraph (l) of this section, the requirements of (l)(4) of this section are not met; or

(2) For all other part 91 operations and parts 121, 125, 129, and 135 operations, the flight visibility is less than the visibility prescribed in the standard instrument approach procedure being used.

 

[TDTURBO]

It takes a lot of balls to fly anything down to 100 feet partial panel, good job! I would be more worried about the miss, that's when sh*t can get squirrly with flaps, torque, p-factor, power change, VMC/IMC transition vertigo and blah, blah, blah....

I fly a lot of hard IMC and doubt I would attempt that "just for fun".

What were you flying?

 

[TEXAN AVIATOR]

Badass dude!

 

[FN FAL]

It takes a lot of balls to fly anything down to 100 feet partial panel, good job! I would be more worried about the miss, that's when sh*t can get squirrly with flaps, torque, p-factor, power change, VMC/IMC transition vertigo and blah, blah, blah....

I fly a lot of hard IMC and doubt I would attempt that "just for fun".

What were you flying?

Thanks, just a Caravan. To tell you the truth, I think I would say that a person would have to evaluate how well they feel and how good they feel they are flying, each and every time they have to make a decision like this. Add in a slight cold, a night of bad sleep or possibly not being as current as usuall and a pilot should raise his minimums.

To top it off...I just got off the phone with dispatch a few minutes ago...

This particular freight run is split, so today the other guy was scheduled to be flying the same plane. He refused it this morning during his acceptance check, because the audio panel wasn't working. So we took a deviation because they had to load the freight onto the spare plane. Mechanics replaced the audio panel this afternoon. We don't have dogs for planes and the maintenance is pretty good here, but that would have not been fun to have had the gyro failure and the audio panel failure at the same time.

 

[Airpiraterob]

an instructor where i learned to fly used posty notes of nude women to cover the gauges....they were the round kind that fir perfectly you know?

he laughingly claimed that as soon as he broke em out and put em up that he immediately got to work on partial panel unusual attitudes with the students.

im glad i didnt fly with him cuase i wouldnt have ben able to concentrate on anything with those on my gauges.

 

[FN FAL]

an instructor where i learned to fly used posty notes of nude women to cover the gauges....they were the round kind that fir perfectly you know?

he laughingly claimed that as soon as he broke em out and put em up that he immediately got to work on partial panel unusual attitudes with the students.

im glad i didnt fly with him cuase i wouldnt have ben able to concentrate on anything with those on my gauges.

Hahaha...I had a flight instructor that slept during one of my holding lessons. JAX called us during the lesson and couldn't figure out how we managed to hold on the fix backwards...true story. Must have been a no wind day, cause I was nailing the hold backwards pretty good. I bet that fugger is still doing line training with a regional to this day.

 

[minitour]

Hahaha...I had a flight instructor that slept during one of my holding lessons. JAX called us during the lesson and couldn't figure out how we managed to hold on the fix backwards...true story. Must have been a no wind day, cause I was nailing the hold backwards pretty good. I bet that fugger is still doing line training with a regional to this day.

SWEET

Can you teach me how to do that???

Just so I can f**k with my instructor just one time!

-mini

 

[FN FAL]

SWEET

Can you teach me how to do that???

Just so I can f**k with my instructor just one time!

-mini

Dude, thanks for making my birthday! I'm a 45 year old motherfurfther today. No...not today...I'm still celebrating...the 18th.

But anywho...I'm laughing my arse off...thanks.

First of all, you gotta get one of those nappy time, just about to leave for the regional instructors. Preferably one that chews tobacco, played some crap foot ball position for FSU, is Catholic and thinks that whoring around is ok because he's single, but that you as a married guy doing it is a mortal sin (bear with me, this was my instructor!!! word for word).

Then get his underpaid 141 a$$ up on a high overcast and smooth sunday after he's been drinking all night and chasing hootchie mamas (they dint call em that back then, but you get the idea)...enter the hold backwards under the hood like you think you know what you're doing and wait for JAX approach to querry you about 8 turns around the fix...(I guess you get what you pay for when pay for flight training in advance!).

Hahahaha...good luck minitour and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!