Date: Friday, November 29, 2002, 1:00:02 PM Subject: Long night IFR flight from SBA to SDL Howdy all, Wednesday, we planned an IFR flight from SBA (Santa Barbara) to SDL (Scottsdale), cruising at 9000' MSL, by way of VNY (Van Nuys), PDZ (Paradise), PSP (Palm Springs), BLH (Blythe), and BXK (Buckeye). The segment between PDZ and PSP has two routes, and we planned V388, the route with the lower MEA of 10500. The weather planning indicated some strong easterly winds, which meant headwinds most of the way, but the winds aloft forecast did not reflect the trend of increasing wind velocity. Right after takeoff, SBA Departure flew us south until we were almost over the Channel Islands, allowing us to turn east at or above 7000' MSL. Once we turned east, our ground speed was still something like 75 kts at a 300 FPM climb. At that rate, the Garmins' "Trip Planning" page said that we wouldn't reach SDL (Scottsdale) until around 9:30pm, even though our departure time was 4pm. That's a 5.5 hour trip!! After we reached 9000' MSL, our GS increased but only slightly, to about 98 kts. The Garmin Trip Planner page said that we would make it to SDL by about 8:40pm. Much better, but still way too slow. After being handed off to Pt. Mugu Approach, we received an amended route clearance of "direct FIM (Fillmore), V186 PDZ". So, instead of flying to VNY, they made us fly further north to FIM, then back down to PDZ. I think Pt. Mugu was just trying to lessen their workload and get us up north into SoCal territory as soon as possible. After being handed off to So. Call, about 15 minutes prior to reaching FIM, SoCal Control gave us another amended clearance of: "direct VNY, POM PDZ V186 V64 BLH". So, we turned directly to VNY (our original first waypoint), then to Pomona, then Paradise, after which, we turned south to NIKKL, an intersection waypoint of V186 and V64, an easterly route that goes to Thermal instead of Palm Springs. As we turned at NIKKL, our CAS was about 118 kts, which according to the GNS "Winds" page, was TAS 136 kts, at 13 GPH, with the winds at 041 @ 45 kts. Somewhere before HEMET (a waypoint on V64), ATC told us to climb to 11,000' MSL. We entered the clouds, and the air got bumpy, in addition to having a headwind of about 40 kts. We were to be in the clouds for the next 40 minutes. Somewhere before HAPPE (another waypoint on V64), we were apparently over the mountains with a downdraft, as we had to maintain a very strong upward attitude just to maintain our elevation at 11,000' MSL. I dialed 2500 RPM on the prop with maximum power (about 16.5 GPH) in order to maintain good control throughout the sustained downdraft. The Garmin Winds page shows that we have winds at 043 @ 79 kts!! I reported this to ATC in a PIREP. In addition to the downdraft, I had noticed the temperature dropping to 33 degrees F, initially during our climb up to 11,000' MSL, and then down to 28 degrees. Since we were in the clouds, and the temp was below freezing, we started to be concerned about ice or rime build up. I gave my wife the flashlight, and had her look at the leading edges of the right wing, and I would use it to look at the leading edges of the left wing. Sure enough, little rime ice bumps were starting to form on the leading edges of the wings. Although we were in the clouds, there were occasional breaks large enough to see the lights of Palm Springs to our far left, which gave me a good idea of our surrounding geography. Having flown this area lots of times, I knew that we were past the mountain ridge top; the downdrafts were another clue. I called ATC and asked for 9000' as soon as possible, due to rime ice build up. They cleared me for 9000' at TRM (Thermal). As we passed TRM, I started a descent from 11,000' MSL down to 9000' MSL. In all the excitement of fighting the down-drafts, maintaining good attitude, (even with Otto helping), watching for ice build up, and talking with ATC, I realized that I had not turned on the pitot heater. Just as I was reaching over to turn on the pitot heater, the airspeed indicator started dropping to unrealistic numbers, and, finally, to zero. Wow! This was something I had read about numerous times, but had never had it actually occur to me. Of course, I turned on the pitot heater, but it didn't have an immediate affect. How could it? Obviously, the pitot was iced up, and it would take a few minutes for the pitot heater to have any kind of affect. I also leveled the plane in mid-descent. Until I had a reliable airspeed indicator, and knew the the pitot-static system is fully functional, I don't want to be descending in IMC conditions, at night, in a mountainous area. Meanwhile, I'm cross-checking my instruments like crazy: TC: wings-level; AI: no pitch; DG: not turning; ALT: 9540'; VSI: mostly zero, but occasionally making wild swings from +2000' to -2000' which is of concern. After about a minute, the pitot heater has done its job because the airspeed indicator comes back alive, and the VSI stops behaving erratically. At that point, ATC comes back to us and asks if we are going to continue descending. I explain that we stopped our descent in the midst of a pitot failure, but now we are continuing on down to 9000'. Also, the temperature down at 9000' is up to 34 degrees, which is better, but not enough of a difference to cause ice to not form, much less sublimate off the leading edges. So, I ask ATC permission to drop down to 7000', which is the MEA for V64 between TRM and BLH. ATC agrees, and we drop another 2000' and the temperature accordingly raises up to 42 degrees, and then rises slowly as we move easterly, into the warmer desert areas. Somewhere between TRM and BLH, we notice that the rime ice bumps on the leading edges are gone. The rest of the flight is relatively routine, with a few interesting wind shifts as we fly over that hill north-east of BXK, after which the air is pretty much calm over most of Phoenix. We descend for a visual approach to SDL RWY 3, with a very nice landing. Whew! What a long flight. The Hobbs shows 4.5 hours from SBA power-on to SDL power-off; normally, it is about a 3.2 hour flight.