Kate's Aviation Journal

I practiced some instrument approaches today to extend my instrument currency. Thanks to the availability of my rental checkout customer after a lesson, I had a safety pilot handy for my flight.

I wore the Foggles since we weren't always in the clouds. Shawn was my traffic scout and cameraman. Sometimes we were above the clouds, getting views like this:




I flew ILS 6 at Green Bay and ILS 3 at Appleton, where I landed, and then we flew back to Brennand Airport.

The weather was supposed to be crummy this weekend, perfect for instrument flight training. Dave and I scheduled an all-day cross-country lesson, and wouldn't luck have it, the sky was blue and the only instrument conditions we found were when we popped in and out of cumulus clouds. Oh well, Dave would have to resort to wearing Foggles all day!

Our first leg late this morning was from Appleton, WI to Springfield, IL. There were no clouds to be found for a while, but there was a very sharply defined haze layer that we flew above at 8,000 feet. We've actually been stuck with some dirty air around here after days of barely any wind.


Our route took us right over Madison, where I could tell a Badger game was either happening or going to happen soon.

We found some clouds in Illinois, so we were able to log at least a little bit of actual instrument time. We were above most of the clouds and I had a nice view out the window.


I think I have traveled too much. I told Dave about how I've been to Springfield "once" as we tried to figure out which of the three FBOs to taxi to. On that one trip I taxied to an owner's hangar, not an FBO. Today as we pulled up to the Landmark FBO, I thought wait a minute, I have seen this building before. Duh, I have been here twice, the second time was at night on a charter trip. I'm starting to forget where I've even been. Maybe I should read my blog.

The next leg of the flight took us to my old stomping grounds of Dubuque, Iowa. We were above a scattered cloud layer again and caught several tops, choosing to bounce around through them to get some more actual instrument time.

On the final leg home, we flew under the clouds. The hilly farmland landscape of southwest Wisconsin is pretty this time of year.

Our weather has been gorgeous aside from daily haze and fog overnight. It's been rain-free for at least two weeks. Dave and I are itching to find some drizzle, low clouds, and a free schedule all at once so we can do a trip in some yucky weather again. For now, Dave logged 5.9 hours today of good experience navigating, talking to air traffic control, flying different types of instrument approaches, and getting "brain mush" after so many hours staring at a panel. I'm getting closer to sending my first instrument student to a checkride.

This morning I traveled around Door County in our school's Green Bay-based Piper Arrow. I flew with an FAA Air Safety Investigator who works in Washington, D.C. and is here on vacation. As a private pilot working towards his commercial certificate, he wanted to log some complex aircraft time and cross-country time. He and his relative and I flew to Ephraim-Fish Creek Airport, where I haven't been since about 1999. It was a nice break in the routine for me. I got to hear some interesting stories.

On the way back, we spotted a detailed corn maze and flew past Lambeau Field on approach to Green Bay. I only wished the haze would have gone away so we could have seen the sights in Door County better.

Jim and I flew to Chicago Executive Airport today for a maintenance mission. I filed IFR because it was very hazy and knew we'd probably run into clouds to the south.

It turned out to be a good plan. We could hardly see the horizon at times. Since there wasn't much to see, I had Jim work on his instrument flying skills wearing a view-limiting device. Meanwhile I watched as we plowed through a few clouds.



Air traffic control had to get us out of the way of two higher-speed aircraft approaching the airport, so for a few minutes we were diverted to the west off our course. When it was our turn, we flew the ILS 16 approach and the controller thanked us for our patience. We couldn't see the airport until we were practically on top of it. After landing and parking, we found out there was a Porsche display today and the airport was extra busy. Coming here always feels hectic, but in my three visits I've found the controllers to be very nice and the Signature FBO staff helpful.

After we fixed the airplane we came to fix, we made the very short hop over to the Schaumburg airport and had lunch at Pilot Pete's. The wind was from the east today, so for the first time in my three visits to this place, I took off to the east. Schaumburg is very close to O'Hare. I have never noticed until now just how close. When we took off, it was as if we were on final for the runways at O'Hare! I took a picture but it doesn't do it justice.

Visibility improved drastically in the afternoon and the clouds lifted, so we flew VFR on the way back home. It was terribly bumpy over the Chicago suburbs on our way out, where we had to stay low to avoid the Class B airspace. Once we could climb higher, it smoothed out quite a bit and we had a nicer ride.

One of Fond du Lac's runways was listed as closed today, and as we flew over, I noticed why. It looked like some seal coating or resurfacing in progress. The picture shows how an "X" on or near the beginning of a runway tells pilots it's closed.

As we passed Oshkosh, we saw a big group of sailboats on Lake Winnebago. It was pretty scenery to end a nice trip.

We had a rare airplane visit Brennand Airport today: a Lockheed 12. Its pilots stopped by to visit friends, and I joined everyone for lunch. What a beautiful airplane! I watched the landing but unfortunately couldn't stick around to watch the takeoff.