Kate's Aviation Journal

Another Pilot Joins the Ranks

2008-12-31T21:54:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to my student Tony Lewis who passed his private pilot checkride today!

Happy Holidays

2008-12-24T20:49:00.004-06:00

Maybe Santa will finish our Ercoupe project! :-)

Click to enlarge

Chilly Flying Day

2008-12-18T23:12:00.000-06:00

This morning I rode with Ted, Dale, and Don in the Archer to Manitowoc for breakfast. It was 2°F when we left. It was a little hazy but other than that and the cold, it was nice flying weather. I flew a lesson later in the day and it wasn't much warmer. It was worth the effort - I was glad to fly!

Marsh area east of Lake Winnebago

High Cliff State Park

Reintroduction to the Cessna 340

2008-12-12T23:30:00.002-06:00

The first time I flew a Cessna 340 was in August 2000 when I was a student pilot just about to head off to college. It was a treat from the owner who was a flight instructor friend of mine. I thought the plane was easy to fly but I was overwhelmed by its speed and all the controls. The main thing I remember is my hard landing.

All these years later with the right pieces of plastic in my wallet and knowledge of how not to land twins, I took my second-ever flight in a C340. The Navajo Chieftain is in for scheduled maintenance and one of the company's 340s happened to be around. Today's trip had us going to Rochester, Minnesota and Columbus, Mississippi, with an extra fuel stop in Springfield, Illinois.

It was a measly 1 degree Fahrenheit when I started my day and 9 degrees when we took off from my hometown of Clintonville, and that was with the sun shining. A brief visit with some clouds on the way into Rochester left some residual ice, so we had to get deiced before departing again. It was the first time I had ever seen this process, and boy, does it work slick.

The flight to Mississippi was uneventful. Up at 17,000 feet we caught a nice tailwind and were zooming along in clear sky above puffy clouds. That's the highest I've ever been in a propeller-driven airplane (it's pressurized). We saw the Gateway Arch in St. Louis shining in the sunlight. Our flight lasted only 2 hours and 45 minutes because our groundspeed was as high as 270 knots (310 mph). The grass was green in Mississippi and it was 48 degrees.

I flew the next leg to Springfield. The airplane felt feather-light compared to the Navajo and seemed to want to leap off the ground. Just as I remembered, the plane is relatively easy to fly. The sun set during this leg so I logged a night landing in Springfield. I flew 2.5 hours.

As we were getting out of the plane, four F/A-18 Hornets were sitting right behind us with their engines running. Later I stepped outside to watch them take off one after another, with what looked like blue flames shooting out their backs when the afterburners were on.

I rode in the right seat on the next leg because I was too tired to fly. Courtesy of the last FBO I had a thermos full of hot cocoa and earplugs under my headset. I dozed off a couple times, but otherwise enjoyed a view of the full moon lighting up the snow below.

View Larger Map

Madison Twice, Missouri Twice

2008-12-10T23:30:00.007-06:00

"Didn't I see you in here before?" The worker behind the desk in Madison was right: it was my second stop at the airport. Today's missions in the Navajo Chieftain had us zigzagging across the same area a few times. We had a good trip.

We began at sunrise in Oshkosh. We stopped in Madison and then Lewis University Airport in Romeoville, on the southwest side of Chicago. Then it was off to Kansas City. I was surprised to see snow on the ground all the way there.

In the sliver of space between the fuselage and engine nacelle, I saw a barge go under a railroad bridge on the Illinois River as if threading a needle. More sections of barge waited downstream. Just a few months ago, I learned about piloting barges on this same river in the book Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee. It's probably easier to fly a Navajo than to steer a barge on the Illinois River.

On approach to Kansas City Downtown Airport, we flew around the city to the south (past lots of tall towers) and got a great view of the skyline on final approach.

After Kansas City we flew back to Madison. I took a picture of Dubuque, Iowa where I went to college and did most of my flight training.

In Madison, the sun set between a couple of my favorite things!

Next we flew to Warrensburg, MO where the University of Central Missouri had an endless row of Cessna 172s parked. The night ended with a flight back to Oshkosh.

