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IFR makes life easier, TFRs and NOTAMs

Ed_Wischmeyer

Well Known Member
So the plan was to leave Savannah Wednesday (yesterday) after the morning 500 foot overcast burned off. There's a part of me that doesn't want to fly above an overcast of less than 1,000 feet so that in case the engine poops out, I've got at least a little while to look for somewhere relatively soft to hit.

Not part of the original plan was a doctor visit to get both knees injected with steroids at 9:15 that morning, but that's another story. The doc was quite clear that the injections should in no way affect my flying, but not to do anything stupid that I would not have done without the injections. An hour later, there were no obvious effects so off I went. And, of course, the stress of having my first ever knee injections had my stress level sky high, but the stress level plummeted after the injections, back down to a level acceptable for flying.

We launched into 1,400 broken and filed for 4,000 for the very slightly westerly heading. Surprise! Local TRACON and center had worked out a deal and I was assigned 3,000, which was conveniently on top of the clouds. As the clouds rose, I asked for 5,000 from center but was given 4,000. No problem! But that first leg was oh so boring as I contemplated another four hours in the air.

That first leg was just over an hour to refuel the airplane's tanks and empty mine. We broke out at 2,000 feet, cancelled IFR and possibly set a record for quickest fuel stop.

The next leg was over the Smokies, just east of Asheville, NC, and we heard another airplane report a quadcopter drone at 4,000. Yikes! We went up to 6,000 and stayed at 6, bumping though the clouds but avoiding stiffer headwinds above and warm and bumpy below. Besides, after flying through summertime bumps over Arizona and New Mexico, these bumps weren't that big a deal.

The next stop was KPBX in northern Kentucky, just east of Cinncinnati. Wanting to avoid extra time looking for food at the stops, I bought a Subway on the way to the Savannah airport and munched contentedly on that in flight. On two past stops at KPBX, I'd taken the airport car to a gas station down the road that had really good sandwiches, and a lot of looks from the locals wondering who I was. KPBX also has an old F-4 Phantom on the ramp.

On the next leg, to my surprise, the presidential TFR did not show up on the display screen, but it did later -- maybe only after it took effect. I was on flight following and made sure that ATC would help me avoid a formation flight with an F-16.

I was again content to bump through the clouds on the way to Adrian, Michigan, kind of near Toledo, OH. My host had a dinner appointment and asked that I arrive by 5. I gave him an ETA of 4:55 and shut down 30 seconds before that. Probably won't happen again in this lifetime...

Next morning, I was off to northern Michigan (still lower peninsula), again with flight following at 2,800 feet. ATC gave me a vector for traffic, no problem, and then later asked me to climb 700 feet for traffic separation. Again, no problem, and ADS-B kept me in the loop.

When I was close to my destination, I called in 10 south and was informed that the runway was closed for painting (!). There was no such NOTAM given in the briefing... Anyhow, the NOTAM was expiring in 15 minutes and I still had three hours of gas, so I did a lap around the lake and landed. I checked the airport information on the display screen, ADS-B uplink, and there was the NOTAM.

After I landed, I noticed that I had flown over a national seashore at 1500 AGL during the sightseeing. It took a bit of web searching to find that pilot are requested to fly at 2000 AGL, not required, but I was at 1500 AGL, power way back, and this part of the national seashore was heavily developed -- houses everywhere.

I gave my sister a short ride around the lake, and here we are.

Lessons learned:
* Don't rely on just one source for avoiding TFRs. I saw the TFR before I left Savannah;
* Use all the NOTAM sources. I'd never gotten in the habit of checking ADS-B NOTAMS.
* The local sightseeing was improvised, not planned. If I had planned it, I could easily have avoided the seashore.
* There's a whole lot of miserable VFR that turns into trivial IFR.
* Leave yourself plenty of scheduling options. Frankly, I regard it as a minor miracle that I was able to leave on schedule. However, for tomorrow's flight across Lake Michigan, my hoped for 10,000 feet might put me at the freezing level. Not sure I want my first experience to be over water...
 
That 9 will get you plenty high to be within gliding distance of shore...and Michigan water temp is survivable this time of year :D...have fun at OSH!
 
Flew over Lake Michigan at 10,000 IFR, no problem. Very hazy and although it was probably VMC by definition, there was sometimes no horizon.
 
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