December 2014-
More often than not, these columns are built around a recent flight, and what I learned from it. That makes them pretty easy to write, as I usually learn (or re-learn) something on every flight. But my latest one taught more than most.
It was mid-October, and as happens around that time every year, I was contemplating the fact that I hadn’t flown any actual IFR for several months. That’s because our typical summer weather pattern here in the Central Valley is so dry that any moisture—be it rain, mist or fog—is so rare as to be cause for celebration.
Of course, I could always call one of my partners and do hood work, but there’s a world of difference between that and the feeling of actually descending into (or climbing out of) a low cloud deck.
We had one small system come through that dropped a little rain, and it set me to thinking: was there anywhere within, say, an hour’s flying time that might offer a chance to get into some actual weather?
The answer turned out to be yes. The typical coastal marine layer that develops overnight was available from San Francisco down to Monterey, but only in the mornings. I signed out the airplane and planned to get in the air no later than 09:00 local, and picked Salinas as a good option: it’s surrounded by hills on three sides, and tends to stay socked in longer than most other airports in the area.
In preparation for the flight, I made sure to update electronic charts on my iPad, and also printed out the latest update to the bound en route and WAC charts from Sky-Nav that I use for backup. Among other things, reviewing the update showed the Salinas control tower frequency had changed. With that done, I went to bed…
…and got up the next morning to find my iPad dead. I’d left ForeFlight running and neglected to plug the unit in.
Well, I had paper backup charts; why not use those? Unfortunately, en route charts weren’t enough; I also needed approach plates. Fortunately, AOPA offers a download service for plates on their website and I printed off all the approach, departure, airport diagrams, etc. for both Salinas and Modesto.
Armed with those, I headed for the airport, did my preflight and called for a tower en route clearance direct to Salinas. The tower controller replied, “Nine-six kilo, you are cleared to Salinas via left turn 160, radar vectors Victor 111, Salinas direct. Climb and maintain 6,000. Contact departure control on 120.95; squawk 4613.”
I read that back and considered how to program the route into the Garmin GNS 530 GPS in my panel. V111 is an airway that connects the Modesto and Salinas VORs—both of which are located on the respective airports—so the clearance really wasn’t much different than what I’d asked for.
I was a little concerned though, as the initial heading of 160 would actually point me away from the airway. Rather than just having the two endpoints, it would be nice to have another reference point I could turn to early on.
Looking at the en route chart, I picked out PATYY, which is on V111, nine miles southwest of Modesto. Unfortunately, what I punched into the GNS 530 was “PATTY.”
Runup complete, away I went into the hazy blue sky. Modesto Tower asked me for an early turn to my initial heading, and had me call NorCal Approach. With radar contact established, the controller told me join V111, which I acknowledged.
I found myself wondering exactly how that was going to work on my current heading, but I looked at the GNS 530 which reassuringly showed a line up ahead, so I figured I’d just continue on course and turn when I got closer. I continued climbing on my heading of 160.
Just as I was leveling off, the controller called and said, “You were cleared to join V111, appear to be west of it—turn left and join V111.”
Huh? I looked blankly at the GPS display and wondered how I’d managed to screw up, but quickly turned to the new heading and belatedly decided to tune the Modesto and Salinas VORs.
Sure enough, both showed me off course. I got on course according to the VORs, then reviewed what I’d entered into the flight plan and for the first time noticed the leg length—over 3,000 nm from Modesto to PATTY, which turned out to be in Puerto Rico! Deleting it from the flight plan solved the problem and showed me right where I was supposed to be.
With that straightened out, it was time to get the Salinas ATIS, which was a surprise: wind from 060 at six knots, visibility better than six miles with haze, clear below 10,000 feet. The marine layer had cleared up faster—and I’d got off the ground later—than expected.
No surprise, then, when the next controller told me the airport was at my 12 o’clock, to expect a visual approach and report when I had the airport in sight.
Doggone it, I had not flown all that way to do a visual approach! I briefly considered diverting to Monterey, which looked like it might still be socked in—but I only had the Salinas and Modesto approach charts in the aircraft.
Well, I could at least fly a practice approach at Salinas even if I couldn’t log it for instrument currency. So that’s what I requested from the controller, who gave me vectors for the RNAV (GPS) 13 approach, circle to land on Runway 8.
While I didn’t log any of the flight as instrument time, it was hazy enough that I also didn’t have much of a horizon. I was instructed to circle south for a left base entry to Runway 8; cancelled IFR as I turned on final, but asked to stay on my squawk code for VFR flight following on my way home; did a touch-and-go and was cleared to the northeast.
I paralleled the hills until I was high enough to cross safely and got back to Modesto after 1.6 hours in the air, with several lessons to contemplate:
Lesson #1: If the iPad’s going to be used for flying, it must be prepped just like my other equipment. It now gets a full charge the night before every flight.
Lesson #2: Just printing out approach plates for my planned primary and alternate may be okay for local flights, but it limits my options for more ambitious flights. I ordered bound FAA terminal charts for Northern and Southern California and Nevada, which will give me more options for my upcoming trips.
Lesson #3: Don’t just put waypoints into the GPS; verify them! If I’d been paying more attention I’d have noticed the helpful text that identified PATTY as not being local when I entered it. Even having missed that, the ridiculous leg length should have gotten my attention.
One of the trips coming up will be to Mexico, taking my wife (a pediatrician) and two nurses for a weekend charity clinic with Liga International (“The Flying Doctors of Mercy”).
In preparation for that trip, I called Jeppesen to order a trip kit—they’re the only source for Mexican instrument charts—only to find out that my subscription does not allow for trip kits.
It seems that a few months ago, Jeppesen introduced new pricing for its electronic products. I’m signed up under the new “single install” plan, which supports only one device (my iPad) and doesn’t include a binder or paper en route charts. The fine print on that plan apparently doesn’t allow for trip kits.
I was offered the following deal: my single-install coverage was expanded to include all of Latin America, which cost a bit less than $200 (prorated since my coverage is already a couple of months old).
Expanding my single-install subscription should be cheaper than buying a trip kit on the regular “three-install” subscription plan. I have to keep that coverage for a minimum of four months, after which I can cancel and they’ll refund about 75 percent of what I’ve paid.
Meanwhile, I’m due at the airport shortly for a little night currency. This time, my iPad is charged and I’ve got full paper backup charts, two flashlights—and an open mind for whatever lessons this flight will bring.
Happy flying!
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). He is a volunteer 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.