The weather was outstanding. There was hardly a cloud in the sky except for some high cirrus and a few low clouds in Chicago. There was almost no wind anywhere the whole day, not even aloft, until the last bit of our final leg. Approaching Oshkosh we hit the south side of a low pressure system and found a 45-50 knot tailwind during descent - which was dandy until I had to turn around into it and land, fighting wind shear all the way down. Other than those last five minutes we barely hit a bump on the trip. At night, the clear sky and nearly full moon made the snow-covered ground show up as if it were daytime. I forgot how cool that can be.

My share of the flying was 6.2 hours but we had a much longer day than that. Time went very fast because everything ran so smoothly today.

View Larger Map

I flew the red, orange, and green legs of the flight

Great Turnout for Sheboygan Lunch

2008-12-07T22:42:00.010-06:00

It's barely December and cabin fever is already setting in. Today was the first time I've flown in a week and a half because the weather has been so bad. It's been windy and snowing a lot lately. Also I had a cold over Thanksgiving and the following week, adding to my misery because I missed a good flying weather day in there.

Where are those bright, clear winter days that I seem to remember we have here? Don't know. But I'll take a cloudy one as long as I can fly. Today was one of those.

A fellow Brennand-based pilot and I decided it's been far too long since we've organized a group fly-out. The last one I can think of was in June. Ouch! Time to fix that. We e-mailed and called our pilot friends to invite everyone to fly to Sheboygan (SBM) for lunch.

Everyone must have thought that would be a good idea, because we had a great turnout today. I was quite surprised, actually. Despite temperatures not far above zero, eight planes and one helicopter flew in for lunch at the Final Approach Steakhouse inside Burrows Aviation. There were 16 people. When the waitresses wanted to split us into two groups, we insisted upon dragging their tables and chairs together to make one king-sized table instead! The food was good as always, and the conversations were great. I think we all agreed we need to do this more often.

I flew in with two of my students who are each preparing for checkrides. Most of us were from Brennand Airport, but I also rounded up a couple people from elsewhere: a Madison-based friend from the Pilots of America message board, and a former student of mine from Oshkosh.

I really wanted to get a picture of the ice on Lake Winnebago but my camera was not cooperating and I didn't have my cell phone. The patterns in the ice were awesome.

The air was very smooth today, making for a great flight. I could see snow moving in on the way back. Not long after everyone's toys were put away into hangars, it started snowing hard and didn't stop for hours. This is the first taste of the beating we're going to take over the next few days. Tuesday could bring half a foot of snow. I'll be looking forward to the next time I can fly!

Icy Lakes

2008-11-21T23:12:00.002-06:00

I saw another sign of winter today on a flight between Neenah and Reedsburg: the lakes and rivers are freezing over. My timing was perfect for these photos. Usually each year I see the lakes wide open one day, and frozen over another. This time I caught the process in the act.

Closer to Reedsburg, we flew over Wisconsin Dells and saw the dried-up lakebed of Lake Delton. During this summer's flooding, the lake breached its banks and emptied into the Wisconsin River. It was all over the news. The lake is in the center of the picture below.

First Taste of Winter

2008-11-18T23:29:00.003-06:00

A freak mini-blizzard moved through yesterday and left a dusting of snow. The snow remained this morning when I flew from Clintonville to Brennand Airport. This is the first snow I've seen this season.

It was colder than normal today with temperatures in the 20s. The pressure was very high (30.53"Hg this morning). In the dense air I got great climb rates out of the 172 (1,000-1,300 feet per minute). Ahh, winter flying. Today was the first time the engine has seen a blanket or an extension cord in months.

I worked with my student Tony to start reviewing for his private pilot checkride. We flew 2.4 hours with stops in Green Bay and Shawano. Tonight we had our EAA Ultralight Chapter 41 meeting with yummy German food for dinner. I ducked out early in order to go work on my instrument flying skills. My former student Chris was my safety pilot while I was under the Foggles. I did three approaches at Appleton and a holding pattern, and reset my night currency by doing three landings.

