Critique Welcome: Winter IFR Decision-Making in a Non-FIKI Airplane

0:01 So, we did pick up some ice right in the middle of my lens.

0:05 Unexpected use case for the EX5.

0:08 Icing detector.

0:11 This is the debrief of a flight where I was facing two threats.

0:14 Potential icing risk and I'm heading towards some

0:17 of the scariest airspace I've ever been near.

0:20 This is like hilarious.

0:24 I mean, how do you even parse that?

0:27 I made a small mistake during the arrival which

0:29 I'll share and I want to add a whole bunch

0:31 more context regarding the icing because the short version

0:34 of this I put up on Instagram understandably generated some comments.

0:38 I don't need to go through that when there's icing as it is.

0:41 I'm going to touch it looks like so another awesome

0:44 use case of the instrument rating where yeah it's not beautiful

0:47 but it's doable but when you see icing in a forecast

0:51 and then there's pyabs for icing it's scary in a non-picky airplane.

0:56 It's all about mitigating risk.

0:58 That's what we're doing here.

1:00 [music] This is the most ice I'd ever picked up on the RV14.

1:06 And when I saw what I had collected after climbing through this thin layer,

1:10 I grabbed my iPhone just to kind of document what I was seeing.

1:13 And I was also inspired to roll the cameras that I

1:15 had standing by for the later part of this flight,

1:17 arriving into the Washington DC,

1:20 which was honestly the part of this flight I was most worried about.

1:23 But I'm glad I captured this, too.

1:24 All right.

1:25 Check, check, check.

1:26 1 2 3.

1:28 In terms of my planning and briefing,

1:30 here's the relevant section of the weather for both my departure and my arrival.

1:33 I knew I was not going to have any issues,

1:35 but I was aware of some challenges that I'd

1:37 face on the initial part of the route.

1:39 Winter IFR flying isn't always black and white,

1:42 but the other day I was inspired to capture this information,

1:44 which was definitely an absolute no-go day.

1:47 In Canada, we've got a product called the graphical area forecast.

1:50 This was Boxing Day 2025.

1:52 absolute garbage with severe icing from the surface to 4,000.

1:55 However, for this flight on October 23rd,

1:57 it was a non-issue in terms of weather,

1:59 and the icing forecast showed nothing for the portion

2:01 of my route north of the border.

2:03 The Canadian forecast said no ice, but the American forecast.

2:08 We do have a Sigma out here.

2:11 This was about a 2-hour flight from Toronto down into Virginia.

2:14 And normally I would clear customs at Buffalo,

2:17 which is quite close to the border,

2:18 so that I'm free to divert as needed once I'm in American airspace.

2:22 But this particular day, there was a big system just south of the border.

2:25 That's what you're looking at.

2:26 And I did not want to be low in that area, shoot an approach,

2:30 wait to clear customs, and then have to climb back through it to get on my way.

2:33 So my plan was to get as high as possible, as quickly as possible from Toronto,

2:38 and then clear customs much closer to my destination.

2:40 So I'm on present heading just to avoid that weather.

2:43 And because the vectors took me so far off my filed track,

2:46 the next leg in forflight never activated automatically,

2:49 and I forgot to do it manually.

2:50 So my ETA in forflight is going to continue

2:52 to be wrong for the rest of this video.

2:54 So if I need to descend, I know the ceiling isn't bad out there,

2:58 so I'll descend if I need to.

3:00 But this is the way I tend to use the iPad for flights like this.

3:03 It's about situational awareness and briefing as opposed

3:05 to focusing on my track and time on route.

3:07 So, we got icing pirapp 45 minutes ago, but as of now,

3:13 Charlie Foxy Golf Alpha advis correct destination.

3:16 Uh, not yet.

3:16 Still on present heading of 1 13 0.

3:21 It's worth mentioning here, some pilots may have seen an exchange like

3:24 that as pressure from ATC to get on course.

3:27 But ATC is there to help and they just need to know what you're doing.

