Instrument Rating Checkride – 09/03/2005 – With Mary Crittendon

Today, I became an Instrument Rated pilot after a 6 hr session with Mary Crittendon, the same Examiner I had for my Private Certification. I have to say, before I get into details, that the overall experience was great, and I learned a lot from Mary.
The days before the test, especially Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were agonizing. I felt extremely insecure of my ability to pass the oral portion. I seriously thought I had the flight portion down, but the oral was another story. First, I did not have an opportunity to take the Instrument Ground PCC class, which would have been so helpful. Second, my instructor wanted to get the training done before he left the school, which meant we only had about two months to get it done. We had to fly everyday, sometimes twice a day to accomplish this, and even though we got it done, that meant that I didn’t have much to study as I spent most of my time flying!

I received a call from Mary, around 6:00PM on Friday night, to give me a “fictitious” weather briefing for the IFR Cross-Country I was supposed to plan. The flight was a one way trip from Hillsboro Airport (KHIO) to Pasco Airport (KPSC) in Washington. She gave me the “weather observations” at KPSC and 3 other neighboring Airports and a freezing level of 8000 ft. I immediately caught the fact that she was giving me those weather observations to see if I knew the regulations regarding the required alternate and my judgment to determine which one of the three options would be the safer one. I pulled my L1-L2 Enroute Chart and took a good look at available airways that would take me to Pasco. To anybody who’s learned to fly in the Northwest it is common sense that some routes are better than others due to the mountainous terrain. As I am evaluating the different options, problem number two became apparent. Out of the many many routes available, there is only one that would allow you to stay below the 8000 ft freezing level, without colliding with a cumulous-granite cloud. I picked that airway, and proceeded to do a thorough flight plan, fuel calculations and weight and balance, even though she had said it was not necessary. When I was satisfied with my planning, and after reviewing every element many times over, to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, I was able to relax and go to bed early, after getting all my things ready for the next day.

I woke up at 6:00 AM the next day, for a 9:00 AM meeting time, took a long shower and headed to the airport to meet my fate, for good or bad. I met Mary at dispatch right at 9:00 AM and proceeded to the familiar office, where my Private Certification test had taken place almost exactly 5 months ago. We started talking about random things, and not before long we had engaged in a lively conversation about London’s 1960’s smog problems. She seemed surprised that I was aware of that disaster, and she then told me how she remembered riding her bike in smog so thick that she could barely see ahead of her. And, just like last time, we spent the first two hours talking like good ol’ friends. Nice!

We got started with paper-work, as usual. We had a 2 hour ground session in which I was very strong, answering all questions without problem. After that she said lets go flying. Mary has a great system going on for selecting approaches; she will let you know what type are required (1 Precision down to minimums, and 2 non precision – one has to be partial panel, one has to be full procedure, and one has to be GPS), then you select the approaches you wanna fly. I chose the following sequence: HIO -Farmington 3 departure – Aurora LOC RWY 17 full procedure UBG transition to a missed approach (We did this one partial panel!) – Hillsboro GPS-A to a missed approach – Hillsboro ILS RWY 12 vectors to final/down to minimums to a missed approach.

I performed the departure procedure without trouble, but I noticed we were getting quite the updrafts! Once we were over the Newberg hills it became obscene! I swear I was flying with the Carb-Heat on, at 1800 RPM on a 3 degrees nose down attitude just to maintain altitude! The first approach was kinda hectic. You don’t have much time in between take off from Hillsboro and the end of the departure procedure (UBG) which is also where the approach starts! Anyways, I was feeling lucky that day. I had never flown this approach with the procedure turn before, but I managed to fly it flawlessly. After established on the missed approach I call Portland approach, reporting back on the frequency, and I got a radar vector. Then Mary asks me to ask the controller to give me a random hold at Newberg, and to identify myself as a pilot conducting an Instrument Practical Test. We were on a heading of 270 and the controller, probably on purpose, gave an easy hold: “SkyHawkN54477: Hold NW of UBG, on the 310 radial. Expect further clearance at 2200 or when you advise”