Lotsa Clouds

2008-11-15T22:11:00.004-06:00

Earth disappeared for most of Thursday and Friday during a trip in the Navajo. I was in or above the clouds for the majority of a flight to North Carolina, Minnesota, Missouri, and back November 13th and 14th. The gloomy weather didn't stop the trip from being interesting.

Thursday we flew from Oshkosh to Madison to pick up a patient and dropped him off in New Bern, NC. The trip started in the afternoon and went into the night. I flew the quick hop to Madison. Then I was copilot to North Carolina, and most of that was at night. Starting around West Virginia or so, the ground was completely shrouded in fog, so badly that airports in Virginia were having trouble letting people in. There was a full moon, so for a while we could see mountains sticking up out of the fog as if it were daytime. That was very cool and I wish a camera could have captured it. I'd never seen anything like that. When we landed in North Carolina it was 65 degrees and very humid, unlike home which was in the 40s. We were supposed to come home that night but due to a snafu with arranging refueling as well as the bad weather, we stayed the night.

Friday was a very long day flying back to the Midwest to pick up a patient in Rochester, MN and take her to Springfield, MO. I flew the chunk between NC and MN, and was copilot for the rest.

Leaving New Bern we had to divert quite a bit off course to stay out of thunderstorms. Virginia and West Virginia were still clouded over, and this time we got to see the tops of the mountains in the daylight. (And my camera was in the back of the plane.) We stopped at Dayton Wright Brothers Airport for fuel and flew through a lot of rain west of that. Then we flew through a cold front, battled some ice, and finally came out on top of a seemingly endless cloud deck. Near Rochester we were in the icy clouds once again. During descent, I heard something that sounded like stones hitting the plane, and it dawned on me that was the ice shedding from the propellers. I've always noticed the protective plates on planes like this, and now I know why they're usually missing paint.

The leg from Rochester to Springfield was fine at first when we were above the clouds. The sunset was pretty. We dealt with more ice and some turbulence on this leg, which was mostly spent flying in clouds. Finally we broke out below them and could see the ground for the last bit of the leg. It was very windy on the ground in Springfield just like the last time we were there.

Homeward bound, on the final leg we had to experiment with different altitudes to try and stay out of the ice. Eventually we wound up at 11,000 feet looking down on the moonlit clouds for a while. And then we were back in them again. Hey I like flying, but c'mon, how about some scenery, huh? Oh well. I was dead tired and had surrendered all the flying duties. Somewhere along the way I started feeling symptoms of hypoxia. To steal a quote from the left-seater, it was "time to take a trip to the oxygen bar." I had never used supplemental oxygen before, and after a few hits from the mask I decided it's the best thing since sliced bread. I have a new respect for altitude.

Just as in my last two trips, I learned a lot on this one, especially more about ice and weather in general. I have a pretty good feel for the plane now and even managed to grease a couple landings. All the instrument flight time is good practice. These trips are becoming addicting.

I flew the red legs:

View Larger Map

Wisconsin - Texas - New York Trip

2008-11-07T20:32:00.003-06:00

Wednesday through early Saturday morning (Nov. 5-8) I flew my second trip in the Piper Navajo Chieftain. We flew all over the eastern half of the country and logged lots of flight time. Wednesday night we flew to Springfield, Missouri for an overnight. Thursday we flew to Houston TX, Tupelo MS, and to Morristown TN for another overnight. Friday, we flew to the Pittsburgh PA area and then to New York City (JFK!) which was really neat. Finally late that night we flew back to Oshkosh with a stop in Elmira, NY. The picture above shows our airplane at Elmira with the big hill in the background.

On the Pittsburgh to JFK leg I had déjà vu when we flew right past Johnstown, PA with about the same amount of daylight left as when I landed there on August 9th. I thought "Hey, I know those mountains!"

Landing at JFK was crazy. We had to do an instrument approach down through the clouds. Air traffic control vectored us around in such a way that left us high on final approach. But we made it in, and on final I saw jet after jet backed up on the taxiway. I have never seen so many airliners lined up in one place like that. Taxiing to the general aviation terminal was very confusing -- it didn't help that it was nighttime and the air traffic controller was barking commands at us like an auctioneer. But we made it! Leaving was not as difficult since we were able to use a different runway.