3:31 Yeah, I'll be close to going direct,

3:32 but I I don't need to go through that when there's icing.

3:35 As it is, I'm going to touch it.

3:37 Looks like so it's -4°.

3:39 I'm at 7,000.

3:42 Yeah.

3:42 So I'm in a sigment for moderate icing.

3:45 So let's see what happens here.

3:47 If I need to descend, I will descend.

3:50 It's really a question of being invisible

3:52 moisture at the same time as icing conditions.

3:55 Foxy Golf Alpha.

3:56 Just for my planning purposes,

3:57 how much further do you want to go on that 130 heading?

4:00 Looks like maybe 10 miles.

4:01 Fox Alpha.

4:03 This footage is interesting to look at later because at the time

4:06 I thought I could see the ice crystals bouncing off,

4:08 so I didn't think I was picking anything up,

4:10 but you can see there is some accretion.

4:12 Regardless, I was working to stay out of visible moisture.

4:15 The issue is that the weather to my right

4:17 there has tops that are far exceeding my current altitude,

4:20 so I don't want to get into it.

4:23 10 miles 603.

4:24 We got a little bit of light ice here.

4:26 Just do it.

4:28 63.

4:28 Roger.

4:29 Maintain 4,000.

4:30 4,000 flight 63.

4:32 Yeah.

4:32 So, I really kind of want to stay out

4:34 of the visible moisture in this kind of situation.

4:36 The ice has melted off the camera, so that's nice.

4:39 So, I knew I had outs,

4:40 but it was still quite sobering to see that much ice on the airplane.

4:43 I shared a little teaser of this on Instagram,

4:45 which got thousands of likes and a bunch of engagement.

4:48 Obviously, it was controversial.

4:50 It's difficult to add context on a 1 minute video.

4:53 And I had comments ranging from, "This is no big deal.

4:55 Ice is to be expected in IFR flying

4:57 in the winter to the FAA should pull your license."

4:59 and a bunch of people that were frustrated to see

5:01 me sharing this type of stuff as a bad example, which I take very seriously.

5:05 So, I'm going to add as much context as I can here

5:07 in this long episode in terms of the planning and my thought process on route.

5:11 Oh, yeah.

5:11 We're just in the tops at -4 Celsius.

5:14 Got my uh face face camo just cuz I was

5:18 getting my face cooked by the sun out here on top.

5:23 All right, so I'm now on course and uh

5:26 occurred to me that I had my Canadian chart up.

5:28 So putting the US chart makes it a lot easier to see that icing sign.

5:32 So it was kind of blending into the black before.

5:34 And what's cool is like this guy down here just gave a nice pyrip of no icing.

5:40 So that's kind of nice to know.

5:43 So I shouldn't have a problem getting in where I'm going.

5:45 And besides the icing, Sigmat is over down there.

5:49 But you know, this guy 32 minutes ago reported light rhyme.

5:54 And I'm just looking at my ice meter out here.

5:57 I do see some ice on my wing tip right there, but that's not bad.

6:02 So, yeah, that's kind of neat unexpected use case.

6:05 And also, just looking at it, I can see what ice builds up.

6:08 Earlier, there was some on the lens, but it's gone now.

6:10 So, very cool.

6:12 Yeah.

6:12 So, it's all about having as much information as you possibly can.

6:17 So, the rest of the way it's just the turbulence sigment.

6:22 And yeah, so I just kind of did the old vectors

6:24 to get around that weather and stayed above it pretty much.

6:28 So to review, I basically had three outs.

6:30 I could climb above into the sunny clear air to let sublimation do its thing,

6:33 which is largely what I did,

6:35 or descend into warmer air below the freezing level,

6:38 which was at about 5,000, or head east where there wasn't any weather.

6:42 Just touching the tops here, still in the icing big.

6:48 Uh might be in it a little bit there shortly.

6:54 And it's nice to see this guy reporting no ice in the descent,

7:00 but ice at the tops is usually the risk.

