Instrument Practice

SLV Under Clouds, originally uploaded by Cielo Azul Images.

After church this afternoon I was able to take an instrument student and go cloud punching in his Piper Cherokee and "shoot" some instrument approaches. I usually stray far from clouds in the Rocky Mountains with small aircraft in the winter, but the conditions were just right to safely fly in the clouds today and gain some real world experience for my student. I love popping out on top of the clouds; leaving the dark and cold world underneath and then emerging out on top to a beautiful, blue, Colorado sky. The temperature at 12,000 feet was -3c and at 7,500 feet at the airport it was -6c. These temperature inversions are common in the San Luis Valley, especially in the winter. Put a little moisture in the mix and it makes for fog. Unusually, this fog didn't burn off in the morning, but has hung around all weekend. But there were no complaints from me, any excuse to commit aviation is always welcome.