Last Wednesday, I had planned to act as Safety Pilot for a friend who just bought a Mooney 201. He's planning on starting his IR training soon and wanted to get some hood time. That and he overfilled his tanks, so he needed to burn off fuel so that he could make weight and balance before his next flight with four people onboard.
The usual summer day atmosphere dawned here in NYC, the three "Hs" were in order, hazy, hot and humid. The forecast was for scattered clouds in the afternoon, more of the usual. That afternoon, the haze was a bit thicker than usual, and the clouds were either clear or a thin totally overcast layer, I couldn't tell. When we drove over the Verazanno Bridge, the answer was obvious. It was overcast at about 700'. Half way across Staten Island, the clouds disappeared and we were under clear skies, but the concern for the weather was instilled in us.
A call to flight service confirmed that things were changing and no one had any idea what was going to happen or how long that might take. Newark was already showing few clouds at 1000'. Since my friend is not instrument rated and I am not insured as PIC in his Mooney, we decided the best bet was to use Gigi for the night and burn off his gas some other time.
Since I wanted to do some instrument approaches (to stay current and feel comfortable) I filed a flight plan to Gabreski (KFOK) on Long Island, where the weather was reported to be about 400' overcast. Along the way I planned to make a few approaches at Brookhaven and maybe Islip.
Old Bridge was under clear skies, and the drag races were just getting started next door. We got a clearance from McGuire Approach (RBV V276 DIXIE V16 JFK CCC) and took off into the night sky. After checking in with McGuire and being cleared direct DIXIE (along with the perfunctory "UNABLE" and then a vector) we were handed off to NY Approach. Just south of JFK, they turned us on a vector and gave us a descent to 3000'. At this point we were in a dark night sky over a complete overcast so we started a discussion of what "actual instruments" means. Specifically, if my friend (who was sole manipulator at the time) could log actual instrument or if he should log simulated since he was also wearing a hood.
The switch to 118.0 came and I advised the controller that we'd like some practice approaches at Brookhaven (HWV) before Gabreski. We already had the weather (Overcast at 400') and requested the ILS6. The first approach was a bit off to the right, but only by about 1 dot, and I brought it down to about 380'. We were still very much in the clouds, and since we had no intention of landing, I thought it best to go missed.
During the missed approach, I realized this is only the second missed approach in actual conditions that I'd ever flown. Aside from being busy, it wasn't any different from a missed in simulated conditions. I flew to MAIDS intersection and held (at my request) and then requested a second ILS 6 into HWV, just for more practice. The second was right on the path, and I flew a "+" all the way down to just above minimums (353' whereas minimums were 309'). The clouds were still thick with no visible ground, so I knew the extra 44 feet would've made no difference.
Since the weather was changing so dynamically, and Newark was now reporting scattered at 600', I figured we'd better run back to Old Bridge before the clouds got there. Our clearance was CCC DPK JFK COL which I knew wouldn't happen, but whatever. Sure enough a bunch of vectoring around JFK and then a vector towards 3N6 for the visual back into home. The clouds disappeared around Sandy Hook, and Navy pier was clear as a bell.
Good practice and an early arrival back at home, made for a great night!
