Most intense sim experience ever!!!!

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Adrian Ruiz
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:09 pm

Most intense sim experience ever!!!!

Post by Adrian Ruiz »

Hello all,

I started with pilotedge about 1 and a half month. In this time i made all the CATs and until the I8 rating and i learned more in this period about aviation than in all the years in other networks and trying to learn by myself. (Amazing workshops by the way, pure gold!).

Lately i´m flying the Marquetti sf260 for X-plane, which i recommend to everybody. (I know the TBM is amazing,..i know.. but if you try this Marquetti maybe you park the TBM for a while.)

Anyway, today i planned a IFR flight from Ontario to Henderson Executive and i was very surprised to see rain in Socal, but weather reports at departure and destination airports where not bad so i made the mistake of not checking carefully the en-route conditions (never again).

My filed altitude was 11000 with a msa of 10500 and after few minutes cruising i started to see ice building very fast in my windshield, then in my wings, and in less than two minutes i was loosing speed quite fast. It was very clear at this point that i would never make the destiny airport and i needed to descend as fast and low as possible. During the time that lasted my first call to the controller to inform him about the ice building and request heading an as lower as he could give me, the thing got so much worse that my speed drop below 90 and i needed to start to descent trying to not stall, what ended somehow in a crazy out of control spin that made me loose about 3000f. (i didnt see that coming..maybe because of the IMC :P)

After recover from the spin and trying to maintain the plane level i have about 3sm visibility and i could somehow see the mountains around me, (thanks god because i lost radar contact). The controller was sooooo amazing at all times. I didn´t have any GPS onboard and after the spin i was veeery disoriented but he gave me an estimate vector to Victorville what at this time and with 3sm visibility i thought i would never see, but i did! and i land safely after all.

My first impulse when i had the problem was to disconnect but i´m so happy i didn´t. The controller was spectacular!!!!! I think i even listen other pilot mentioning it on the radio at some point. When i connected today i could never imagine the flight would finish like this. THANK YOU VERY MUCH from here to this controler i was so tense and overwhelmed... but he made everything work out at the end.

Pilotedge is simply amazing. The only thing i´m not happy about is that i didn´t discovery it before!!!
Keith Smith
Posts: 9939
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: Pompton Plains, NJ
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Re: Most intense sim experience ever!!!!

Post by Keith Smith »

Great to hear that you enjoyed the experience. It sounds like you're not familiar with perils of icing. If you're in below freezing temps in visible moisture, then icing is something to think about, unless you get down WELL below freezing where ice will not accumulate. At the first sign of icing in a non-FIKI (Flight into Known Icing conditions) aircraft, you need to take immediate action (ie, when it starts building up on the windshield, based on the order that you described). You do not want to watch the ice build up and do nothing, but the situation, by definition is only going to get worse.

I'm glad to hear it worked out, though.
Adrian Ruiz
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:09 pm

Re: Most intense sim experience ever!!!!

Post by Adrian Ruiz »

Hi Keith,

I´ve read and viewed a lot of videos about the dangers of icing but never experience it before. The good thing about pilotedge is that you always learn something and today was in the most dramatic way. 2 lessons:

1. Always check the weather along the route. The flight plan was suicidal. I did a quick check of the weather after the incident and the whole area was reporting mod ice until fl240 with clouds temps between -10 and -40 c. You add to this that i was flying at 11000 with a msa of 10500 and yess... The most stupid guy ever. Never again!

2. When i started to see the ice in the windshield i didn´t let the controller know intermediately, and when i did was to late. Furthermore right after i request lower and vector i was unable to keep altitude. When the controller cleared me to 9000 i was pretty much sure i wouldnt be able to maintain this altitude either but still i didn´t declared an emergency. He needed to ask me "are you declaring an emergency?" and by that time i enter an uncontrolled spin.

The fact that it work out was just tons of luck together with the controller vectoring me (even been out of his radar) perfectly to Victorville, what allowed me to spot the airport even in very low visibility conditions. (Funny thing is that today was the first day that i didn´t had gps on board as it was a new update to the plane).

I don´t know how realistic was the timing regarding the ice building and if this has something to do with x-plane weather or the plane code (it took about 2 minutes from nothing to drama, maybe less) but the lesson is learned.
Keith Smith
Posts: 9939
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: Pompton Plains, NJ
Contact:

Re: Most intense sim experience ever!!!!

Post by Keith Smith »

Two minutes of continuous ice build up can absolutely ruin your day. I had about 5 seconds of exposure to ice once...exited the clouds and came out, _20 knots_ slower. There was barely any ice on the wing. I can only imagine would 2 minutes would've done.

A critical airfoil with little excess power from the engine....it's a brutal combo.

As you can see, attempting to maintain altitude all the way to a stall is not a good option. You would be better off in a controlled descent compared to dealing with a stall/spin condition. What a great lesson!
Aviatorbja
Posts: 31
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2016 8:24 pm
Location: Plymouth, MI - USA

Re: Most intense sim experience ever!!!!

Post by Aviatorbja »

I'm quite impressed at the simulated plane's ability to model icing. I've never seen ice modeled properly in any home use simulator. Having done my training at Western Michigan University flight school, with many winter flights I can tell you that even light rime icing is not something that makes for relaxing flying. It's probably a good thing that you did not simply disconnect - you can't do this in real life!

Can you tell me your tail number? It would be interesting to hear the tapes from this flight.
Brian Andonian
R/W: SEL, Commercial, CFI (expired)
Flight sim: Lancair Legacy, Turbine Duke N723BA
Adrian Ruiz
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:09 pm

Re: Most intense sim experience ever!!!!

Post by Adrian Ruiz »

My tail number is N196EC. :)
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