AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2015 - 106

P&E

NEVER AGAIN

Scud runner
The trap of an impending clearance
B Y J A N W. S T E E N B L I K

106 | AOPA PILOT December 2015

Lake Geneva. The Approach frequency remained silent. The solid
overcast descended to 500 feet agl over the next few miles. Just to
our right was Landings, where we'd landed the day before. I landed
there. I refiled at Landings, and we launched again. Now we listened
to Approach on a new frequency. The soup above was thick with traffic-some, like us, headed north to Oshkosh for the Experimental
Aircraft Association's huge annual fly-in.
We orbited Landings at 300 feet for a half-hour. Approach called
every few minutes with the same message: "Cherokee Five-FiveNiner-Zero-Five, hang on. We'll get to you soon. Maintain VFR."
Finally the controller suggested, "If you can get about 10 miles west,
to Rockford's airspace, they'll be able to take you."
"Roger," I replied, stepping blithely into the trap. "We'll try that."
I headed southwest to intercept Route 90, the truck route to
Rockford. I'd just keep the highway on my left, and in five minutes
or so, I'd be copying my new clearance from Rockford. Piece of cake.
Good thing they don't grow mountains here, I thought.
But they grow towers.
"Henry!" I shouted, throwing the folded Chicago sectional at
my dumbfounded, nonpilot passenger. "Look on the map! Find the
tower!"

JAMES CAREY

THIS WASN'T SCUD RUNNING, I told
myself. That was something terminally
stupid VFR pilots did in deteriorating
weather, often ending the flight abruptly
in cumulogranite.
My passenger and I were circling
Landings Condominium Airport (82IS), a
private, nontowered airport northwest of
Chicago, in a rented Piper Cherokee 180-
granted, at only 300 feet agl, with the top of
the tail fin slicing the solid overcast.
But the visibility beneath the very definite ceiling was an acceptable three to five
miles, marginal VFR. We met the liberal
VFR weather minimums for uncontrolled
airspace-one mile and clear of clouds. The
July weather presented no risk of icing. I
was staying close to the airport, within
gliding range of the runway at all times.
And below was flat, rural Illinois.
Besides, I was a newly minted, current instrument pilot. I was in constant
radio contact with O'Hare Approach. Any
minute now, the controller promised, he'd
have my IFR clearance. We'd climb into
the clag and motor confidently on instruments to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, a mere
33 miles away.
Where was the danger?
We had stayed a couple of days at Casa
de Aero, a private residential airpark seven
miles west of Landings. A nearby remote
antenna for O'Hare Approach afforded the
airpark's residents the luxury of picking up
their IFR clearances on the ground. This
day, however, we heard nothing on the frequency before takeoff.
A weak summer cold front was on the
way, but the ceiling was 1,200 feet overcast
as we departed Casa de Aero and, like the
seven-mile visibility, it was forecast to stay
that way. No problem-we'd start VFR and
pick up our IFR clearance in the air.
We flew east for a few miles, and then
turned north, following the road toward

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2015