Flight SIMULATOR - I hope it means the bad stuff too!

[carmined 132]

Ok, so having a private pilot license since 1991 I think I have got take off and landing in uneventful situations pretty much understood.  I am MORE interested in FS to not only see my house and get from point A to B, C & D, but to SIMULATE things I might not have had to deal with or not as often to deal with.  I mean emergencies including RTO and having to confront animals on landing, a bird to the windshield and prop after take off.  These seem to cry even more so with how much better in multiple ways FS is going to be with Asobo behind the wheel.

I flew a friend of mine and myself in early 2000's to KDAB one year in a 172 for a Daytona 500 race and departed KDAB about 1:30AM for a return to KFMY.   I filed a VFR flight plan down the east coast and cutting across by lake Okeechobee.  While heading down the east coast, I had to deal with dropping my altitude as I ended up quickly getting into lower than expected ceiling.  It happened so fast of course as I saw the lights in the distance extinguish quickly and knew that I was going to be in for it in seconds.

Not having an IFR rating, but having used FS since its origin and being a conscious pilot I did what I was supposed to and piloted the aircraft to a lower altitude albeit through clouds and an unnerving feeling seeing the prop being stopped in blackness around us by the strobes.   Shortly after I descended and below the ceiling I was around 1000ft agl over the east coast and dense population over I-95 so I couldn't go any lower and the ceiling was about 1,500 so I was in the only spot I could be.  Needless to say with a VERY HIGH temperature and MOISTURE in July in FL I experienced something I NEVER HAVE BEFORE nor DO I WANT TO AGAIN UNLESS SIMULATED. 

All of a sudden there was an intermittent vibration that I could feel in the yoke and I was thinking it might even be icing but doubted it although I pulled the carb heat. It seemed to last a little while then went away fortunately all the while I thought I was going to have to ditch on the highway.  As I was making the cross to the west coast over Lake Okeechobee, for those of you that DON'T KNOW, in the middle of the night in that area of FL there is NOTHING THERE.  I MEAN NO LIGHTS, NADA so if you are going down you'd be VERY lucky to survive.  Needless to say as I was on my way over the darkness of this area, the vibration returned and I was very nervous.

I contacted ATC and let them know my concerns to let me know the closest airport which was Pahokee Airport KPHK which I put into the GPS and was about 5 miles out.  Needless to say, I couldn't wait to touch down to calm my nerves.  This is a SMALL AIRPORT like mainly for parachuting and of course no one was there and as I was pulling onto the empty ramp, there were TONS OF BULLFROGS EVERYWHERE!!  This is now somewhere between 2-3 in the morning and at this point I figured we would wait until dawn before resuming so that I can have daylight in case anything happens again.

Staying in a 172 with 150% humidity and high temps is NOT A GOOD IDEA.  So we had to get out as it was getting hot and humid inside.  Getting out in Florida in the MIDDLE OF THE EVERGLADES with a 150% humidity and high temps is ALSO NOT A GOOD IDEA unless you want to die from mosquito's.

Needless to say, I was getting pretty concerned now so I called the FSS and asked about forecasts as well and he literally told me "Dude, it's Florida we don't really know what the weather will be like" which I ALREADY KNOW.  Now I had to do something else and tried to head back and took off and then came right back to land as it didn't feel right.  Stopping the plane again, I figured we could just crack the windows but that made it worse since now there were mosquito's INSIDE the aircraft.

I ended up calling the state police and let them know I was concerned for out safety at this point as we also didn't have any water and this airport again is near NOTHING and NO ONE THERE or near.  Within about half hour a sheriff's car pulls up outside the fence which we had to hop as well and took us to the Palm Beach sheriff's department.  We were able to cool down and get some water and rest a little when another sheriff took us back to the airport in a few hours and we were able to make it back uneventful to KFMY at day break.

THIS is what I'm talking about being able to have emergencies that you would not think or plan for where something you're not sure what is going on and you have to take measures to not have an incident.  We don't necessarily need a runway and ramp full of bullfrogs to try and avoid but it does happen in real life and I hope I can experience some other situations I hope I never have to in real life!

Thanks for reading if you did and putting up with my excited style of writing as I thought.

Edited December 2, 2019 by carmined

[Mace 1,902]

That is a harrowing story.  Did you ever figure out what the vibration was from?

[carmined 132]

Thank you! Sorry.

