Two flights over the final two months of 2013 illustrate issues that have been bothering me for some time. First, a disconnect between the thinking of ATC and pilots; second, a problem with trees encroaching into airspace that I thought was only a local issue here in Modesto (KMOD) but may turn out to be more widespread… and just to top things off, one seriously cold start!
In November, my wife and I flew down to Fullerton (KFUL) in Southern California for a nonprofit board meeting. Since this would involve flying in the Los Angeles Class B airspace in potentially marginal weather, I planned and filed IFR.
I carefully worked out a route on my iPad using ForeFlight Mobile’s route check feature, which shows you what clearances have been issued to other pilots filing for the same departure and destination.
On our last couple of trips down south, I’d been assigned an altitude of 11,000 feet, which I prefer to avoid as I long ago decided to use Air Force rules, which require oxygen any time I’m above 10,000 feet. This time I filed KMOD-CZQ-EHF-AMONT-LHS-SLI-KFUL, which put us on airways with MEAs no higher than 9,000 MSL… and I got exactly that clearance.
Nonetheless, as we approached EHF, ATC announced an “amendment to your route,” and asked if I wanted a re-route or to climb to 11,000. I asked why, since my route was already on airways with a 9,000-foot MEA. The answer? “We don’t show your route on an airway.” Wonderful.
I accepted a new route, direct AMONT, then V459 to SLI… which required no changes, as that’s the same route I’d filed for!
The lesson: ATC thinks in terms of airways. That’s a problem because the GPS navigators we all have these days are programmed in waypoints. Some of the latest units recognize airways (as ForeFlight does) as lists of waypoints.
I can go into ForeFlight and type “KMOD V23 V165 V459 SLI KFUL” into the search box, and it will pop up a series of boxes asking me which intersections I want to use to join the airways.
The trouble is that when it comes time to program the Garmin GNS 530 in our airplane, I need a list of waypoints rather than airways.
This problem also turns up when ATC tries to be helpful. On the way home, for example, I filed for the Anaheim Three departure with the Lake Hughes transition. To the GPS (and ForeFlight), that looks like “KFUL-SLI-POXKU-BAYJY-DARTS-LHS.” To ATC however, it’s “direct SLI-V8-V363-V186-V459-SLI.”
That becomes an issue when they give you shortcut vectors: “November whatever, turn left to heading 320 and join V186…”. You have to look at the chart (or a moving map that shows the airways—which the GNS 530 doesn’t) to figure out what that means; it’s really an instruction to join the leg from BAYJY to DARTS.
Once you figure that out, you can go into the flight plan mode of your GPS, select that leg and tell the GPS you want to join the leg, then continue on the ATC-instructed heading until you hit the leg, switch the autopilot to NAV mode (or the equivalent for your setup) and it will take over.
On future flights I will make a point of filing a version of my route listing the airways—and make sure I’ve got ForeFlight’s moving map set up so that I can figure out what ATC means when I get a re-route!
Now for the trees. Modesto’s airport property backs up on a regional park that contains some of the last few old-growth trees in the area. A few of those trees have been encroaching into the protected airspace below and adjacent to the ILS localizer glideslope.
Inevitably, some in the local community put up a fuss when anyone tries to trim those trees; among other things, calling for environmental impact studies. It’s a continuing story that has gone on for years, but it recently became a serious issue.
I found this out the first week in December, when one of my partners and I went out for some hood work to keep instrument current. We got started a little later than planned, in midafternoon.
I flew 1.0 hour (at least 0.8 hooded) and did three approaches. After that, we landed, topped up fuel, switched seats and took off again with my partner Mike in the left seat. He flew the same approaches I did, ending with vectors for an ILS, by which time the sun had set.
And then we got an ATC call I’ve never heard before, which went something like this: “Due to a notam condition, we cannot authorize any instrument approaches at Modesto until sunrise.” It took a little while for that to sink in.
Since we were actually flying in VFR conditions (hazy, but five-plus miles visibility), I had Mike cancel IFR with NorCal approach and call Modesto tower for a long straight-in to 28R. Then I filled in as ATC, vectored him to the localizer, and had him fly the ILS to a full-stop landing.
I probably should have suggested that he take off and do another one, but it was getting dark and neither of us knew what to make of that ATC instruction—which was backed up by an ATIS recording that announced, “By notam, no instrument approaches are authorized from sundown to sunup.”
Mike dropped me off, said he’d wait an hour and do some visual flying for night currency. We agreed to meet the next morning and finish his hood work in daylight. He also called the tower and they told him the notam was due to the untrimmed trees.
Skipping ahead a few days, I learned more about this issue at a meeting of the Modesto Airport Advisory Committee. Our new interim airport manager said he’d been in communication with FAA’s Seattle office, which told him the FAA had been grandfathering more than 1,000 airports with similar tree trimming problems for several years.
Last spring, an airplane in New York got low on an approach and crashed—into untrimmed trees. That put an end to the FAA’s willingness to grant deferments on trimming. They evidently gave warning—memos were sent in May and November—but didn’t get the attention of our city management until the first week in December, when the aforementioned notam went into effect. After that, a number of things happened very quickly…
You see, here in California’s Central Valley, fog is common in the winter, which makes instrument approaches essential for commercial air service. No approaches after dark means no airline service, which threatens $1 million per year in FAA matching funds. Expedited environmental studies were done in a matter of days and by the end of the month, the trees were trimmed and the notam was lifted.
Returning now to the morning after ATC refused to authorize any instrument work at night… Mike and I had trouble getting the engine to start. It’s very rare for us to encounter below-freezing temperatures out here, but the weather in December was exceptional—in the mid-20s at night.
Mike had left the airplane on a tiedown after his last night landing, since our hangar isn’t lighted. The engine was cold-soaked.
Anticipating trouble, Mike used three shots of prime, then let it set for a while before trying to start. That turned out to be a mistake, generating an impressive backfire. At my suggestion, he tried again, but didn’t wait so long between priming and starting.
The engine cranked well, sounded like it would run, then died. He tried several more times with identical results, and said in some frustration, “It wants to start… I’m missing something.”
Fortunately, I had my iPad on board. I exited ForeFlight, turned on wireless cellular service (which I normally turn off when flying) and did a Google search for “starting Continental engine very cold.”
That turned up a blog post from a pilot who flew T-41s (a military trainer flown at the Air Force Academy) that were frequently cold-soaked overnight. He recommended four shots of prime before cranking, then a couple more shots while cranking.
We didn’t bother with the four shots before cranking, as the engine was already trying to start, but Mike pulled out the primer to be ready for a shot while cranking. Making it work required three hands: his, both on the left (primer and key); while I covered the throttle.
It worked on the first try, but the engine ran rough at first. (Our engine analyzer showed cylinder number five much colder than others—looked like it might have been fouled.)
It smoothed out after a few minutes and we had no trouble with the runup after taxiing to the end of the runway. With the outside air temperature still down in the 40s, it climbed like the proverbial Homesick Angel! —JDR
John D. Ruley is an instrument-rated pilot and freelance writer. He holds a master’s degree from the University of North Dakota Space Studies program (space.edu). Until recently he was a volunteer pilot with ligainternational.org and angelflight.org, two charities which operate medical missions in northwest Mexico and provide medical patient transport, respectively. Send questions or comments to editor@www.piperflyer.com.
