Had a great opportunity to take a flight this weekend with my best chap Milton (That’s a direct poke at his British citizenship). His wife was out of town and mine was working on Saturday so we thought it the perfect opportunity for a day of flying. We contemplated a few destinations and really hadn’t come to a conclusion when Saturday rolled around. There were a few events going on, but both were a little far away and maybe not as interesting as your standard lunch run. Later this year he will take his wife and daughter to Montauk, NY (MTP) to have a visit with friends and thought this a good opportunity to see the airport first.
The morning came and the weather was miserable! My favorite kind of flying days! As my wife and I drove to the city, we passed under the Verrazano Bridge and couldn’t see the bridge at all. We knew it was there from having driven the route many times, but couldn’t see it. Shortly after came the call from Milton. He had called Flight Service to discover the weather was miserable everywhere. I remarked that it was my kind of weather, and he called me some British equivalent for crazy. I told him to meet me at Farmingdale (FRG) and think about where he’d want to go.
By the time we got to FRG, the weather had cleared. We were under clear skies and 5 miles visibility. That’s good VFR weather for an airport in class D airspace (VFR requires 3 miles visibility in class D). We looked at the weather around the area and found it was clearing rapidly. We decided to file an IFR flight plan anyhow. The plan required an alternate and we determined that New Bedford, MA (EWB) would be a legal alternate and only 50 extra flying miles away.
So off we went in this Piper Archer. The flight was fine with generally good weather but not perfect visibility. As we approached the Hamptons there was a noticeable decrease in forward visibility, not less than VFR but still not great. We got our approach clearance into MTP and switched frequencies to the “Common Traffic Advisory Frequency” (A frequency for pilots to talk to each other instead of a control tower). We announced our position as ten miles west inbound for MTP.
The pilot of a Piper Comanche announced that he was over MTP and couldn’t see the runway, he was VFR and was waiting for it to clear. We said that we were approaching on an IFR flight plan and would see if we were able to get in. His position concerned me, as he seemed to be at a position and altitude that would put us in conflict if we went missed approach (a procedure to get back to safe altitude after not successfully landing). I informed him of our concern and he said not to worry, that he was in good VFR and would watch for us. The airport operations people also informed us that winds were favoring runway 24, but only slightly and the fog was clearing slowly.
Milton shot the approach as I played instructor. A few little comments here and there, and we were in conditions that would be considered Instrument Meteorological (IMC). As we continued on the approach, we noticed that the VOR (our primary for of navigation) and the GPS (or supplemental navigation) didn’t agree perfectly. This is a bit to be expected as we were 20 miles from the VOR and at a very low altitude. We corrected slightly to get a little closer to the airport. When we were about 3/4 mile from the magenta circle on the GPS I spotted the airport appearing from the fog. We were in no position to land on runway 6 and would be against the wind. I could see the number 6 and about 200 feet of runway, the approach end looked somewhat clear (for ¾ mile at least) , but the rest of the runway (including the 24 number) was under dense fog.
The choice was clear, we were not in a position to land, nor did we have the required visibility, nor did either of us feel safe. Milton rightfully, pushed hard on the throttle and climbed to a higher altitude. We told the Comanche pilot what we saw and he thanked us and said he’d give it a try! I tried to tell him without being blunt that the visibility was not the required 1 mile, and that a good portion of the runway was under dense fog. No problem, says he, If I can see the 6, then I can get in! Milton and I monitored 121.5MHz for his crash beacon, just in case.
We reported the missed approach to ATC and told them we’d like to go to EWB which is our alternate. Basically a big fog bank had placed itself over an area from Groton, CT, to just west of Montauk, out over the ocean, around to Block Island and Up to the RI Shore line. When Milton and I crossed the shore, it was pure fog until about three miles inland when it turned to clear skies and okay visibility.
We could easily have landed visually in New Bedford, but Milton wanted to try another approach. This time it was the Localizer Back Course to runway 23. This is a horrible type of approach in which the pilot has to literally fly the opposite of what his instruments are telling him. If the instruments say fly left, he must go right, etc. Milton did a fine job, even with the GPS disabled (I had to make it a little hard).
After a few laughs about the condition of the crew car at EWB (Milton’s used to driving something MUCH nicer) and a hearty lunch at Danny’s Seafood, we departed IFR again back to FRG. This time weather had cleared enough to see Montauk airport but there was still some fog on the south shore of long Island, mostly over the beaches.
Milton did well with a GPS 19 approach into FRG and made a nice landing even though the controller screwed up royally. 3.5 hours of total flying time, two landings, and three approaches for Milton his first missed approach in actual conditions and our first actual Back Course Localizer approach. I got to log one of those approaches because I was playing instructor in actual conditions. All in all it was a good day of flying!