[carmined 132]

49 minutes ago, Mace said:

That is a harrowing story.  Did you ever figure out what the vibration was from?

My guess was moisture on the prop making it imbalanced as was my boss guess also.  Although it wouldn't make sense as the prop is metal.  Never did figure out exactly what it was.

Edited December 2, 2019 by carmined

[188AHC 2,138]

My guess would be carb moisture. Props generally spin fast enough that moisture won't accumulate. High temp and humidity can cause numerous problems including an engine shutdown. 

[CFIJose 5,485]

Great story! Spacial disorientation can bite anyone, anytime.

[188AHC 2,138]

I flew from KBOW to KSPG with an 800 ft. agL  special clearance with a KTPA flyover some years ago. The tip of the vertical stab was touching  the ceiling. Much fun. 

[himmelhorse 1,276]

Hello all

carmined,

Please forgive my ignorance, but is it possible to get a VFR clearance for take off at 1.30AM. I was under the impression that VFR was all about visibility and IFR was all about not having that visibility.

I thought that minimum visibility was 3nm (as determined by ATC) or in the absence of ATC, Pilots discretion applies. Any pilot who believes he has 3nm visibility at 1.30 in the morning, should not be flying, in my opinion.  What were you thinking? This does not take into consideration the WX at the time if you are just below cloud at 1000ft.

I hope I am wrong with this but it does not make a whole lot of sense to me.

Regards

Tony

[carmined 132]

35 minutes ago, himmelhorse said:

Hello all

carmined,

Please forgive my ignorance, but is it possible to get a VFR clearance for take off at 1.30AM. I was under the impression that VFR was all about visibility and IFR was all about not having that visibility.

I thought that minimum visibility was 3nm (as determined by ATC) or in the absence of ATC, Pilots discretion applies. Any pilot who believes he has 3nm visibility at 1.30 in the morning, should not be flying, in my opinion.  What were you thinking? This does not take into consideration the WX at the time if you are just below cloud at 1000ft.

I hope I am wrong with this but it does not make a whole lot of sense to me.

Regards

Tony

Hello Tony, I had plenty of visibility the issue was the high humidity & temps and ceiling height over the east coast that was lower in some spotty areas.  I planned on going back all VFR at 2500ft but in some places the ceiling was too low for that.  The only thing I was thinking was to get my friend and I back home safely and had many night flights before this but mostly in the northeast.  The forecast was fine for heading back with no major issues as far as visibility or weather just the spotty areas with lower ceiling but it is Florida which can change at any time.

[Dominique_K 10,133]

Great story, I concur with the topic title, it would be interesting to have the obnoxious  effects of high humidity and heat.

[DavidP 1,408]

8 hours ago, carmined said:

My guess was moisture on the prop making it imbalanced as was my boss guess also

Hmm, I find that hard to believe - any moisture would be expelled from the prop by centrifugal force. A prop doesn't go out of balance in rain.

[FDEdev 955]

1 hour ago, himmelhorse said:

Any pilot who believes he has 3nm visibility at 1.30 in the morning, should not be flying, in my opinion.  What were you thinking? 

Seriously? Don't understand what day or night has to do with visibility. Rather the opposite, during night time you can see airports and cities at a much greater distance than during day time.

[RALF9636 1,909]

2 hours ago, himmelhorse said:

Hello all

carmined,

Please forgive my ignorance, but is it possible to get a VFR clearance for take off at 1.30AM. I was under the impression that VFR was all about visibility and IFR was all about not having that visibility.

I thought that minimum visibility was 3nm (as determined by ATC) or in the absence of ATC, Pilots discretion applies. Any pilot who believes he has 3nm visibility at 1.30 in the morning, should not be flying, in my opinion.  What were you thinking? This does not take into consideration the WX at the time if you are just below cloud at 1000ft.

I hope I am wrong with this but it does not make a whole lot of sense to me.

Regards

Tony

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_VFR

[himmelhorse 1,276]

Ralf9636,

Well that, I guess, cleared that up. I have to admit that I was genuinely baffled with this one.

Thanks for that mate. How quickly we learn the wrong things from some aspects of Flight sim.

Has anyone tried to get VFR clearance from P3D ATC at night. It has never been given to me LOL

Regards

Tony

 

[FDEdev 955]

Here's another interesting one for you > special VFR...

Btw, good to see that you edited your rude first reply.

Edited December 3, 2019 by FDEdev