I've flown Bonanzas a great deal, but I guess I've gotten a little too old to take on the calculated risk of flying in low IFR conditions in a single-engine aircraft. Nice plane though. More power to you.
Funny the older we get the more risk adverse we become considering we have less "life" to experience. In this situation it is all about risk minimization. #1 Have your plane it tip top condition. #2 Have the pilot in tip top condition. Take every opportunity to train and fly this type of situation a lot. Use the high risk/high frequency, high risk/low frequency, low risk/high frequency, low risk/low frequency, discretionary time model. With the high risk/low frequency being the most dangerous. #3 Pre-plan. What if I lose com. What if I have a mechanical emergency what will I do? Is there another airport with better weather that I can get the plane to? Maybe inland. What if there is a engine failure? Maybe fly straight and use the lamp post as runway markers, never stall the plane, and never stop flying it. Is this scenario that much more risky than flying at night, how about over a fog layer, over mountains, over congested housing areas? Sometimes we don't really comprehend just what type of risk we are taking and just go by instinct.
After a few hours with my first flight instructor, who barely let me touch the controls I switched to a new instructor. With the first guy I basically watched him fly around and he would let me fly straight and level. With the new guy, our first flight we took off in ground fog. We were IFR the entire flight and he was not touching the controls at all. He would just tell me headings and altitudes and I would fly to those commands. We did some patterns (still in the fog/clouds) over a large lake (lake apopka) for an hour and then returned for an NDB approach and saw the ground for the first time since takeoff as we got down to about 500 feet. While I did not have any worthwhile stick time up to that point I did have lots and lots of hours in ms flight sim, one of the earlier versions. This was back in 1987 or so. No GPS back then either, was loran. This flight though was all VOR and NDB which I already understood from the sim.
Now imagine in 1963 when I was learning how to fly IFR at the age of 16 at Republic Airport in Farmingdale , Long Island, NY in the winter evenings in a Cessna 310 with a CFI who was only 5 years older than me. The Cessna 310 was also the same plane I got my private pilot certificate in also. I never flew a single engine, fixed prop, fixed gear airplane until I bought a Cessna 152 fiftteen years later in 1978. My private pilot in that 310 cost me a grand total of 432 dollars back in 1963. My total cost all the way from Private to ATP was close to almost one thousand dollars. The good old days when America was America.
@@CLOSEDCASKET-l7v In 1963 $1,000 bought a lot more, but also planes were cheaper all around. Planes and everything tied to them weren't the lawyer bait they became soon after. Fuel was also much cheaper for everything that consumed fuel. 100 low Lead avgas, for example, came in during the 70's. Naturally it cost more because, of course it does. Anyway, yes, flying was much, much cheaper long ago. Planes were plentiful, a space to park it at the airport wasn't an arm and 3 legs, it was a better time for flying to be sure.
$13/hour (wet) for me to get my private in the late seventies. How anyone can chase a professional flying career on their own dime in today's economic climate is beyond me.
I own a Mooney m20C and i love taking it in the clouds. many chair pilots and flight simulator nerds are criticizing you for flying single engine in IMC but whats the point of having an IFR airplane with an instrument rating? Theres things called planning ahead to be prepared for worst case scenario. I agree, some days, you just dont't fly. but you have to have a little fun
I appreciate the comment. I actually think there are some misconceptions out there about how common, useful, and safe single engine ifr is - although hopefully just with a few.
I look at all the technological aids available these days and imagine how you'd be fairly lost without them. It makes you think of those Allied pilots in WW2 who'd return to England after an 8-hour sortie through hostile conditions, who may have to land in fog at night with minimal radar assistance and only burning runway indicators to help them land. The Lancaster just had one pilot too.
Maybe this article will help: www.avweb.com/ownership/do-you-really-want-a-twin/ This is reputable source - and the article covers safety, cost, and other factors in an accessible way.
What plane are you flying? I have the 10” on the yoke but my dad had to switch to the mini but he’s a pretty big guy so the 10” was in his way a bit more
I carefully chose this camera angle to get both the forward view as well as key parts of the instrument panel. I suppose simulators chose a similar angle for the same reason.
That's right. The mount is "ARKON Mounts Universal Tablet Holder - 4-Hole AMPS Compatible for iPad Pro iPad Air iPad Galaxy View (TAB001-AMPS)" from Amazon - with some RAM mounts to connect to the yoke.
@@Eric.Johnson much obliged. btw, when you're in hard IMC with no horizon is your primary focus on the attitude indicator, backed up by your EFB? Very much enjoy your videos.
