A friend in need...

Jay Honeck

Jay Honeck

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
11,571
Location
Ingleside, TX
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Display name:
Jay Honeck
...is a friend, indeed!

So, Mary and I were away on a rare four-day flying trip. We spent a couple of days in Houston, and then flew over to New Braunfels, for a night in the historic Faust Hotel and Brewery.

I had been watching the prog charts all week, and knew that there would be storms moving in from the West late Sunday, but all the charts were consistently showing a nice, big, VFR window Sunday, so I wasn't concerned. We had a great time at the brewery last night, and enjoyed a great meal and many fine lagers and ales.

The last thing I did before retiring was to check the weather. Uh oh. The prog charts were different, and those storms were now coming in mid-day today, rather than late in the day. Reluctantly, I set my alarm for early this morning.

At 7 AM, the sun was shining, and everything looked great. Then I checked the radar. Holy crap!

The charts had changed again! A line of thunderstorms was now stretching in a line from Southwest to Northeast, moving to the East -- directly into our route of flight. It was clear that if we didn't leave NOW, we weren't going anywhere -- and it wasn't going to clear up for several days. I awakened a very unhappy wife, and we were out the door and in the cab in less than 30 minutes.

By the time we got to the airport, things were already falling apart. Visibility was getting scuzzy, the ceiling was dropping, and the skies to the Southwest were ominously darkening. One look at the radar confirmed our worst fears -- the line was solidifying, moving more quickly than predicted -- and building in from behind.

I posted this on Facebook, and within two minutes this group's very own David White (owner of "White Lightning") responded that we could move Atlas into his (now vacant) hail shed at New Braunfels, and that he would be at the airport in 20 minutes to help! Wow!

David was true to his word. We moved Atlas under cover, tied him down, and then let David take us out to brunch at a favorite restaurant, our treat. We enjoyed a relaxing hour, as the weather outside completely deteriorated.

What a great thing it is, to be part of this piloting fraternity/sorority we all belong to. Here we are, stuck far from home, in a strange town, and a friend from Pilots of America comes to our rescue! Thanks again, David!

We rented a car and made the long, horrible, 200 mile drive back to the island in storms that dumped an absolutely incredible amount of rain, with lightning to match.

This is what we saw all the way -- and why we opted not to fly today!

292545_379435945425639_100000777116758_962602_1183980106_n.jpg
 
That's our David. Good guy.

Nothing you wouldn't have done for most any of us, either. Works out pretty well!
 
Jay, thank you for the kind words. It was great meeting you and Mary today, and thanks again for breakfast! Like Spike said, you would have done the same for us! Here's what the radar looks like right now
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N801BH said:
That is some UGLY looking weather...:yesnod::yikes:
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As we were approaching the island from the North, we were tuned into a local Corpus Christi radio station when they broke in with a tornado warning, and witnesses tracking it on the ground.

In Iowa, this was a weekly occurrence in the summer -- but it's never happened here in 2 years. To say it was "storming" doesn't even begin to cut it. I've never seen it rain so hard -- anywhere.
 
Someone oughta fly with that kid to Michigan!

Oh, wait...

---

Atlas is right where Atlas needs to be.
 
Lets hear one for David, making it easier for our gallant OP to make the right decision. At this rate that kid's going to be owed a lot of beers by the time he's old enough to drink them.
 
The wx man in New Orleans said there were over 4,000 lightning strikes detected in that storm yesterday! (while in TX)
 
David is indeed a special individual. Good job David.
 
NO NO NO!!!! This cant be! I disagreed with David in another thread and I am trying to be small minded and not like him because of it!!!!!!! And here he goes doing the right thing, being a good neighbor and showing maturity beyond his years and completely unraveling my diabolical plan!!!!

Seriously, David if you ever find yourself flying through central Alabama, I love to meet you and buy you a burger. You are one of the good ones.
Well done!!
 
Jay Honeck said:
As we were approaching the island from the North, we were tuned into a local Corpus Christi radio station when they broke in with a tornado warning, and witnesses tracking it on the ground.

In Iowa, this was a weekly occurrence in the summer -- but it's never happened here in 2 years. To say it was "storming" doesn't even begin to cut it. I've never seen it rain so hard -- anywhere.
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Welcome to the coast... When you have an unlimited supply of moisture combined with a big temperature differential it can put on quite a show.. Maybe not as often as elsewhere, but when it happens it happens.

After the events of last summer I wont complain about the rain but sorry it cut your plans short. And glad you guys are safe at home.
 
This is why I love PoA... just a great group of folks! Thanks David for being one of them!
 
