flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
Quick? ME???
Before I get to more of the story below, the first leg from KMSN to KDFI (Defiance, in western OH) was fairly uneventful. Normally I'd go VFR down the Chicago lakeshore, but between the weather and a certain president-elect, that wasn't an option today. Normally I'd just file direct through the KELSI penalty box, but today the weather looked like I might have to stay low to keep from icing up, so I filed airways so I'd have the ability to stay lower if I needed it. The first leg was MSN V9 KELSI V38 MAPPS V233 GSH V92 ILTON which would allow me to fly the whole route at 3,000 if I needed to.
I didn't need to. The weather was pretty good. I was in some very light snow for a bit between RFD and KELSI, but no other IMC until the descent into KDFI. The only other bit of excitement was that Rockford Approach completely forgot to hand me off. I finally called and asked them about it and got a frequency for Chicago Center.
So the reason for the long break was to re-check the weather and figure out my next course of action. I knew I was going to have good (good enough, anyway) weather as far as Defiance. I fueled the plane and the pilot, and sat down to look at the weather. My original route of KDFI VWV V126 ERI V270 CFB V542 ALB was fairly close to Lake Erie, and the lake was throwing up some NASTY stuff today:
BUF UUA /OV BUF135020 /TM 2044 /FL080 /TP A320 /TA M08 /IC MOD SEV 080-060 /RM /TA M02 060 (the HIWAS said it was moderate between 4000 and 6000 and severe between 6000 and 8000)
And if an A320 thinks it's severe, well... Take the ol' proverbial flying manhole cover and coat it with ice... Yikes.
So, I planned a new route farther away from the lake: KDFI MFD CIP ULW V542 ALB. I had descended through the lower scattered to broken layer of clouds on my way into DFI and did not pick up any ice. Tops were around 5,000 at that point. However, I knew the layer was going to be thicker up ahead, and I didn't want to be right in the tops. So, I filed for 7,000 knowing I'd need to make it up to 11,000 eventually. Tops were forecast to be between 10,000 and 14,000, but the VAD Wind Profiler (which is FINALLY available to pilots, at least on WSI - Woohoo! - One of the best weather tools, IMHO, and it's about time someone besides the briefers can see it) showed that the actual tops were only at 9 or 10 thousand along my entire route. Looking at TAF's and FA's it looked like there would be some spots where I could drop back down safely, so I again filed airways to allow the lowest MIA's for the leg.
When I finally launched, I climbed to 7000 and the first layer was 4000 to 5300 with no ice. Near Mansfield, visibility was going down and when I looked up it looked like there might be better vis above, so I asked for 9,000 (and the vis improved significantly). Later on (near Youngstown IIRC) it started getting dark and also looking like I'd be in the tops again before too long, so I asked for 11,000. During the climb I did go into the side of what I'd seen. I picked up a trace of rime ice around 10,000 and at about 10,200 in the cracks of the broken layer, I saw blue sky a ways above, so I went from a cruise climb to a quick "zoom" climb and busted out the top of the clouds at 10,700 whereupon there was suddenly a LOT more light, and unrestricted visibility.
One of my favorite outs is to have lots of extra fuel. Had there been no way to get down into Albany without turning into a popsicle, there was somewhat better weather to the south, so KPOU was my filed alternate. However, I was happy to see a big hole in the clouds at Elmira, and an even larger one at Binghamton.
I was conserving the 496's battery for when I really needed it, and when Boston Center said he was painting moderate precip in front of me, I decided that was a good time to use it! However, it turns out that the weather he was painting was a snowstorm that was all below me. No precip, IMC, anything at my altitude, and there were enough lights illuminating parts of the cloud deck that I could still see it OK.
After I'd informed Boston Center that I was above the weather, I also let him know that I wanted to stay high and do a slam-dunk approach into Albany (which was reporting 5000 overcast). As seems to be my luck when flying in weather that's forecast to be terrible, there was a big gaping hole over Albany and I didn't hit any IMC at all on the way in.
BTW, this Million Aire FBO at KALB is *fabulous* and that's a word I never use. Huge, clean terminal, free soda fountain/popcorn/coffee/cookies, friendly and helpful people, and 100LL is $3.68 from the truck and $3.18 from the self-serve pump, all open and staffed 24/7. WOW! Oh, and there's a room where I'll be sleeping tonight, in a bed, for free, with bathroom and shower for the morning. And, believe it or not, they're the only FBO on the field! I will *definitely* be back here. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a single thing they could do better.
EDIT: Man, but THEY did! I found a room marked "Cinema" that's got huge leather recliners in a stadium-seating configuration with a big-screen TV and a computerized system where you can choose movies to watch. I think I might need to live here.
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