In the 1960'a we learned celestial navigation and used it on ALL night flights. No GPS, all analog and an altimeter, gyroscopic instruments, an accelerometer, a compass, a clock, a radio communication set, etc. We took pride in navigation back then. The only computer in the cockpit back then was your brain. These guys today don't know what cockpit management is. It was nit until 1983 that we started to use Navstar or what they call GPS today, even then it was nothing like todays GPS. Stay safe.
I appreciate the comment. Navigation is probably the subject I am always most interested in learning more about - and doing better (for airplanes, sailboats, spacecraft, or anything else). The methods that have evolved over time are all fascinating. The LORAN charts used in WW2 are amazing. I wish there was a 4-course range somewhere I could try out.
@@Eric.Johnson When I learned to fly 1963. There were Adcock atennas all over the country. Even though VOR nav was less than ten old in 1963 we learned more about LHF nav than the VOR as there still ALOT of Adcock antenna transmitting in the LF/MF bands. That's what most if not all of the experienced pilots of that era were used to. VOR was relatively a "new" system in the flying community. To fly the beam you had to have good ears to hear the "A" and the "N" if you drifted off the steady, now imagine having to do that in heavy turbulance, on top of all the other "non-computer" stuff you had to do..especially when you had to use that sextant and all other of the calculations you had to make on the fly...those were the days.
Had a similar experience years ago when I worked as a writer in the public relations department at Beech Aircraft in Wichita. I was leaving someplace bach East -- New Jersey, I think -- just before dawn. I could see about half of the runway. By the time the wheels came up, I was 0-0. It was then that I discovered I had not set my gyro compass. All I had was the old standby magnetic, and I had to do some quick extrapolation to take into account the natural take-off drift. Yikes. The only good thing about it was that I was taking off due south and my first on-course direction was due east. I climbed a little, turned a little and twiddled compass knobs until I had it. What an experience. Loved flying those Bonanzas.
I'm learning to read the IFR charts and have found the VFR charts helpful still. Under the instrument rules there are many more publications: Obstacle Departure Procedures (ODPs), departures, arrivals, IFR routes, and approaches. ODPs I feel like, should be taught to VFR pilots for safety and awareness. The rest are just navigational under instrument rules. What surprised me was just how much of the sky is used for instrument flying. Approach or departure procedures can go like 30+ miles away from the airport.
A good/quick option is to go straight ahead a shoot the approach at Altoona (KAOO) RNAV21. It doesn't even involve a turn. If one cannot make that or return to KUNV on the instrument approach, then one would have to come up with an alternative beyond the scope of a RU-vid comment. Seriously though, this is a great conversation to have with a flight instructor.
Thank you for the comment. I don't agree with the conclusion - but respect your choice. I suppose ultimately everyone must weigh benefit and managed risk in what they choose to do.
@@Eric.Johnson I know a multi is a cool $350 an hour or more right now, but I really recommend reserving anything below MVFR to a multi with either vacuum + Foreflight synthetic vision, or a multi with laser gyro AHRS. Vacuum pumps often fail in between 1,000 hour inspections. You'll find a lot of horror stories of these pumps lasting 200 hours! AOPA has an amazing piece on their website about vacuum pump IMC. They describe the final stories of several 10k hour ATP's who fertilized grass with 100LL relying on a dying vacuum, because the topple is deceivingly gradual and takes 2-5 minutes to occur. A part of me wishes DPE's and schools would refrain from calling the no-go choice "personal" minimums because there's nothing personal about it: Flight into terrain, especially in the terminal area where a city has grown around an airport, more often than not involves someone else who had no vote in the go or no-go decision. In any case, the rest of your ADM and flows were pretty darned good. I love the VFR chart for situational awareness. I might copy you in doing that from now on.
Maximized the screen while watching. Stayed on your instruments. Momentary glances outside. Obviously no seat of the pants sensations. Still felt like I was in a constant left climbing turn. Trust the instruments. Disclaimer : non pilot. Ignorant.
@@whiffy506 knowing what type of ifr to fly is important too, 1mile visibility and very low ceilings, like someone said, what is the plan when you loose your engine on climb out?
Here is a good article: www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/systems/handling-an-engine-failure-in-imc/ and another: www.avweb.com/flight-safety/the-real-risks-of-engine-failures/
No, I didn't have to fly. I am not sure how you can judge my decisions so harshly from the video alone (or exactly what you didn't like). I welcome constructive criticism.
I completely respect what you're doing here and there's nothing wrong with it, but for me, I see a lot of yellow terrain around there, and with that kind of visibility and clouds you're essentially saying, if this engine decides to give up the ghost, I will not see my family again. That's too much for me. Airplane engines just LOVE picking a really rotten time to bite it. Again, not criticizing your decions, but not for me. FAA PPL-IR.