This is what I live about aviation, everyone willing to help out a fellow aviator in times of less than favorable conditions.
 
An interesting aside: Mary mentioned that this was only the second time (in 18 years of flying, all VFR) that we have had to park the plane and drive home. Sure, we've had to be flexible and maybe fly around weather, but in all those hundreds (thousands?) of flights, this has only happened one other time.

Not a bad dispatch rate, considering.
 
Great job, David.

And, Jay, I think flying through that junk would have resulted in an NTSB report that none of us would want to have read. Good call on driving.
 
Nice! Thanks, David.

Having lived in San Antonio, I know that ugly weather can brew up fast.
 
Good on you, David!

Jay, how many 24 hour layovers have you had to do though? I can't imagine having that kind of dispatch rate VFR up here in sunny Michigan. I haven't had to drive home since 2002, but that's because I don't push the weather and haven't done any really long trips anyway.
 
azure said:
Good on you, David!

Jay, how many 24 hour layovers have you had to do though? I can't imagine having that kind of dispatch rate VFR up here in sunny Michigan. I haven't had to drive home since 2002, but that's because I don't push the weather and haven't done any really long trips anyway.
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The key is flexibility. We have laid over 24 hours on some occasions. We have flown to an entirely different vacation destination on rare occasions, if the weather looked like it would be bad for an extended stretch.

In this case, the weather was predicted to stay bad for several days, and we simply couldn't wait. Thus, the long drive. We'll do it again Sunday, when we return the rental car and fly home.
 
azure said:
Good on you, David!

Jay, how many 24 hour layovers have you had to do though? I can't imagine having that kind of dispatch rate VFR up here in sunny Michigan. I haven't had to drive home since 2002, but that's because I don't push the weather and haven't done any really long trips anyway.
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I have a similar VFR dispatch record to Jay and I haven't lost a full day to weather yet when I was underway going somewhere and I pretty much always stay underneath. I don't spend winters in the northern states much, but then again, winter doesn't bring that much long duration low IMC and I'm not flying in cold wet clouds anymore, not without deice equipment:no:.

Typically I only lose half days or an hour or two, sometimes less waiting for a front to pass. I'll fly up to it and either find a way through/under it or land and wait for a bit, if it's really ugly I'll stick her in a hangar while I wait.

I found out a long time ago not to wait for weather reports or predictions to leave on a long trip, because by the time I get to the weather as it's reported it'll have changed and/or moved by the time I get there.

Same reason I don't plan routes with fuel stops on long cross continent trips, I know where I'm going, I'm just not sure of the path until I get to it because I don't know where I'm going to be in 3 hours much less 6; It could be a 100 miles or more off my direct course line due to weather. The only thing I do different if I know I'm going to have significant weather enroute is tanker extra fuel and not stretch my range as far.

I have my favorite stops I like that I use when I'm in some areas because I know them to always have low prices on fuel and good food, a good mechanic that has loaned me a tool or supplied me with a free sign off after I do a quick repair, something that distinguishes them as a cut above ordinary service. This applies to a couple of Signature and some other big "Jet Center" type FBOs as well, I don't 'avoid' them as I found I can easily negotiate down the fuel price as well as finding ramp fees don't usually even get assessed as long as one purchases fuel or at least are nice and a friendly pleasant person. Parking out of the way or where the marshaller directs without scaring them is a good thing as well.;) If I'm not familiar with one in the area anymore I just land when I need fuel wherever I may be.
 
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Tracey said:
You couldn't fly around it, huh? :lol:

In all seriousness-- somehow I'm not surprised. People on the board seem to have hearts of gold. :yesnod: Good job, David!
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Excellent David, nice that you're keeping him out of the hail and vertical nastiness coming out of the sky. Were there other open shades or hangars available or did he super luck out that yours was not only free, but available.

You're right Tracey, this board's members relayed me across the country GA and provided me accommodation when I came back from Aus the first time; what a great way it was to return as well, flying across the country GA meeting and enjoying the hospitality of several excellent people. Between California and Florida. It was 3 1/2 months to get home to Ft Lauderdale, but I had found another home in Atlanta as well during that time with one of my hosts, just no work...:rofl: Oh well, at least my plane can enjoy the company up there.