I enjoyed the trip and liked seeing so many new places I'd never been to.

Here are some more pictures from my crummy cell phone camera:

I flew the legs in red on the map below.

View Larger Map

To Iola on Halloween

2008-10-31T21:00:00.001-05:00

Halloween was a beautiful day to fly with much warmer than normal temperatures in the upper 60s, a clear sky, and light winds. I wasn't the only one who thought today was a great day for the Friday lunch in Iola. I went with a student and saw lots of people I know. Over 50 aircraft showed up, which is more than usual! The menu this week was a picnic lunch of grilled hamburgers and brats, which fit well with the weather. A lot of us sat outside to eat, trying to enjoy this weather while it lasts. Winter isn't far away!

Even Rudder the dog was enjoying the sun.

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-29T12:54:00.001-05:00

I made two Ercoupe Jack o' Lanterns for Halloween based on the picture on the Ercoupe Network web site - the "D" shape is from the Ercoupe logo.

Getting There...

2008-10-25T22:29:00.001-05:00

Our Ercoupe-in-progress saw the light of day today when we moved planes around. This time it came out of the hangar with both wings on. (I was there earlier in the week to witness the associated miracle.) It's really coming along. Finally looks like an airplane again. We've got the cowling off at the moment in order to work with the windshield. Still to do: windows, right fuel tank, interior, and weighing. Test flight comin' right up.

Drooling Over the Newest Cirrus

2008-10-21T19:19:00.000-05:00

Pass me a bib, please. I got a ride in a brand-new Cirrus SR22 with the Cirrus Perspective avionics package by Garmin. I rode in the back seat while Taylor Huether of Cirrus introduced my student to the wonders of this airplane.

This avionics system is just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. It's like having virtual reality inside the cockpit. Instead of just a two-color artificial horizon on your primary flight display, you now get synthetic vision with a 3-D view of terrain, obstructions, airports, and traffic.

Prior to taxiing out from the ramp, Taylor showed us the airport diagram feature of the multifunction display. The diagram orients itself to your plane and moves with you. Having this info right on your screen is great for preventing getting lost on the airport, and more importantly, preventing runway incursions.

We flew around for at least half an hour. Part of the demo consisted of showing off the airplane's wonderful slow-flight handling characteristics. I had actually never experimented with this, so I was intrigued to see how much roll authority you have in a stall. The wing design keeps the ailerons working without provoking a spin. Don't try that in your Cessna.

During our approach to the airport, Taylor showed how you can display Jeppesen instrument approach charts on your multifunction display. Meanwhile, when the approach is loaded into the system, the primary flight display shows the pilot a "highway in the sky" to fly through -- a series of boxes for you to aim for, like a tunnel. This simplifies flying instrument approaches and gives the pilot a lot of situational awareness.

I had to remind myself to look out the windows. The avionics were quite attention-getting. Even if you're not looking at them, you know something's different about this airplane when you hear an electronic voice calling out traffic as if it were air traffic control. "Traffic, two-o'-clock low, two miles." ATC and traffic alerts are one of the few things that will cut out your music from your XM Satellite Radio.

On approach to Green Bay's runway 36, I watched the screens display the "highway in the sky," the runway coming at us, and nearby towers. This system is an instrument pilot's dream. You no longer have to use your imagination when wondering what's ahead.

I hope it's only a matter of time before I can get a chance to sit up front in a Perspective-equipped Cirrus. For now, I am just happy to have gotten a ride in one. I've watched the SR22 evolve since my first flight in one in 2001. I've flown in each new generation of the model, and by far, this new SR22 is the most impressive. I can only imagine what will come next.

My New Old Ride

2008-10-17T18:30:00.002-05:00

The Friday lunch menu at Iola today was a Thanksgiving-style turkey dinner. I spent a lot of time talking to a gentleman who was at Pearl Harbor and learned to fly later in life. We had a good conversation. I highly recommend talking to strangers at this airport.

My ride was a 1960 Cessna 172B, several letters back in the alphabet from the L-and-up models I'm used to (1971+). To me, all the differences add up make this plane seem like it should be called a Not-Quite-172. This one may be red and white like the one I usually fly, but a glance at the straight back and a look inside will tell you it's much earlier in the lineage.

