KCMI to KIGQ to KCMI - 1.7 hours

This is another flight that actually took place about 3 weeks ago. I've been slacking in blogging about these. Due to the passage of time and my overtaxed brain cells (I'm not saying I do a lot of thinking, it's more a mental horsepower thing) I can't recall a lot details about this flight.

I do recall Laurie and I enjoyed a nice tail wind on the way up. I believe we had a 180 knot ground speed at one point. On the way back we had the wind in our faces and a thin overcast to deal with. Unsure of the thickness of it I did a little scud running before calling Chicago Center to pick up my clearance. I wasn't alone. We had a rather uncomfortable encounter with another plane doing the same thing in the opposite direction. Thankfully I determined the overcast was indeed very thin and could probably be penetrated with little if any ice accumulation. I was anxious to leave the company of my non-IFR brethren who were all vying for the same 1,500 feet of available altitude below the cloud deck.

Coming into Champaign the overcast was even thinner and more scattered but visibility was such that I opted for the 14L back course approach. I let George fly the transition legs, but once I was at the initial approach fix, I took the controls. I find the situational awareness I enjoy with a glass panel plane actually makes hand flying more enjoyable if not more comfortable. The autopilot on the SR-20 is pretty digital in its handling. It can sometimes make a well-beyond-standard-rate turn when flying an approach. It's perfectly safe, but kind of disconcerting to the passengers. I'm a little smoother than George. And since I wasn't flying this approach to anywhere near minimums, I felt fine taking the controls myself.

Even with a big crosswind I found I could easily hold the final approach course using the handy ground track indication on the HSI. It's really cool. Basically what it does is shows me the direction of my actual track over the ground in relation to the direction my nose is pointed. If I line the dotted ground track line up with the CDI centered I will fly right down the chute every time. Some would call it cheating, I call it genius.