Frigid

I can't think of any other title to fully express today than that. It. Was. Frigid. When I woke up this morning to see if Kaylee had any school delays, I saw that there was currently a windchill of -11. Yeah, eleven degrees below zero. But the sky was blue, so it was time to try to go fly--if we could get the planes out and if we could get them started. The "out" ended up not being a problem. The snow was loose enough and it wasn't overly icy, so traction was no problem, and it hadn't piled up in front of the door, either. The "started" wasn't a problem for Steve in the RG with the plug-in tanis heater. For the 172 I was in with just a tube trying to shoot warm air up into the engine from the bottom, well, it was a little less happy with the cold. I had to talk sweetly to it and keep it running with the prime (delicately) for a little while. Kind of hard on an airplane. But we went out, did a few maneuvers, then came in for some crosswind takeoffs and landings. Landing number two, after we touched down, I felt a rapid deceleration, and said "No need to get on the brakes here", and while I was talking, the plane slewed off to the left and started shimmying, and I interrupted myself and said "You're not on the brakes, are you." He said "No, I'm not!" I said "We have a flat tire." It wasn't mine or we'd have pulled right, not left, so I asked about his, and he said his main was fine too. I said "Leave it running. I'm going to get out and walk to the side and look at the nosewheel. I will not walk near the prop, and don't move anything." Sure enough...
As Chuck said though, it's only flat on the bottom. ;)

We sat in the very cold plane in the subzero windchill temps and waited for the posse to arrive. The airport guys had to officially close the runway until the plane was gone, so I've now closed a runway twice in two years due to flat tires. I got a ride in a snow plow when one of the airport guys had mercy on us and drove us back up the mile plus to the terminal area. Jon had the tire fixed before my 2:30 flight, and we were back in business.

But it was still really cold. Face burning, hands icy even in gloves, I actually zipped up my coat and wore long johns kind of cold. Another hour of flying plus an hour of ground and it was time to do a little vehicle swapping, then finally home around 5 or so. It took me a couple of hours to really feel warm, and I'm wiped out, too. I'll bet that poor plane was happy to be put away in the hangar with a blanket on its cowling and a heater up its engine compartment, too.

I told Steve, I know days like these are the dues you pay to have the more fun, nicer days, and that as tempting as a normal job sounded while I was sitting out on a frozen runway waiting for a ride back, since I'd have succumbed to hypothermia if I'd tried to walk a mile in those temps, there are many more days where I'll be glad to not have normal. :)

This morning I stopped by the store and we picked up some cupcakes for Kaylee's class for her birthday. She had lots of choices, but she ended up picking an NFL goalpost made out of cupcakes with a Colts emblem on it. Right next to it was a butterfly cupcake cake thingy, and she wanted nothing to do with it. Nope, she had to have the football one. So we got the football cupcake thing. She's definitely her own girl. :)

My shiny new laptop is here, and I got it out of the box and charging when I got home from my last flight. It is slowly being set up, and Kaylee is sufficiently jealous, because until now SHE had the best computer in the house. Hopefully it'll be up and running soon, but we have things to do this weekend. It's a birthday weekend, you know!