Monday, August 08, 2005
Instrument Blogging
Yellowbird and I currently have about 20 hours towards an instrument rating. Blogging on this subject has been light, since I haven't been consistently inspired to write, and photographs of instrument lessons can get pretty tedious. After all, how many panel shots do you really want to see?Fortunately for those of you hankering to read about NDB approaches and radar vectors, Hamish Reid, of Yankee Alpha Foxtrot Bravo, has just compiled his IFR training posts into one handy sub-blog, the Instrument Training Diary. I haven't browsed the whole diary, but it looks promising.
And although it's not a blog, Joe Campbell's IFR Diary sets the standard for instrument training accounts. His insightful writeup should be part of the required reading for the instrument checkride.
Hi Scott,
Good luck in continuing your instrument rating.
I just got my private a couple of weeks ago.
I fly out of LWM (Lawrence,MA). I saw your post on ipilot,
and see that your home base is BAF. I planned to fly to
BAF to grab some lunch at the on-field restaurant last Sunday,
but the rental plane had to go in for maintainance.
I hope to make the trip soon instead.
How is the restaurant?
Also I was quite concerned with having to deal
with Westover airspace prior to entering BAFs airspace if arriving from
the NE if I started to decend earlier. I was planning on getting
flight following from Boston (Manchester) approach and figure I'd get handed over to Bradley at some point which may have helped with this worry
some. Are there any tips for arriving to BAF from this direction (I was planning direct from the Gardner (GDM) VOR along the airway?
Regards,
Adam
bezanson(at)comcast(dot)net
Adam.
Thanks for the note and congratulations on getting your PPL!
The restaurant at BAF is pretty good. The food is worth the trip, and the prices are reasonable. The terminal is showing its age, but it doesn't detract from the dining experience.
As for the Westover transition, don't worry too much. If you have flight following, Bradley will probably hand you off to Westover. There's no problem transiting their airspace as long as they know you're coming through. The only thing to be concerned about is that you will need to pick up the Westfield ATIS and contact the tower while you are still in the Westover airspace. That can mean juggling a few radio frequencies. If it sounds like more work than you're comfortable with, you can always swing north to clear the Westover class D and contact Westfield from over Northampton. If the winds are southerly, you'll probably get a straight in approach to 20. Otherwise, they might have you enter a downwind (either left or right) for 02, or a modified right base for 33, it the winds are from the west.
Any way, best wishes, and enjoy your visit!