Right after that I prepped for an IFR cross-country flight to Ohio. This one wasn't as easy. All the icing prognostic charts were calling for a 75% chance of light to moderate icing. DUATS was calling for icing. The glide slope where we were going was out of service, making our minimums 900' for a localizer approach, and the clouds there were reported at... 900'. Everything on the computer made it sound like a bad idea to go to Ohio that day. I warned the guy that it didn't sound good. But my instincts said it was fine, that I would be able to work with the layers, that it just was going to be one of those days that sounded worse than it actually was, and I could see blue above some of the clouds, making me think the reports of high clouds were wrong. Plus I could go above the freezing level. So I told him to come on up, an hour and a half drive, while I had my morning lesson. He got here, I got done with my lesson, and away we went. And it was fine. In fact, it was an excellent lesson. I made sure to point out all the weather decisions that were made ahead of time, and that just because a person can make a flight one time when the forecast sounds bad does not mean it's wise to just ignore the forecast and go any old time. But today I had options and outs. We got some practice in the clouds, and he wanted to see a little ice if at all possible, for the experience, so when we picked up a little bit of it almost into Ohio, I stayed where we were so he could see how and where it built up and what it looked like. We cruised that way for awhile, then I had him request a higher altitude, which put us on top of the clouds and into a beautiful sunshiny day, where the little bit of ice came off just fine. The reports of layers up to 20,000' or so? Wrong. We were out of it at 6000'. Score one for the gut.
It was an interesting flight lesson though. We had filed airways in order to practice doing it that way, and while we were on one airway, all of a sudden the GPS failed. I immediately set up the VOR to track to the next waypoint, and within moments we were cruising along just fine on the airway using VOR instead of GPS. And then he said "The radio is awful quiet". He was right, it was. I checked, and sure enough, the Com radio had failed too. We checked in with Com 2, Dayton Approach heard us, and we were back in business. But now our approach was going to be more interesting, because with the GPS we could get lower minimums than we could without being able to identify a certain intersection with it. We prepared for it, flew along as we were, and then somewhere in Ohio the GPS found itself again. The com didn't start working, but the GPS did, just in time for us to shoot a localizer approach into the airport...just fine. We'd have been fine without it, but the situational awareness is nice.While we were in Ohio, we met up with the photographer who took pictures of the formation flight I did in the T-6 with the Mustang down at Indy Exec. He blew up a couple pictures and gave me poster-sized photos of the flight, and a big hug, which was really sweet. I loooove pictures. I especially love seeing them all big and awesome. ;)
The flight home had no icing at all, and it was a beautiful flight on top of the cloud deck, uneventful, easy, GPS working fine, no big deal at all. Good real-world experience, good radio experience going into (and out of) the Cincinnati Class B airspace, got to shoot an approach, got to see icing with minimal risk, got to deal with equipment failure...it was a good learning trip.
When we landed back at Kokomo, Kaylee was there waiting, and Steve was heading out with his pre-solo student. I picked up dinner on the way home then went out to Glenndale for the EAA Chapter Meeting. Tonight's meeting was about the iPad and how it can be used for flying trips. I thought maybe I could have a little input on it, since in the last two days alone I'd taken two actual IFR trips, one in the dark and one in the day, with this iPad and its features. They had ice cream, and that was a good start. ;) We had 3 iPads there, and broke into groups and the iPad owners showed folks how they were used.
There are airline pilots who are refusing to go through the new security procedures (aka groping or naked scanning). They are currently grounded, but they are taking their stand, and the pilot's union is protesting this stuff too. There are also several lawsuits, which is apparently the only way to get people's attention. Gross, but apparently true. The lawsuits are claiming a violation of our rights against unlawful search and seizure and privacy rights. Meanwhile, someone high up in the government told people if they didn't like the new rules to take a bus instead. And how do you think that will go? The first time a terrorist takes a bus and puts a bomb on it, bus passengers will be strip searched physically or visually too. And then the TSA will tell you to drive your own car if you don't like it. That is until a terrorist loads up his personal vehicle with explosives. Then what? Ugh. This is wrong. I'm just glad it's not just me yelling about it. A lot of people are yelling about it. They need to yell louder. In case I haven't mentioned it yet? This is wrong. Kind of like the man who refused the scanners or the groping and was threatened with a $10,000 fine and arrest for wanting to just leave the airport, not take his flight, and backing out of the screening. Welcome to America. Just saying.
Obama is coming to Kokomo on Tuesday. Not sure what plane he's taking or if he's coming into Kokomo or Grissom (I'd bet Grissom), but he's headed here. So nobody go flying on Tuesday, since you'll be right at Ground Zero of the TFR!
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