This was the plane's first flight after maintenance and a lot of sitting. I had never flown it, so I only half-trusted it... and that half was coming from having Jim, its mechanic and owner in the left seat next to me. But the plane behaved itself and won me over. It's in really nice shape. I flew the plane a bit but left most of the work to the student pilot onboard.

After Iola, we flew to Clintonville and then back to Brennand. Later in the day we went up again for a couple more takeoffs and landings. The weather was turning sour so we had to put our toy away early. We'll be flying it a lot more.

Fall Colors

2008-10-10T21:30:00.002-05:00

The fall colors are here! I went to lunch at Iola with two students, and later went on a flight from Brennand to Wautoma to Waupaca and back with Todd in his Ercoupe.

The aerial pictures from Iola back to Brennand were taken by Chris Turke. Thanks Chris!

Watertown Breakfast & Iola Lunch

2008-10-03T20:02:00.001-05:00

Two out of three meals today were airport-related. I rode to Watertown in Ted's Archer for breakfast, then I flew a brand new student to Iola for their weekly Friday lunch. I could have gone three-for-three but my last student and I had too much work to do. Here are some pictures from the Watertown trip.

Ercoupe Landing Photo

2008-09-22T19:42:00.001-05:00

Here's a picture of Todd landing his Ercoupe on September 17th:

Door County Rides & a First Solo

2008-09-21T22:12:00.000-05:00

This morning I flew solo to Sturgeon Bay in Door County to give some airplane rides to relatives and my parents' friends. I made two trips along the shores of the peninsula cutting across the middle. We saw Whitefish Dunes State Park, the Cana Island Lighthouse, Peninsula State Park, lots of marinas, golf courses, and big houses, small towns, and finally Potawatomi State Park. Sorry no pictures this time!

In the afternoon I flew a lesson with the president of our EAA chapter. He's transitioning from a trike back to an airplane, where everything is "backwards."

I rounded out the day with another lesson which included a first solo -- congratulations to Ben who has been working hard on his landings.

Todd Solos his Ercoupe

2008-09-10T23:53:00.001-05:00

My student Todd learned what it's like to take off in his Ercoupe minus one tonight. He was off the ground by the windsock, which is normally just a checkpoint in our long takeoff run when I'm aboard.

As a testament to how easy this darn little thing is to fly, Todd was the first person I have ever signed off to take his first solo at our 20-foot-wide Brennand Airport rather than somewhere else, and there was a crosswind. Congratulations to Todd, whose sport pilot certificate is just around the corner!

Canada Trip 9/4-9/5

2008-09-06T22:05:00.002-05:00

All of the above pictures are from Canada. Farms, farms, farms...

My first trip with a charter company was an unusually long two-day trip to western Canada and back. I've had my foot in the door here for a while, but I hadn't met the pilot until Wednesday. Within hours of that introduction, I got the call asking if I wanted to go along on this trip.

I flew in a Piper Navajo Chieftain, mostly running the radios and helping with navigation, but also flying from the left seat on the second day. Each day was an all-day event of flying and making stops throughout the day and into the night. Flight time alone was about 20 hours round-trip, not including stops and their associated delays. Time seemed to go fast though. It was a fun trip and a great experience for me.

Day 1: Oshkosh - Baraboo (DLL) - Rochester (RST) - Winnipeg - Saskatoon - Grande Prairie.

Day 2: Grande Prairie - Saskatoon - Grand Forks, ND (GFK) - Baraboo (DLL) - Oshkosh.

View Larger Map

The flight was very educational. Neither the other pilot nor I had ever been in Canada before. The landscape was a lot different than we expected; we learned we Americans aren't the only ones with a "Great Plains." I liked learning to fly a different airplane through various types of weather. Also, dealing with the Canadian system of air traffic control was an experience in itself. Not only were there several slight differences from U.S. phraseology and procedures, but there were giant gaps in both radar and radio coverage-- sometimes more than half an hour.

