The Journey to Kalamazoo

I've always liked the name of that city. "Kalamazoo" has a certain...flair to it. :) Anyway, the Baron needed to go up there today and stay to get its annual inspection done (yearly maintenance inspection), and I was the "chase" plane in the Saratoga. I hadn't been out to the airport since our freezing rain/snow, so I gave a little groan when I got there and saw how ice-covered all the taxiways and ramps and runways still were. It was COLD, too. We immediately ran into two problems: 1) Couldn't pull the Baron out of the hangar because the ramp was so icy that the wheels on the tug just spun and 2) Couldn't pull the Saratoga (pictured to the right) out of its hangar because the taxiway and "driveway" for lack of a better word was so icy, and Uphill, that there was no way the tug was going to get it out. This is where having a lot of helpful friends is very important. :) Steve and Steve C. tried to break up the ice in front of the hangar so that the tug could maybe get some traction, but that was a losing proposition. So Chuck got a tow strap out, hooked it to our Jeep, and Steve pulled out both planes with the Jeep. Of course it was a little more difficult than that, but that's the bottom line, and it worked. I'd never have gotten out of there by myself, that's for sure. Even most of the places that look clear had a thin veneer of ice over them. It took everybody a lot of time and effort to get us going, and I appreciated it! The weather hadn't sounded so great--in-flight icing, IFR, so this wasn't shaping up to be a nice relaxing flight. Nathan took off first, and I followed behind him, and the runway was just a sheet of ice with a little snow on it. As I was adding power (gently!) to take off, I said out loud to myself "Don't touch the brakes, whatever happens!" It never hurts to remind oneself of important things. ;) But the rest of the trip that had sounded questionable wasn't, and ended up just perfect. Got on top of the clouds and it was a be-au-ti-ful day up there, clear skies and bright sun. It was a quick flight over, got just a hint of ice on the windshield coming back down, and their runway in Michigan was just fine. We left the Baron there and all headed back together in the Saratoga. The only event of any "fun" there was the landing. One Airplane Sled, coming up! It's funny, we talked all the way down the ILS, but once it got down to the landing, that was one quiet airplane. Nathan was flying this leg, and he did a textbook job. Funnily enough, before we touched down, he said out loud to himself "Davis, don't touch the brakes, whatever happens." I laughed to myself, since I was fairly sure I'd heard that somewhere else that same day. :) We touched down straight and our momentum carried us straight, even with a bit of a crosswind (the one time a crosswind really is not a good thing) but it was still dead quiet in the airplane until we'd slowed down to almost a stop, at not too far away from the end of the runway. Then somebody said something, and Nathan joked "we're not back to the hangar, yet!" But by this time, while the runway was still ice, fortunately the sun had done some work on the taxiways and it was starting to melt a little there. We still didn't think we'd have an easy time getting the plane put away, so Nathan drove it right into the big hangar, which worked for all of us. :) And thus concludes our Journey to Kalamazoo.

But it doesn't conclude Steve's adventures. After he helped pull out our two planes, he had a lesson in another plane...and nobody really to help him pull it out because we were all gone to Kalamazoo now. He got it out, mostly, and it was icy enough he could just grab a wing and push and the whole plane swiveled around. But it wouldn't start. Dead battery. Last I heard, he was trying to hook up a battery charger to get it started for his student who was an hour late and with weather still a little low for VFR (normal) flying. So Steve's having a great day. ;)

Ken and Steve are out there instructing, too. Ah, winter flying in the heartland. I have to laugh-we at Glenndale are the Postman Equivalent of Aviation: Neither rain nor wind nor icy runway stays these pilots from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. ;)

(Sleet would though.)

When we got everything put away, we were *starving*, so Nathan, Chuck and I went to Ci-Ci's Pizza, where I wolfed down slightly too much food. Not too much else going on tonight. Kaylee is doing homework now and then I'll take her on to Awanas and head out to dinner with Steve and Chuck (who has probably seen way too much of me today) ;). I think I may actually go to bed early tonight; I'm kind of pooped today, and I didn't get anything done around here, either. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. *gulp*