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Get-There-Itis (December 98)
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A General Aviation pilot debated filing an IFR flight plan for a pleasure flight in mixed VMC/IMC. The reporter even considered canceling the flight because of the weather, but admits that "my judgment was clouded by 'get-there-itis' combined with beckoning patches of blue sky."
- After considering the options, I decided that flying VFR would allow me the freedom to find a hole in the clouds and get on top in clear air. As we climbed toward the blue patches, it seemed harder and harder to find a hole large enough to climb through. Since it looked like we only needed to climb about another 100 feet to clear the tops, I decided that I would plow on through. Things got worse.
At first the sun poked through occasionally, beckoning us on. Then it started getting darker, and we picked up a trace of rime ice. Just as I was deciding that we would have to turn back, the engine started surging. I thought carb ice, but carb heat didn't help. As I was trouble-shooting the engine, another aviation demon was sneaking up on us. It turned out that the pitot heat was inoperative, and the pitot tube had frozen over. As we were climbing, the airspeed indicator was falsely reading a higher and higher airspeed, and I was gradually compensating (unaware) to stay at Vx indicated airspeed. The plane then began to porpoise, indicating an imminent stall. Just as the stall broke hard, the scenario came together in my mind. We banked at least 90 degrees, and I pushed the yoke forward... I pulled the throttle back to idle, and recovered from the stall in solid IMC. I did a 180 turn and headed for VMC. We broke out in a few minutes and landed VFR.
The pitot tube didn't thaw out until we got below the freezing level... I am convinced that the surging engine was due to the high pitch attitude.
The reporter points out several lessons to be learned from this incident: Check the pitot heat before any flight which has the potential to be in IMC, and carefully monitor weight and balance for aft-of-limit conditions that may hamper stall recovery. Finally, avoid the beckoning lure of those "blue patches" between clouds. |
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