After one turn, in which the needle centered DEAD ON Mary told me to advise the controller that I was ready for the next Approach. I requested to be taken away from UGB to descend from 5 to 3 and then off we were to HIO GPS-A approach. We did that uneventfully and proceeded on the missed approach. While on the climb Direct UBG, we got our Radar Vector, and were told to expect ILS RWY 12 Approach. Since we were right over the airport and they had to take us all the way out beyond the FAF I had a lot of time to set the approach up and even relax for a little bit, as my beautiful bird flew itself with ease under the proper trim settings. I proceeded to brief and fly a good ILS, with needles centered, never coming out any further than 1 ½ dot deflection. We advised the Tower controller that for Practical Test purposes we needed to descend to minimums, even though the local traffic at Hillsboro was landing in the same RWY but in the opposite direction. He didn’t like our request much but he agreed to it. We went to minimums and I executed the missed approach. Upon checking in with Approach I cancelled IFR and preceded VRF to the West Practice Area, for a couple of unusual attitude recoveries and then Mary told me to take her back to Hillsboro VFR. I flew a standard traffic pattern, Left downwind for RWY 30 and floated a bit to a soft landing.


We taxied back to the ramp, and after I shut down the engine she said: Diego, you’ve certainly earned your certificate” and proceeded to give me a couple of tips. She told me to use a piece of cardboard under my approach plates on the yoke clip so they don’t hang, preventing you from seeing the lower area of the chart. Also, she said, that even though it was good practice to tune radios and navigation equipment while executing a missed approach she said to ALWAYS fly the airplane first. Good advice. She went back to the office to complete the paper work and I finished post flight, feeling like I was in a dream; maybe not really sure that this had actually taken place…I stayed at the airport for the next 5-6 hrs, until sunset, watching the endless touch and goes on runway 30...

From Portland to San Francisco in a C172 (PART IV)

4th leg: Medford, OR – Troutdale/Portland, OR

So, right as the sun is setting, I hear the roar of the powerful 4 cylinder-piston engine rev up to 2400 RPM, and in 36 seconds the wheels come off the ground, and the wings start supporting the full weight of the airplane. We climb through the sky towards our target altitude of 8500 ft, and we quickly leave the Medford metro area behind. A few moments later, it’s completely dark. Nate and I chew on some dried fruit (banana to be exact), as we contemplate the vastness of the world around us. Soon after, we start over flying low level fog, which looks like a down blanket covering the distant ground. This makes me think about an engine failure scenario: What would we do? We are at least 50 miles from the closest airport with an instrument approach; we are in a 30 year old airplane that has only one engine. By the time we pop through the bottom of the fog layer we would be at tree top level, with no time to steer away from the obstacles of the tree-crowded hills. Fortunately, we pass through the 100 mile stretch of fog without problems.
We are now 120 miles out and we start getting prepared for our arrival. Everything seems fine until we hear the winds: the air is rushing out of the Columbia Gorge at about 50 mph! This will make for an interesting landing. As we get close we descend to 1500 ft to avoid the Class C airspace at Portland International Airport, and the ride gets obscenely bumpy. We entered an area of moderate turbulence, which never fun in a small 4-seater!! As we get close to the runway, I feel nervous because I am the copilot and I am not in control, but I trust Nate’s airmanship. As we cross the runway threshold with partial flaps, our airspeed increases and decreases rapidly with the wind shear, but Nate is compensating nicely for it, by adding 10 knots to his final approach speed. We touch down and decelerate, and I realize my hands are sweaty. We taxi the bird to the ramp, and head home with a feeling of victory after landing in a 35-45 knot wind. Just don’t tell my instructor ;- )

From Portland to San Francisco in a C172 (PART III)

3rd leg: Palo Alto, CA - Medford, OR (IFR)

So, after sightseeing the beautiful San Francisco area, we are ready to depart Palo Alto by noon. We are cleared for take off and the IFR routing takes us over the bay at 2000 ft for uhhh…say 20 miles. Beautiful. Once we are well-clear of the SFO terminal area, we are finally allowed to climb to our cruise altitude of 6000 ft. We are headed for Medford, OR to refuel and continue to Troutdale Airport. Today, my friend Nate is flying us back. He is a bright young pilot and has lots of confidence, which makes him a pleasure to ride with. I am handling the radios and he is flying the airplane, smooth as silk. We have been at cruise altitude for about an hour, flying over the Sacramento Valley when the controller tells us that a Southwest Boeing 737 will pass 1000 ft above us, same direction. We look for him, and he finally appears on top of us, over taking us quickly. The big beast disturbs the air as it goes by, and we look carefully for a minute or two, just in case we hit the turbulence it’s leaving behind. After what we consider a cautionary wait, we are confident we won’t get in his wake. Right after we lower our guard, there comes a pronounced bank towards the right (about 30 degrees), immediately followed by a left roll, which put us at about a 90 degree left bank!! The nose dropped and we started descending. Nate immediately retarded the throttle and straightened the wings, then finally leveled off the airplane – our very fist encounter with wake turbulence... The rest of the trip was uneventful, as Nate flew a nice VOR approach into Medford. We quickly refueled and headed for Troutdale.