For some reason I have a vivid memory of a young charter pilot stepping out of a Piper Navajo at my home airport before I even learned to fly. I remember thinking how that was what I wanted to do, fly people around in planes like that one, and I was going to do whatever it took to get there. Years later, here I am. I'm looking forward to more of this type of flying.

The Best Weekend of my Summer

2008-09-01T19:49:00.004-05:00

This Labor Day weekend I flew to Prickett-Grooms Field (6Y9) in Sidnaw, upper Michigan and camped with a group of pilot friends from the Pilots of America message board.

On Friday evening, I left with all my camping gear and a folding bike in the Cessna 172 and flew 1.4 hours north to Sidnaw. Right behind me, John, another Brennand Airport-based pilot, flew up in his Cherokee 140. The flight seemed to go pretty fast because I spent most of it talking to John and the pilots of two other Sidnaw-bound planes on the air-to-air radio frequency.

That night, everyone filled the Frederick family's cars and pickup truck and rode to Hoppy's Bar in nearby Kenton. We ate, listened to live music from "Purdy Good," talked airplanes, and let the locals entertain us with their dance moves. Back at the airport, the stars were out in full force with no moon or city lights.

Saturday morning most of us struggled out of bed after our late night of fun. The public came out to the airport for the official fly-in event that consisted of lunch, helicopter rides, and Young Eagles flights. There were lots of people including a news reporter. A few people from our group gave some plane rides, but mostly we hung out in the shade, relaxed all afternoon, and went to the local gas station for hand-scooped ice cream. Eventually the crowd disappeared and it was time for our group to pile onto a hay wagon for our next adventure.

Yes, a hay wagon. It was fun! Pulled by a tractor, we enjoyed a sunset cruise of about an hour to Hoppy's Bar. There, we stocked up on pizzas for the ride back. It was dark by then, and we ate our pizza under the stars on the wagon, bundled up in coats and blankets.

Our hayride ended at the bar in Sidnaw, where we hoped they had a TV that would show the local news. They didn't, so we were unable to see the news story about the fly-in. Some of our group went over to the Fredericks' cabin for a campfire. I went back to the airport for a somewhat early bedtime since I was pretty tired.

Sunday morning, after a good night's sleep I was up not long after dawn. Everything was soaked with dew. When Tim left in the Citabria, his airplane shed water like a mini waterfall, which looked really neat in the morning sun. I got a video clip of Tom leaving in his RV-8.

I couldn't just stand around on this beautiful morning and watch everyone else fly! I untied the 172 and took it for a half-hour sightseeing flight up to the Keewenaw Bay.

And the day just kept getting more fun. After my flight, I joined everyone over at the cabin for a fire-cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs. John and I went back to the airport, where he packed up and left to go camping on Madeline Island. Meanwhile, I got a ride in an AMD Zodiac 601 sport plane.

I went back to the cabin and waited with a few others for our turn on the ATVs. The Fredericks have six ATVs and there were five of us in the second group. Soon I donned my helmet and goggles and was off on a two-hour ATV trip. It included stops at a middle-of-nowhere cabin and a bluff overlooking the forest. It was ridiculously fun and the scenery was great.

By Sunday evening, the majority of our group had flown home but I chose to stay. Those of us who remained (which included our hosts) went to a steakhouse several miles away for dinner. The food and conversations were great. Tri-Pacer pilot Barb and I stayed in "the bunkhouse" at the cabin while the remaining people slept in the cabin.

Although I wished this weekend would never end, this morning I left bright and early. I knew the wind was going to get pretty strong later and wanted my flight to be as smooth as possible. I really lucked out because although there was as much as a 30-knot headwind, my ride was completely smooth all the way to Clintonville, where I exchanged the 172 for our Piper Arrow that needed to go back to Brennand.

A big thank-you goes out to the Frederick family for rescuing this little airport from extinction and hosting such a fun event each year. I am glad to know all these wonderful people who helped make this weekend a huge blast!

24 more pictures! Click the play button below or click here to view the album.

