July 2019 - IPC (Instrument Proficiency Check)

Did my IPC Sunday morning.

Beastly hot, 1.9 on the hobbs, ATC busier than I've ever heard them (had to call 5 times to get a practice RNAV).   Usually Sunday mornings are good days to practice cause it's relatively quiet - I've even had the controllers thank me because they were bored.  Not to be.

The 360 on the next to last non-precision (with a circle to land) was traffic coming right at us that didn't see us or listen on the radio, so I had to deconflict under the hood while Duane made sure we were clear of all the traffic.  On the picture that would be the little loop on the upper right after getting vectors to the approach.  It's not round because I had to reorient and reintercept the approach course.

As always, it was a workout, but also a lot of fun and I learned a lot.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

IPC done.

Repeat after me "I will not get out of IFR currency again....)"

:)

IFR certification June 2019

Time to renew my IFR cert (pitot/static/transponder) so I ran it over to Bay Avionics @ PVG this morning.

Beautiful day to fly, and thankfully it was a little less hot and humid (at least early) so it was pretty smooth.

Ronnie and HR were great.  I got to watch (which is always fun - I was very interested to see how they did it).

It turned out there was a leak in the static part of the system that took some time to isolate.  I have the usual 2 static ports left and right in the tail.  There is a tee connector there with a line leading forward to my D10A (backup EFIS) and one leading aft to the Skyview ADAHRS in the tail.  We isolated the D10 first and it was rock solid, so then we disconnected at the ADAHRS and tested the lines and D10A and that was rock solid (note: I breathed a big sigh of relief at that point - I spent days getting rid of all the leaks when I first did it and replacing/upgrading a bunch of tubing and fittings and though I must have missed something).

What it turned out to be was the 90 degree fitting that interfaced the ADAHRS static port to the tubing.  It wasn't loose by any stretch, but it could be turned by hand.  HR redid the connection and we were good to go.

Wish I'd have take a picture of the pitot tube connection and the device that attaches over the static port.  Basically they make an airtight connection that is held in place by vacuum.  Works really well.

There is a box that encloses the transponder antenna so it can pick up the signal.

Ronnie and HR checking the setup.

 HR working through the various altitudes (tested to 16,000 feet)

 Overall view of the proceedings.
 

Once HR fixed the leak it went very smoothly and is very accurate.  He commented that it was a nice tight system when he turned off the pump at 16,000 and it very slowly started descending.

Good for another 24 months.  Mary Sue put me on the reminder list so they'll shoot me a note the next time I'm do.  These guys are great.  Check them out if you need an IFR certification done.