7:03 So, let's see.

7:04 So, ISO meter is showing nothing out there yet,

7:08 but let's see what happens in the tops here.

7:11 Okay, but this is why I love flying with this much information.

7:14 Like I uh had a lot of good situational awareness

7:16 with the icing Sigmmet and the weather that I went around.

7:22 I did pick up a little bit out here,

7:25 but I had lots of outs, so I wasn't worried about it.

7:30 Definitely wasn't something worth canceling the trip over.

7:33 So, at this point, I was fairly confident threat number one,

7:36 the icing risk, was behind me.

7:37 So, it was time to start thinking about threat number two.

7:40 But not even seeing any on the canopy, so that's good.

7:44 I'm heading towards some of the scariest airspace I've ever been near.

7:48 This is like hilarious.

7:52 I mean, how do you even parse that?

7:56 Anyway, uh I did a briefing with a local Pete Mine who confirmed

8:02 that on a flight plan into the destination I'm going to, it's not a problem,

8:07 but I'm not going deeper into that.

8:08 Cifra, that's for sure.

8:10 With that in mind, check out this scary poster.

8:12 that's beside the door heading out of the FBO to the ramp at Leburg.

8:16 I met a friendly instructor there who helped me make sure I didn't get

8:19 this wrong when I departed after clearing

8:21 customs before heading to my final destination.

8:24 And then the contest is happening out here at Warrington.

8:28 I was just looking at my approach options into here and uh they

8:34 only have approaches for 17 which makes sense because they don't [snorts] want

8:41 you they don't want to fly an approach up in there in the cifro

8:45 I guess they didn't want to put way points up in there

8:47 so that's the only option but I'm not going to probably need it

8:51 I'm pretty much sure I'm not going to need it because the weather

8:54 is looking great hotel kilo New York center roger Williamsport Port alter

8:58 2992 when you get the weather and what kind of approach you like.

9:02 So we're just about to exit the icing Sigat might pick up a little

9:06 bit at the edge there cuz I will be back in the tops.

9:09 Yeah, it's been a good smooth trip so far.

9:12 A little bit nerve-wracking at the beginning

9:15 which I expected but my plan worked.

9:19 Great situational awareness with four flight and 06M aviation weather data.

9:24 So I'm looking at imagery that's 5 minutes old.

9:28 But I'm not going to be threading the needle with any radar, so I'm good there.

9:32 Okay, so we are going to exit the icing segment in a second here.

9:37 But I mean, I'm definitely still in icing conditions.

9:40 I got -4 Celsius outside.

9:42 I'm in the tops.

9:43 And then maybe what I could do is submit a pyre after.

9:47 I can't send a pyrep from this setup

9:49 because I don't have transmission, but I can receive.

9:51 But I wonder if I give ATC1 if it'll show up in here.

9:54 I'll try it.

9:56 and approaches Fox Trot Charlie Golf Alpha request.

10:00 Go ahead.

10:01 Are you interested in icing Pyre?

10:04 Sure.

10:03 Okay.

10:04 Sign 7,000 just in the tops and there's no ice up here.

10:07 Uh temperature is- 4 Celsius.

10:12 Things were going to get busy real soon

10:13 here as I was approaching the Washington DC cifra.

10:16 So I forgot to check back to see if my pyup

10:19 made it into the system if that controller filed it.

10:22 All right.

10:22 So, safe to say that that is good.

10:25 I think we're good the rest of the way.

10:26 It's just a beautiful cloud surfing coming up.

10:29 Charlie Fox, Charlie Golf Alpha, contact Harrisburg approach 124.1.

10:34 124.1.

10:34 Charlie Golf Alpha.

10:36 So, I'll skip the next couple handoffs here

10:38 and get right to working with Ptoic approach.

10:41 Approach.

10:42 It's Canadian Fox Charlie Golf Alpha level 8,000.

10:46 Canadian Charlie Fox Charlie Golf Alpha approach.

10:49 Delt 299.