Cleveland Day Trip

2008-08-21T23:30:00.002-05:00

My student and I logged 7.7 hours in the Arrow today on a trip to Burke Lakefront Airport (BKL) in Cleveland, Ohio. This airport is Cleveland's answer to Chicago's Meigs Field (now closed). It is situated along the shore of Lake Erie, right next to downtown. Until recently, the airport hosted the Grand Prix of Cleveland, which I used to pretend to race in my Indy car simulator game on the computer. The Cleveland Browns stadium is close by, and so are museums, an IMAX theater, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and boat tours.

While an overwater route would have been shorter, we took the Chicago lakefront route instead in both directions. On the way out, we stopped for fuel at Toledo Metcalf Airport, a place I had been before.

The weather today was very warm and hazy... 90 degrees on the ground in Cleveland. It got hazy enough that I felt better filing an IFR flight plan for the way back. Turned out to be a good idea since we could hardly see into the haze facing the sun. I cancelled it near Chicago. It was night by the time we flew past the Chicago skyline, so we were treated to seeing it in both day and nighttime today.

Busy Iola Friday Lunch

2008-08-15T19:36:00.000-05:00

I convinced our mechanic Jim to fly into Iola with me today for the weekly Friday lunch. We took a 172 and he flew the whole way there and back, including the takeoffs and landings. Central County Airport was unusually packed because the weather was so good. We practically had to park in the next county. But the folks in charge over there planned ahead well, and they had enough food for all of us even though the line seemed to go out the hangar to oblivion. It was a fun time as always.

Sky Arrow to... New Jersey, Day 5

2008-08-12T23:48:00.002-05:00

This morning I almost went crazy. But finally, finally, finally I was able to make the last leg of my journey to deliver Sean's Sky Arrow back to him.

At 8 a.m. when I was eating my free cereal, the clouds were still overcast at 600 feet above the airport -- about level with the mountains to the east. At 9 a.m. or so when the friendly FBO employee gave me a ride to the airport, the lower layer of clouds had broken up and now there was an overcast layer at 1,400 feet. The forecast said that the clouds would lift dramatically by noon.

I preflighted the airplane while the weather was still no-go so that I'd be ready at a moment's notice. I kept calling the number for the airport's automated weather in order to get updates on the height of the clouds. Slowly, they were rising and starting to break up.

The instant I heard "two thousand, two hundred" I was like a horse out of the starting gate. I said goodbye to the people in the FBO. I called Sean, who confirmed that he wanted me to take the plane to Woodbine, New Jersey (1N4) instead of the west side of Philadelphia. (Whatever, just get me outta here.) I climbed into the Sky Arrow and was cleared to taxi to runway 33.

Since it was almost dark when I landed here three nights ago, today was the first time I got a good view of the landscape surrounding the airport. I snapped a picture after takeoff. Standing on the airport surface, you can't quite see beyond the plateau you're on. Fifty feet off the ground is a different story. If it weren't for the glare in my picture, you could really get a sense of the way the terrain drops off to reveal the valleys below.

Johnstown's control tower asked me if I'd like flight following all the way to my destination, and what my intended cruising altitude was. I told them yes and that I'd stay at 3,500 for now, knowing that in a few miles I'd have to go higher than that unless I wanted to hit something. And as I climbed and got a better view ahead, I realized squeezing myself between the clouds and the mountains might not be a good idea. Almost 100 miles of wrinkled earth stretched between me and Harrisburg, PA before things would level out. Even if I could stay below the clouds, it would probably be a rough ride.

I had studied the forecasts and satellite imagery before embarking on this trip, and everything suggested that the clouds would never completely fill in, leaving lots of holes. When faced with a decision whether to try and "scud run" over mountains or go way up high over the clouds, I shoved the throttle forward and aimed for the blue sky you see in my takeoff picture. This took me a little off course to start, but it was my only tunnel to get above those clouds. I thought 5,500 feet would do it-- ah, no. The cloud tops are always higher than they look. I kept climbing. Finally at 7,500 feet I had the required cloud clearance and could see forever. It was cold up there, probably about 45 degrees although I didn't have a thermometer. It was also almost blindingly bright and the sun kept me warm without the heater. I turned on course and checked in with a controller from Cleveland Center. *The Dynon EFIS and Garmin GPS screens don't show up in this picture because of the lighting, but they're there.

