KCMI to KEYE to KCMI - 1.6 hours

A fellow SR20 owner who was in need of an annual asked if I'd follow him over to Eagle Creek and fly him back to CMI after he dropped off his plane. Initially I was a little concerned because the forecast was for severe T-storms and the Nexrad showed things were already starting to kick up a little to our south and west. But Indy is a very quick trip that can be done in just over an hour, round trip. Plus, the route to and from EYE was clear. It looked like we'd be able to get over and back well before the storms arrived. We decided to go for it and headed to our respective airplanes.

The flight over for me was at 3,500. At that altitude I was already enjoying a 35 - 40 knot tailwind, so I saw no reason to climb further. Other than being a tad warm, I was happy. Not long after I'd settled into cruise, I heard N706RH, the plane that I was accompanying, check on to the departure frequency. From the sound of it, I had a pretty good head start and he was climbing to 5,000. It would be interesting to see if he'd catch me before we got to Indy as the winds and TAS were even more friendly at his altitude.

Aside from simmering in the cockpit and sweating profusely, the flight over was a piece of cake. I encountered some fairly exuberant chop in the pattern at EYE which made flying a pretty pattern a chore, but it wasn't awful. As I turned downwind to base I heard 6RH check in on CTAF saying he was 5 miles out. He almost caught me.

After delivering 6RH to the A&P for its annual we were ready to go again. The whole stop lasted no more than 10 minutes. Naturally, the ensuing hot start was on my mind. But using my usual hot start procedure (mixture to cutoff, throttle wide open, boost pump on for 20 sec then throttle to idle, mixture rich and start), N218DF started right up after just a few turns.

Winds favored 21 and the ASOS was reporting a density altitude of 2,600 feet. I anticipated somewhat sluggish climb performance which, unfortunately, turned out to be the case. This time I tried leaving the flaps down a little longer to see if the winds and drag would allow me to climb over the runway a little more. Initially this plan seemed to be working, but the drag of the flaps made gaining airspeed difficult and I sucked them in. Having tried both techniques (flaps in right away and delayed flap retraction) I'd say it's probably better to get them in sooner and reduce drag. It might make for an uncomfortable few moments of 0 fpm close to the ground but it will get me to cruise climb speed faster.

We picked up flight following about 5 west of EYE and climbed to 4,500 for the trip back to CMI. Just east of Covington, we began to encounter a broken layer with tops at about 3,800. CMI ATIS was indicating overlapping scattered layers over Champaign, but the closer we got to Champaign the more they looked like broken layers.

After checking in with Approach we asked for a local IFR approach using the RNAV 22. The controller said we could but needed us to stay VFR on top for a bit while he sorted things out. By now the fuel calculator was showing we'd be right at minimum reserve on arrival and I was having to bend our course a little south to avoid some of the taller buildups. To make things even more interesting the controller told me to go direct to a fix that did not load into my GPS with the version of the approach that I had selected.

I started to get that behind-the-8-ball feeling. Plus I was kind of annoyed with myself for not checking something other than radar prior to our departure from EYE. I think my copilot sensed my angst as I fumbled through the GPS menus trying to load the prescribed fix. He lent a hand by helping to see if we could spot it on the MFD.

Finally I found the fix and steered for it. Unfortunately it was taking us quite a ways off a direct route to the airport. I throttled back to conserve fuel, hoping ATC would give me lower sooner. As I got back into the game I noticed that the cloud bases looked to be above 3,000, so I called approach and asked for lower. He said he had another plane in the chute and needed me to stay up where I was. When I explained I could probably break out of IMC if he let me descend, he cleared me to 3,000. We broke out at 3,100.

As I looked to my left for the airport my copilot rhetorically asked, "What altitude did he clear us to?" A glance at my altimeter showed that in my haste to locate the airport I'd allowed us to descend to 2,600. I thanked the copilot and climbed back to 3,000 mentally kicking my ass for getting so far behind the plane.

Now that we were in the clear I asked to cancel IFR and proceed VFR direct to the airport. The controller cancelled IFR and then, ever so patiently, reminded me I was following someone and said the best he could do is let me fly a westerly heading. I took what I could get.

Now that we had the airport in sight, and I was in the clear, it really started to sink in just how ill prepared I had been for the day's events. Granted, it wasn't anything remotely close to an in-flight emergency, but unexpected weather is something I should be able to handle with a minimum of fuss. I did alright, but I could've handled it a whole lot better.

Fortunately I was able to redeem myself by greasing on a really nice crosswind landing on 22. My copilot, sensing I needed the encouragement, complimented me on the touchdown.

Today's lessons:

- Thoroughly check weather no matter how short the flight and even if you've only been on the ground 5 minutes and are flying right back the way you came.

- You can never be too familiar with your avionics. Practice procedures whenever you can.