weather question

[wmburns]

I was considering flying my first leg of the Alphabet challenge from KAPV to KBFL. The METAR at KBFL is:

METAR for: KBFL (Bakersfield/Meadows, CA, US)
Text: KBFL 251654Z 19003KT 1/4SM R30R/1000V1400FT FG VV002 04/04 A3018 RMK AO2 TWR VIS 1/4 SLP221 T00440039
Temperature: 4.4°C ( 40°F)
Dewpoint: 3.9°C ( 39°F) [RH = 97%]
Pressure (altimeter): 30.18 inches Hg (1022.1 mb) [Sea level pressure: 1022.1 mb]
Winds: from the S (190 degrees) at 3 MPH (3 knots; 1.5 m/s)
Visibility: 0.25 miles ( 0.40 km)
Ceiling: indefinite ceiling with vertical visibility of 200 feet AGL
Clouds: obscured sky
Weather: FG (fog)

IF I'm reading the chart correctly for the KBFL ILS 30R approach for category A/B aircraft the minimum decent is 693' MSL. With 200' ceiling and fog and a field elevation of 510, that's about a close to minimums as it gets. Yes I know the visibility is 0.25 miles which is less than the 0.50 mile visibility listed on the approach plate which means in terms of aeronautical decision making one should't even depart in the first place.

ILS or LOC/DME RWY 30R
http://skyvector.com/files/tpp/1501/pdf/00036ILD30R.PDF

My question is this. IF I fly this and have to divert due to weather does this count?

Note: I flew this approach offline earlier this AM under X-plane and could NOT see the runway at minimums. However I tried again 30 minutes later and was able to see it. It seems to me that if enough people do this challenge that someone else will encounter this situation. So in my case the question maybe academic but someone else may benefit.

[Keith Smith]

Gotta land there, I would say, that's the point of the challenge. That way, it'll get tracked in peaware, too. It's not bad ADM to depart APV with BFL below mins....what matters is what the weather is once you get there...not what it used to be

If you have an alternate that works (and legally, you will), then it's not unsafe. It's something I do r/w frequently. Sometimes I end up at alternate, other times I make it in.

[stevekirks]

What a great day to fly that route eh? I flew it yesterday in similar weather and I never should have done it. I'm thinking I shouldn't count it since I couldn't have landed real world.

Side note: I'm at Delano right now, watching drones make the landings in this soup. Hilarious!

[wmburns]

Well I just landed at Paso Robles Muni (KPRB) my alternate airport. During the approach I was able to see the runway through the fog from about 5 NM out. However descending through 1000' lost sight of the runway. Held altitude at 700' as per the approach plate. Never regained visual contact with the runway so over flew the airport at 700' called tower to report the missed. I flew the published missed including the hold at Shafter (EHF). After several laps in hold (not bad looking if I do say so myself), requested diversion to the alternate.

The METAR at the time were right at minimums in terms of visibility and ceilings (200' AGL ceiling with 0.5 visibility). So in terms of ADM, it wasn't an incorrect decision to take off.

From a training perspective, this was actually my first IFR flight that required a diversion. So in that regard it was a good lesson. From a single pilot perspective I was amazed at the workload to fly the hold and plan for the flight to the alternate.

From the alphabet challenge point of view, it's a repeat. Oh well.

What a great training experience!

[Keith Smith]

Great writeup! You're absolutely right, the hold is killer for workload (although an A/P helps a lot). In those cases, don't be afraid to ask for vectors while you get squared away for your alternate, otherwise you could spend a lot of brain power just trying to do the hold.

As for the alphabet challenge, I think we have to make exceptions and allow people to divert to an alternate, then go from the alternate to the destination. Yes, your name won't appear on that leg on the peaware link on the alphabet page, but it's a lot more realistic to now do the flight from PRB to the destination than it is to start again from the first airport. If you were in the real world, your next flight would be PRB to BFL, assuming you were still trying to get there. I think we need to embrace that, otherwise people are less likely to go missed!

[RyanK]

I got into BFL a little after that, broke out exactly at minimums. I like that I felt some pressure to complete the flight. By the way, you don't get to hang out at minimums on an ILS. At the DA if you don't have the runway environment in sight, it's a missed.