I was very thankful I was up here and not down in the haze and the bumps. I could always see the ground through holes among the clouds, so I always had kind of an idea of what was down there and where I was. The further east I went, the more the cumulus clouds went in rows paralleling the mountains. Every now and then I'd get a stunning view of the mountains below. I have been above the clouds many times but never in a plane with this kind of unobstructed visibility. It was awesome.

Near Harrisburg, which lies south of the last major ridgeline, I started having to weave among the cumulus buildups as their tops became higher. I knew I couldn't weave much longer without running through a wall of clouds ahead, so I requested an altitude of 8,500 feet. Yes, the "wrong" altitude for the direction I was heading, which is why I asked if I could temporarily have it. It took every ounce of power and patience for the little plane to struggle up to 8,500 feet. This solved my immediate problem, but I saw I still wouldn't be able to get over that last row of clouds because it would take a long time to climb to 9,500 feet. There was only one sure-fire way out: descend below the clouds, into the warmth, the haze, and the turbulence.

Down I went, aiming for the city, steering along a clear path between me and that big row of clouds. I wove around some lower ones, and by the time I was about 5,500 feet and about to run into clouds, I was above the city. The only thing I could do was spiral down through a huge opening in the clouds, and I let air traffic control know what was going on. I think they misunderstood at first, because I think they took my statement to mean that I was trapped above the clouds. No... not at all, I told them, and clarified that I was just fine and needed no help. I simply needed to make a U-turn, shed altitude, and get back on course. The bottoms of the clouds were at 4,300 feet and I descended to 3,500 feet, where I could see the Susquehanna River and lots of civilization.

Gone was my clear blue sky and now I was in some warmer, hazier air. It was so turbulent that I could hardly hold altitude, and the plane banked 30 degrees left and right. I still had at least an hour of flight to go and did not want to endure this kind of turbulence that long. I started considering taking a break at one of the nearby airports but knew I had an airline flight to catch soon. And then unexpectedly, a few miles southeast of the city, I was in luck: the clouds suddenly broke up again and the tops looked much lower. Whoo hoo! I shot right back up there, first to 5,500 feet and then to 7,500 feet. Now it was smooth sailing to my destination.

My toes were a little cold but otherwise I was fine up here in the smooth air again, trying to hide from the sun under my jacket and hat. Most of the scenery consisted of clouds, but I often got small glimpses of the landscape. The Delaware River appeared through a large gap in the clouds. A Philadelphia approach controller asked me if I would like to descend, but I said no, I'd rather stay up here at 7,500 as long as possible. My idea was to stay in this smooth air until very near the airport, and then to take advantage of the hopefully smooth air over the Delaware Bay.

I deviated from course just a hair in order to put myself over the bay. This was west of Cape May, a peninsula on the other side of which lies the Atlantic Ocean. The airport I was heading to is not far southwest of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and it was the Atlantic City controllers who worked with me on the way into Woodbine. The picture to the right shows the Delaware Bay ahead of me in the haze, and the edges of the cumulus clouds along the shore. I flew beyond the shoreline and turned along it, finally beginning a descent in what was thankfully smooth air.

Once below the bases of the clouds, I turned inland over the marshes and forests. I made a radio call to announce my position. Someone in the FBO responded back that Sean was there waiting for me. That was pretty exciting... I knew I was minutes away from completing a nearly 800-nautical-mile journey and a friend was there waiting for me. I touched down on Woodbine's runway after 2.4 hours in the air today. Sean and I put the plane away and headed for Philadelphia International where I took the airlines to Milwaukee. Had it not been for all the weather delays, I would have had more time for sightseeing.

I logged a total of 9.6 hours on this trip and chalked this up as the third time I have flown a Sky Arrow on a long cross-country. I have learned the plane's limitations as well as my own, and have seen how important it is to plan a lot of extra time into your trip in these limited airplanes. Had this been an IFR-equipped Cessna 172, I could have made the trip in a day or two. But had it been a Cessna 172, it would have been too easy. And as far as the view, I had the best seat in the house.