10:50 and verify the weather information at Leburg.

10:53 Uh yeah, I've got the weather for Leburg and I'm just looking

10:55 at the uh RNA 17 to get down and then I'll fly visually in there.

11:02 Try Foxy Golf Alpha.

11:04 Roger.

11:04 Expect the RNAV to circle runway 35.

11:09 Affirmative.

11:09 We'll expect the RNV 7 to circle 35.

11:11 Fox try alpha.

11:14 I guess that's the way I should have said that.

11:16 Jaden Charlie Fox Charlie Golf Alpha clear direct cauus maintain 5000

11:23 clear direct caucus set to maintain 5000 Charlie alpha

11:26 Cardinal 892 contact Johntown approach 121.2 too.

11:30 So things are about to get real.

11:32 I'm going to get quiet for the rest of this flight

11:34 because I do not want to screw up entering this airspace.

11:38 Canadian Charlie Fox Golf Alpha reset transponder squawk 5627.

11:44 5627 Fox friendly 246.

11:48 Traffic's 11:00 one mile southwest heavy 767 at one,000.

11:54 And before we get to the arrival and a little

11:56 bit of a mistake that I made getting there,

11:57 I just want to review this aspect of what is known icing.

12:01 Obviously, a lot of the comments on that Instagram post were pretty spicy,

12:05 but I did do my homework on this.

12:06 There's an FAA interpretation circular, I guess.

12:09 I'm not sure exactly what to call that, but you can go

12:11 ahead and pause this or source the document to review in detail.

12:16 United [bell] 261 heavy.

12:17 Idea best to cross mode at 5,000 to descend via

12:24 thank you beauty [bell] for the descent 5,000 did not

12:36 know the best way to word that Charlie Fox Golf

12:41 Alpha maintain 4,000 maintain 4,000 fox alpha All right, gas.

12:59 Pull this tank under carriage is down.

13:07 Mixture not going to do it well.

13:09 Bump in a little bit more, but rich later.

13:11 Prop to go.

13:12 Switches.

13:14 Fuel pump to go.

13:16 Leave the pedo heat on for the rest of the flight.

13:21 [bell] 200 remaining descending 4,000.

13:27 Fox Charlie Golf Alpha approaches 126.65.

13:31 Okay, we're at 2665 Charlie.

13:40 The approach is Foxtrot Charlie Golf Alpha level 4,000.

13:43 Charlie Fox Charlie golf out approach welcome the delta setters

13:47 2 niner niner niner you're about 7 milesi from cacus

13:51 cross cacus at 3000 cleared for the arnav runway

13:54 17 circle to land 35 approach leber okay with cross

13:59 cacus at 3000 cleared for the correction arv 17

14:04 and I'll be circling for 35 uh into leburg fox

14:10 think I said clear for the approach but now

14:12 we'll put into approach modes and go down to three.

14:18 315 tango syrup departure.

14:20 You are rad contact.

14:21 Climb and maintain 111,000.

14:23 Proceed direct to Hager.

14:26 Oh jeez, that was a good one.

14:31 Stand below 156.

14:37 3520.

14:41 That TFR warning reminded me that I should probably start

14:44 an iPad capture for the sake of the debrief just in case.

14:47 It's got the TFR warning.

14:48 Let's send this to the map.

14:54 Yeah, there's 3000 Leber is 1275.

15:09 So, this is an interesting debrief point.

15:11 I'm going to get tripped up by a little detail on the plate for Leburg.

15:15 Monitor push.

15:17 I'd reviewed the AFD during pre-flight,

15:19 but what was fresh in my mind is what I saw on the plate.

15:22 So, I'm monitoring the approach frequency while broadcasting

15:25 my intentions on what I think is a CATA frequency.

15:28 Leber traffic alpha is the 10 mile final runway 17 on the ARNAV.

15:34 I'll switch over to the left pattern for 35 and fit in with any VFR traffic.

15:38 in Leburg Expecting the field in 5 minutes.

