IFR Flights of 13MIKE

by Fred J. Calfior and Douglas W. Miller

PREFLIGHT

note:	Set ZOOM to "1.0"
	Set TIME to "10:30"

"You know how a dog loves to be scratched under the ear, and nuzzles you into scratching its tummy? Well, 13MIKE loves thorough preflights, with plenty of petting and cooing, soft words of encouragement, like 'Good boy! You've got plenty of oil!', and stuff like that! Well, if you're all settled in, before getting started with the interior checks, let's call Islip Clearance Delivery and get our IFR flight clearance taken care of. It's within thirty minutes from our expected departure time, so it's waiting for us here right now! Frequency is one two one point eight five. Get your master switch on first!"

Departure Clearance:

1) Tune COM to "121.85" (Long Island Clearance)

You:

"LONG ISLAND CLEARANCE, NOVEMBER 9413MIKE WOULD LIKE TO ACTIVATE ITS IFR FLIGHT PLAN FROM ISLIP TO WESTCHESTER COUNTY AT THIS TIME, PLEASE."

Long Island Clearance:

"NOVEMBER 9413MIKE, LONG ISLAND CLEARANCE, CLEARED TO WESTCHESTER COUNTY AIRPORT AS FILED. MAINTAIN FIVE THOUSAND. NEW YORK DEPARTURE FREQUENCY WILL BE ONE ONE EIGHT POINT ZERO, SQUAWK TWO THREE THREE ONE."

You:

"ROGER! CLEARED AS FILED. MAINTAIN FIVE THOUSAND. DEPARTURE ONE ONE EIGHT POINT ZERO, SQUAWK TWO THREE THREE ONE."

Long Island Clearance:

"READBACK CORRECT. GOOD DAY!"

"That's right! Write down that clearance as they give it to you in whatever shorthand notation you want. Just as long as you understand it! And I enjoyed your snappiness in reading it back to them, because in case you 've missed something or heard it wrong, they can then correct you and your departure will become nice and smooth. Well, let's crank up the airplane - yeah, it's purring nicely, isn 't it? Getting ATIS is next on our list of priorities, so look at Islip's airport diagram and dial in the ATIS frequency."

Instruments:

1) Tune COM to "128.45" (Islip ATIS)

"LONG ISLAND MacARTHUR AIRPORT, INFORMATION ECHO, ONE THREE FIVE FIVE ZULU WEATHER, ESTIMATED CEILING TWO THOUSAND OVERCAST, VISIBILITY FIVE, TEMPERATURE SIX ONE, DEWPOINT FOUR NINER. WIND ZERO NINER ZERO AT ONE ZERO. ALTIMETER THREE ZERO THREE TWO. ILS RUNWAY SIX IS IN USE. LANDING AND DEPARTING RUNWAY SIX. ADVISE ON INITIAL CONTACT YOU HAVE INFORMATION ECHO."

"Now comes the strategy part of setting up your navaids and such, because you will be juggling from one navaid frequency to another, but you want to be organized about it. Look at your BOUNO TWO Arrival plate. Notice how Calverton is our first VOR of use, and then Bridgeport, right? You bet ya! So put Calverton on the top, and Bridgeport on the bottom Omni Bearing Indicators. Now simply note that you'll probably be using Carmel, and perhaps even La Guardia. "

2)Set "Altimeter" and "Heading Indicator"

3)Set XPDR to "2331" (assigned IFR code)

4)Tune NAV 1 to "117.2" (CCC)

5)Set NAV 1 OBS to a centered "TO" needle

6)Tune NAV 2 to "108.8" (BDR)

7)Set NAV 2 OBS to "284"

8)Set the DME to "NAV 1 " and "DIST"

9)Check CARB HEAT is "OFF"

10)Check GEAR "DOWN"

11)Turn STROBE "ON"

12)Check LIGHTS are "OFF"

"Did you know that most ground frequencies are one two one point seven? You '11 see some point eights and other varieties often enough, but if you 're ever making a bet on what the frequency for Ground is, always stab at one two one point seven first! Chances are that's it. In this case, you 'd win. Even though ATIS didn 't tell us, give Ground what our intended departure direction will be. At least I feel it's a courtesy more than anything else. "

13)Tune COM to "121.7"(Islip Ground)

You:

"ISLIP GROUND, THIS IS CESSNA 9413MIKE AT CHARLIE PAD, READY TO TAXI TO RUNWAY SIX WITH INFORMATION ECHO. NORTHEAST BOUND DEPARTURE."

Islip Ground:

"CESSNA 9413MIKE, ISLIP GROUND, TAXI TO RUNWAY SIX. NEW WEATHER ESTIMATED CEILING ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED OVERCAST, VISIBILITY FOUR. ALTIMETER THREE ZERO THREE ONE."

You:

"13MIKE, THREE ZERO THREE ONE, TAXI TO RUNWAY SIX."

"Now, don't you dare go off anywhere without resetting your altimeter to three zero three one! The information was given you to use, and it's not something any pilot should blow off! Just tweak it to that ‘one’. "

14) Set "Altimeter"

TAXI -

"Take a look at the Takeoff Minimums and airport diagram again! From the information that's given:

** 1. What is the standard takeoff minimums for runway 6?