Mountain IFR Flying

It was cold and windy this afternoon with winds from 280 at 19 knots with gusts to 25 and a temperture of 23 deg. F on the ground. There was a scattered to broken layer at 4000 feet but cold enough at altitude that icing wouldn't be a factor so I set off to shoot some IFR approaches in the Green Mountains or Vermont. The plan was to fly to Springfield, VT and then to Rutland and Lebanon, NH with a return back to Bedford. I brought along foggles to get some instrument practice, but I was not going to need them!

I was one happy pilot when I finally got into the cockpit after a frigid pre-flight inspection. The Cessna 182-G1000 started like a champ and I was given my first clearance to Springfield (KVSF) via radar vectors, Manchester, Keene and then direct to KVSF. The plane climbed at 1,200 fpm in the cold air and I was in IMC by 4,000 feet climbing through my final clearance altitude of 6,000 feet. Occasionally there were some breaks such as a quick glimpse of Mount Monadnock off to the right as I approached Keene. Turbulence started picking up once over the higher country northwest of Keene. Boston ATC gave me the Localizer DME approach to runway 5 via the Keene transition and I slowed the plane to 90 knots and started the numerous step downs popping out of the clouds just before the final apporach fix a6 2,900 feet. Visibility wasn't the greatest but I could see the runway about 5 miles ahead. Once reaching the missed approach point it was full power, retract flaps and a climb on the runwat heading to 2,000 feet to clear terrain before making a right turn to avoid Mt. Ascutney and head back up the Connecticut river valley to 6,000 feet.

After contacting ATC, I was given clearance to CELEM intersection and clearance for the VOR DME approach for Runway 1 in Rutland , Vermont. This approach was over some pretty high terrain and when I popped out of the clouds at 4,000 feet I was greeted by Mount Tabor and Green mountain on the right at what seemed like a very short distance from the wingtip. The minimum descent altitude is 3,060 feet but even when the airport was in sight, Bear mountain loomed ahead and I kept at 3,000 feet until clearing the base of the mountain. The view was stunning as I headed down the valley and did at touch and go at Lebanon with a stiff crosswind from the west. After cleaning up the plane to climb up the valley to the north, I leveled off at 7,000 feet and obtained a clearance to Lebanon, NH, New Hampsire's northernmost commercial airport.

I was back in the clouds on the way to a GPS approach into Lebanon Runway 25. The controller cleared me to descend to 4,500 feet and then later cleared me for the approach which has a minimum descent altitude of 4,800 from the leg from ELHOY intersection to ROMRE so I climbed back up 300 feet to ensure obstacle clearance. Landing was uneventful but the sun was starting to set so I called flight service on the ground to get a clearance back to Bedford and skipped the trip to the pilot's lounge.

After takeoff, I was cleared direct to the Lebanon VOR and then direct Bedford. Passing beyond some snow squalls at 5,000 feet, visibility finally improved enough to get a picture of the ski slopes on Mount Sunapee with a snow squall behind.

Just before Manchester, I switched on the cockpit lighting and was cleared for a vectors-to-final approach to Runway 29 in Bedford. It was dark when we touched down and I taxied back to the tie down which was done very quickly in the face of dropping temperatures.
What a great flight. 4 instrument apporaches: A localizer DME, a VOR DME, a GPS and an ILS. 3.5 hours of PIC time with 2.0 hours actual. 20 minutes of night time and one night landing and some breathtaking views of the mountains. I highly recommend this training route!