As for tornadoes, you can fly around them pretty easily, they aren't the big risk items except if one happens to drop on you, the main risk is getting in hail which is why you always pass upwind of the big towering CBs, that is if you stay underneath where you can see things. If you go IMC in that stuff you won't know you're about to get hailed on until it goes green a second or so before you get pummeled, very likely on top and bottom surfaces; if the nice straight T-28 that NOAA guy flew into a supercell was any indication when it landed, (that was it's last landing; the plane was scrap metal when it completed that flight and I was amazed it was flying when he landed, shows you what Horsepower and a Navy plane will do for you) to death.
 
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Henning said:
but I had found another home in Atlanta as well during that time with one of my hosts, just no work...:rofl: Oh well, at least my plane can enjoy the company up there.
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Yeah, the least you could have done is left me the keys. :D
 
Henning said:
I found out a long time ago not to wait for weather reports or predictions to leave on a long trip, because by the time I get to the weather as it's reported it'll have changed and/or moved by the time I get there.
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What has changed EVERYTHING about flying for us is XM weather on board.

In the old days (you know -- 10 years ago :lol:) we would check the weather patterns on the ground before flight, and then -- possibly 5 hours later -- be facing a completely different weather situation in flight. We might fly up to IFR conditions and then take a wild guess on which direction to turn. Sometimes we were right, and lucky -- other times, not so much. Often we would have to land and wait it out.

Now? You can see the weather developing dynamically in flight. You can see cells and lines developing and fading, perhaps 500 miles out. In the case of a moving frontal boundary, this is fantastic, because you can make minor course adjustments of maybe 3 degrees that -- 3 hours later -- means you will miss the system entirely. No more flying up to the face of a storm and wondering which way to turn!

Three acronyms have changed flying entirely for us. GPS, XM, and ANR.

With this flight, however, there was no "going around it". It was a wide area, rapidly developing area of severe weather that eventually covered our entire route of flight. If we had unlimited time, I'd still be sitting in that brewery/hotel -- but we had to be back before our staff mutinied... :rolleyes:
 
One of the reasons I DON'T do a lot of long trips is being afraid of getting into a situation like Jay found himself in. Without someone like David willing to go the extra mile, what do you do if you're on the ground somewhere, a bad storm with high winds and hail a half hour or so out, no way to go around it and you're stuck at a tiedown?

I know that major FBOs at controlled fields will usually tug your plane into a hangar when they can, but what if the storm comes at night and/or they don't have room for you in the hangar?

Obviously if you're at a backwoods field with no FBO you're SOL. I don't even take day trips to backwoods fields during the summer if there's any chance of thunder. Last summer a friend and I hightailed it out of MCD when we learned that a line of strong cells was approaching the Wisconsin side of the Lake Michigan shoreline. That was a few hours ahead of the forecast, and before I bought my iPad.
 
azure said:
One of the reasons I DON'T do a lot of long trips is being afraid of getting into a situation like Jay found himself in. Without someone like David willing to go the extra mile, what do you do if you're on the ground somewhere, a bad storm with high winds and hail a half hour or so out, no way to go around it and you're stuck at a tiedown?

I know that major FBOs at controlled fields will usually tug your plane into a hangar when they can, but what if the storm comes at night and/or they don't have room for you in the hangar?

Obviously if you're at a backwoods field with no FBO you're SOL. I don't even take day trips to backwoods fields during the summer if there's any chance of thunder. Last summer a friend and I hightailed it out of MCD when we learned that a line of strong cells was approaching the Wisconsin side of the Lake Michigan shoreline. That was a few hours ahead of the forecast, and before I bought my iPad.
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Insurance.

I chickened out and paid for a hangar at KLBF when the plane stayed there last summer while we did the OSH Yukon drive o' shame.

Later I asked if they'd had any hail in all the t-storms I watched roll across NE on the iPhone while I was enjoying OSH. Nope.

Over $100 for the week. Peace of mind, but was it worth it? Hard to say. Would they have pulled it inside? Hard to say.

Co-owners thought it was the right call too. There's always that aspect. If you have the option and don't take it, and create a hellish insurance paperwork PITA for co-owners, who's the forever bad guy?
 
Doggtyred said:
Just FYI. The same storm system dropped 5-8 inches in Houston. Yea. That was a good one.
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And here is a picture of the conditions we flew in today, after making the long drive back to New Braunfels. As you can see, it was a glorious day, and the flight was magnificent!

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Now, compare that to the photo I took during the storm, and you can see it was worth the wait!

292545_379435945425639_100000777116758_962602_1183980106_n.jpg
 
Henning said:
As for tornadoes, you can fly around them pretty easily
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Now THIS is good information! I will try to fly around some today, (if at all possible) and see if I can snap some nice pictures to show everyone. :yesnod:

:rofl: :lol: :rofl: :lol:
 
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