The flights today really went off like clockwork. They weren't always perfectly easy, especially the trip home, but they worked out exactly as planned and hoped. That doesn't always happen. :) I took off at 6:15, and it was dark, 400 overcast with mist/drizzle/rain. I broke out on top somewhere around 8000', and went on up to FL180, because I had a tailwind going down. That's unusual, because I was headed slightly west, but the winds were backwards today. This is the first thing that really worked out nicely, because this was a mandatory bid meeting, meaning we HAD to be there before an exact time. The distance to Mobile, Alabama is so far, that when the winds are not in your favor, I have to lean way out and slow way down to try to make it, and it's a delicate balance as to whether you'll make it without stopping for gas or not. So the winds being in my favor, and how, with a 50 knot tailwind, made it so that I didn't have to lean out or slow down anything beyond normal, and we booked it down there and made it in perfect time. The main mission of the trip was easily accomplished. Love that.
I also got to watch the sun rise with a clear sky above a distinct cloud deck. Love that, too. After all this time, that still never gets old.
When we arrived in Mobile, he took off in the courtesy car, and I went for a walk, without a coat. See, in Mobile it was 50 degrees and sunny. Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah. ;)
The trip home, the winds were now right off my nose. If I flew home way down at 5000', I could make it non-stop. But there was turbulence and moderate icing over almost all of Tennessee down at that altitude. So that won't work. At 9000' I would be completely clear of the ice and clouds, and turbulence, but the winds were so much stronger that it was doubtful I'd make it non-stop. So I went at 7000', which was still a stretch, and I dodged a few clouds, and picked up a trace of ice here and there, and rode the tops of the clouds for awhile. It could have gone either way as to whether I'd need to stop or not. I spent over 4 hours in the air tweaking the mixtures and throttles every time the winds changed, monitoring the fuel flows and required fuel to get there and groundspeed and time enroute and changing/dialing it in. When ATC routed me around a couple times, that didn't help. I wasn't sure until I was about 45 minutes out that it was going to work out, but it did go my way, and I was able to land with an hour of fuel, and get him back home Exactly when he needed to be home in order to hit another meeting. Obviously a fuel stop isn't the end of the world, and had it come to a point where I was going to end up running below an hour's fuel, I'd have stopped (before then) no matter what, but it worked out perfectly that I didn't have to, and thus could get him to his next meeting on time too.
There was a TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) on a 30 mile ring around Nashville today. It went into effect at 1:30 p.m., just said it was a "VIP TFR". I was flying along right over the top of that area, and I mean I flew right over the dead center of the TFR-to-be, and I did it from 1:20-1:29 p.m. Yep, I flew outside the TFR ring at 1:29 p.m., and it went into effect at 1:30. Now THAT is timing!! (Going around it wouldn't have helped with my fuel.) Furthermore, as I was heading out of it, I heard ATC say "Air Force One, descend and maintain one three thousand." I spun around in my seat and said "Hey!" to my passenger who was listening, and we listened to ATC work Air Force One. I've never heard that before, and I thought it was cool. My passenger said "What would they do if you turned your plane and aimed it at Air Force One? Would they just out-climb us, or send up jets, or what?" I flinched and told him not to say that out loud, that the microphones they have aimed all over the world would pick it up and we'd be toast. ;)
The last thing that went my way--it was IFR at Kokomo most of the day. If I had to shoot an approach, if it stayed IFR, I needed more fuel to be able to do that, have an option to go around and do it again, or go to another airport. Well, fortunately for me, conditions started improving, and by the time I got there, it was VFR. A nice normal landing later, and the day was done, most successfully!
For a little while I was skimming the tops of a cloud layer, so I stuck my phone up there and took a little video clip of it. I'd turn down your volume unless you want to hear a loud engine droning.
The sunrise this morning. Well, here is what a sunrise looks like from 18,000', in snapshots. So peaceful and beautiful...
The red (looks orange here) ring is the TFR. The airplane is right on the edge of the ring. That's me. The time is in the upper right corner. 19:29:09 which is 1:29 pm (and 09 seconds). I win something, not sure what, but something. ;)
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