From Portland to San Francisco in a C172 (PART II)

2nd leg: Redding, CA - Palo Alto, CA (IFR)

With full tanks of food in our stomachs, we head back to the airplane. The day is warm and beautiful in Redding. The temperature must be around 80 degrees. Its now about 3 PM and the next leg will be flown under IFR to make our arrival into the San Francisco terminal area a little easier. IFR, in simple terms, means that we will have to follow an exact course over the ground to our destination, and we’ll be in contact with an air traffic controller who will be able to tell us where to go and how to get there. This type of flight requires a more thorough planning and review of charts, etc. We did our planning and preflight sitting at a table outside while we enjoyed the nice – dry California breeze. After getting everything ready we started taxing towards the runway to “blast-off” and leave Redding behind us. The trip was beautiful. I had never flown around this area, and it was refreshing to be over some new terrain for once. Right at sunset we started receiving vectors from NorCal approach, preparing us to intercept the VOR/DME RWY 31 approach, with the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset as a background. We touched down smoothly and taxied out to the ramp where Nate’s Aunt was waiting for us. We spend the night at Nate’s Aunt’s house and the following morning we woke up early to go for a little tour of San Francisco.

From Portland to San Francisco in a C172 (PART I)

1st Leg: Troutdale, OR - Redding, CA


My friend Nate and I decided to take a trip together for the weekend. The first option we considered was Seattle, but somehow, that sounded boring, as we had made the trip on countless occasions. Instead, we decided to fly into the bay area. Nate has family in the area, which would provide these poor souls with a roof for the night, since a 4 seater airplane is a rather uncomfortable place to sleep… We met at the infamous Troutdale McDonalds for some greasy sandwiches and coffee, and to go over the details of the route of flight. As I pulled onto the parking lot, I noticed that the American Flag on McDonald’s property looks more like a kite. I get out of the car and the first thought that came to mind is that I am going to die - The wind feels like jumping into a pool of liquid nitrogen! I quickly RUN to the warm, sausage-stinking dining room. I met with Nate and he looks like he just had a “near death experience” himself! He looks frozen. I touched his shoulder just to make sure he wasn’t actually dead-frozen. We talked about the bad luck of polar bears and other miserable creatures that choose to live near the poles, and after finishing our breakfast and flight planning, we are ready to go. I am not gonna discuss what it was like to walk back to the car… We got to the airport, and the automated telephone recording says the wind is about 45 mph. WOW - During initial training they told us that it wouldn’t be advisable to fly if the wind was at or above 25 mph. Oh well, we got the airplane ready and headed for the runway. We hit quite a few large bumps during the initial climb, but after passing through about 5000 ft, the air was smooth as silk.
Our route of flight will take us along the willamette valley, more or less following the I-5 corridor all the way to Redding, California. The sky is pure blue and we can see far ahead through the plexiglass windshield from our view at 11500 ft. The engine instruments are all in the green and the engine sound is a beautifully steady purr, the cabin heat has been adjusted to keep us at a nice comfortable 70 degrees, and the bird is stabilized and flying itself with ease. After a few minutes of silently contemplating the beauty of the pacific northwest, and taking the usual snapshots, we head for the cooler!!!! - Hey hey hey! Dont even think about it! We dont have any "cold ones" in there! Only sandwiches, candy bars, and lots of water and fruit juices. After all, I am flying an airplane... We snack on the still fresh sandwiches and then its just waiting for the landscape to slide under us: first, salem, then Eugene, Roseburg, Medford, the magnificent Mt. Shasta and its companion lake, and finally we start descending into the Redding area, to refuel both our airplane and ourselves. Redding Airport has the BEST chinese food I have ever had. The restaurant is located in the terminal and it is quite convenient to park at Redding Jet Center to have your aircraft refueled, since you are withing walking distance of the terminal. Gotta tell you....the mongolian beef is out of this world, specially when served by a beautiful blue eyed asian waitress; I tipped her well for making our meal so enjoyable.