Low Ceilings, Low Viz; Great IFR Practice Day

While pilots love beautiful weather, there's nothing like some low clouds and reduced visibility to shake off some IFR rust.
Join me as I take a short IFR flight from KMSN to KPWK. Along the way, I used Garmin's LEAN ASSIST to help me lean the engine for this engine break-in flight. My thanks to Raj for tagging along and helping with the camera and being a second set of eyes in the Cockpit.
Your comments and questions are always appreciated and answered. Let's Go Flying!
Blue Skies and Tailwinds!

[@flysport_tedder]

thanks for this. as a new VFR pilot I need all the radio conversation I can get.

[@pfflying6275]

Congrats on earning the ticket. A special accomplishment!!!! It's interesting that radio work in Chicago (and I suspect all busy Bravo's), sometimes requires one or two word sentences, without sacrificing clarity.

[@flysport_tedder]

@@pfflying6275 for sure, being succinct helps, and not having a controller need to ask four questions to get the basic info. Just something I'm trying to improve.

[@Windian95]

Really enjoyed the flight! So glad you were able to land her safely after the engine failure.

[@pfflying6275]

ME too!!!! ;-)

[@BrandonHam]

Thank you for making these videos; they are excellent and very helpful. I fly an SR20 out of Hangar 5 and am currently wrapping up my instrument training so seeing some actual IMC into Exec was just what I needed.

[@pfflying6275]

Brandon, are you flying the Synergy SR20 or the FlyThere 20? I'm sure you're getting excellent instruction. I'm happy to answer any non-CFI questions you have. And if you're interested in talking to Chicago approach controllers or PWK Tower personnel, I can make that happen as well. Or let's go flying together. Regardless, thanks for your comment. Wishing you the best as you complete your IFR training. I love IFR flying.

[@videosecurity8355]

Marc, nicely done video! Sam

[@pfflying6275]

Thanks!!!

[@ryanberges7568]

Great video.

[@pfflying6275]

Thanks Ryan. Appreciate you taking the time to reply.

[@BoringFlightVids]

Vfr student here, what was krena? A vor? Thought it was an airport code but didnt get anything on airnav

[@pfflying6275]

Papa Zulu. Generally speaking, when you see a 5 letter fix, it is a GPS fix. 3 letter fixes are VOR's. If you watch my video on flying in Chicago, you'll see that they draw a square around Chicago. Outbound fixes are on the sides of the rectangle, and inbound fixes are at the corners of the rectangle. KRENA is the Northwest corner of the Chicago rectangle. Here is the link to the video. th-cam.com/video/X_LIvRytMUU/w-d-xo.html

[@rubadubdubb]

Why use vs instead of ias or flc for descending?

[@pfflying6275]

The reason for using IAS/FLC for ascending is to avoid the possibility of a autopilot induced stall. Hence the reason we never use VS in a climb. In a descent, that's not going to happen. ATC expects you to descend at 500 FPM or greater. By using VS, you can guarantee you'll give ATC what they want and you'll keep your passengers happy by not popping their ears. The only exception is if ATC asked me to maintain a certain speed during a descent, I might use IAS then. Make sense?

[@andrewfsinclair]

ROP ops?? was this engine break in?

[@pfflying6275]

Andrew, I have a normally aspirated engine, which by the POH, is ROP when over 65% power. I know many fly LOP at all settings, but I am a POH follower.