15:42 Fox Charlie Golf Alpha lead for Roger report Dan Mo inbound and plane

15:47 from plan to circle for left traffic climb and maintain one 10,000

15:54 try to go alpha 0 10,000 maintain 250 ex 844.

16:00 Okay.

16:00 So, he didn't Anyway, it said Cap, but I thought that was 844.

16:04 Contact approach on 118.95.

16:07 1895.

16:08 Check in with the speed if you would.

16:09 Have a good afternoon.

16:13 1895.

16:11 We'll check 844.

16:16 Charlie Fox, Charlie Golf Alpha, contact Leburg tower 127.5.

16:22 Over the tower, Fox alpha.

16:25 Oh, that got me tripped up there.

16:28 and tower.

16:28 It's Fox Cha.

16:30 Yeah, sorry about that.

16:30 I was making that like a caff call,

16:32 but I am now cleared for the uh RNF 17 and I'm with you.

16:36 Fox Alpha Charlie Fox Golf Alpha.

16:38 Roger.

16:39 And like I said, just report Dan Mo for the circle.

16:43 Okay, we'll dam for the circling Fox Alpha.

16:48 Goofy.

16:50 [bell] Like I was thinking that I had to zoom in to see that.

16:55 I've never seen it where it says CAF in big letters,

16:57 [snorts] tower in small letters.

16:59 Anyways, he wants me to report in Dan Mo.

17:03 Field is in sight and tower is Fox Alpha at Dan Mo.

17:08 Going to break it off for the circling now for uh 35 Fox Alpha.

17:12 Charlie Golf Alpha.

17:13 Roger.

17:13 If you want to fly all the way

17:14 towards the runway before you circle, that's fine.

17:16 Also, your choice.

17:17 I've got no traffic right now.

17:19 And the winds are 340 at 1, gust 17, runway 35.

17:23 You're clear to land.

17:24 Okay, clear land 35 and I'll stay on runway heading

17:27 for a little bit longer before I move over to the left downwind.

17:29 Fox traffic center carriage mixture prop to go switches come

17:36 off now I'm secure and I'm going over the downwind

17:45 223 turn left direct to pooch climb and maintain one

17:49 10,000 left direct to pooch one 10,000 223 stop monitoring Disregard.

18:02 That was the system mode dropping from approach mode to nav

18:05 mode as I got to the mist approach way point.

18:08 And I'm about to select one notch of flaps.

18:11 But the system is programmed to not allow me to drop

18:13 flaps if I'm over my flap speed, which is 100 knots.

18:16 But I will catch that.

18:18 Gas undercarriage mixture prop switch is I'm secure.

18:22 And I'm just about to notice my flaps didn't go down.

18:25 So I am reselecting one notch.

18:26 One notch selected coming down.

18:30 Ladybug in the windshield.

18:32 How you doing, Michael?

18:34 [music] You're with me.

18:39 Full flap selected.

18:46 500 and we check uh 330 at [music] 15.

18:56 Thanks.

19:24 [music] Oh, come on, Birdie.

19:35 Thanks for watching if you made it to [music] the end.

19:36 And I'm glad to have shared this debrief and I'm happy

19:38 I didn't cancel this flight because the trip was definitely worth doing.

19:42 Charlie Fox Charlie Golf Alpha the next right on Alpha [music]

19:46 and I take it you're going to the main ramp for tune.

19:49 Okay.

19:49 Yeah.

19:49 For customs.

19:50 Yeah.

19:51 Alpha next right.

19:52 In an upcoming episode I'll share some details

19:54 about the contest that I was flying to.

19:56 And until then keep your flight shop sharp.

19:58 Someone may be coming out to the park.

20:00 I'm not really sure.

20:01 Just you can go ahead once you turn onto that ramp.

20:03 Give them a call on 131.2 to and they should tell you where to go.

20:06 Okay.

20:06 Thanks, TA.

20:08 Nice looking plane.

20:09 Thank you.