Tough RNAV Approach to Rwy 25 at KCMX (Hancock Michigan)

White-knuckle landing into KCMX on an official ECON flight.



Destination:
KCMX/CMX HOUGHTON CO MEML
SA 211713 AUTO 25013G21KT 1/4SM SN FG BKN008 OVC013 01/M02 A2967
RMK AO2 P0001 T00061017
FT 211629 2116/2212 23009KT 1/2SM SHSN BLSN OVC015
FM211700 25017G28KT 2SM -SHSN BLSN BR OVC020
FM211900 29024G42KT 5SM -SHSN BLSN BR OVC025
FM212200 30029G42KT 3SM -SHSN BLSN BKN029
FM220500 30020G35KT 5SM -SHSN BKN025

Autopilot coupled to RNAV John?

Oh yes Mike, I don't think I could have done it without it. I was surprised how easy I was losing situational awareness. The clouds made it appear that I was diving toward them, but I was flying level. When I finally was descending, the crosswind was trying to blow me off course and the correction of the autopilot made me question if it was malfunctioning. On top of that the plane hit a rain-snow mix and began icing up and caking ice on the windshield. I had to divert my attention to find and activate the deicing system switches as I was descending through the clouds. Fortunately, I had a good radio altitude reading so I had a good idea of where the ground was, but it wouldn't account for the trees and other things sticking up. I was likely below the MDA by the time I saw the trees - but I was running out of fuel so it was there or nowhere. I wasn't confident in the autopilot once I was flying along the treetops, so clicked off autopilot and seconds later the runway lights were visible, but it took me a bit to get control of the aircraft and set it down on the runway about halfway down. Not sure the real-world runway conditions would have accommodated the short runway landing, but I was able to bring it to a stop with plenty of room.

Surprisingly, I never bothered to check the METAR before I left on the flight, even though it was printed out for me before I took off. The large and mean-looking clouds below me as I began to descend led me to expect some possible weather, but reading the destination weather would have better prepared me, perhaps by adding more fuel and keeping the alternate destination airport.

It worked out ok...even for my Econ flight - without a loss other than fuel shortage, but it could have gone much worse. I'm now paying more attention to weather reports at both Orig. and Dest. airports for my Econ flights.

John,

That's a great level of realism. How much of this experience is a product of improvements in MSFS?

Mike

I'm not sure Mike.  It's the first I've had such a realistic and unsettling experience.  I actually did outside views and kept rechecking the artificial horizon and altitude readout thinking there might be an error and I was plummeting to the ground in a dive when I was actually flying straight and level.  I only noticed this on this flight and haven't been flying lately - not above storm clouds anyway, for a long time.  I was flying above the clouds but perhaps into or just above the towering clouds that rose higher than the main cloud ceiling.  I also use 3-monitors that give a very wide view through the plane's windscreen.  I was using MSFS real-world weather, and I believe they've made improvements to the weather in recent updates.  The windshield icing has always been there on MSFS, and it kicked in when I was dealing with all these other issues.  It was quite an interesting experience.  Needless to say, I was happy to set the plane safely onto the runway.