Two Pilots & an LSW: Ta Da!

Good news first--Kaylee is feeling better fast. She slept all night, and when she woke up her fever was apparently gone. She still feels weak, she's still not super hungry, she's still getting tired fast, but we've gotten her to eat some junk food (Holiday Pie from McDonalds and a sweet tea), and some whole grain rice, and though she's feeling very picky right now about what she'll eat, she got that down, kept it down, and seems to be gaining strength. Even better, school was canceled today for bad weather too, so she didn't even miss anything that everybody else isn't missing too, so that helps. She's in her room right now watching the 2 hour season premier of the final season of "Glee". She's happy, feeling better, and that pleaseth me too. Now if Steve and I can not catch whatever that 24 hour bug of hers was, we'd both greatly appreciate it. Something tells me it wouldn't be 24 hours in either of us old people. ;)

So, on to the non-important stuff. I think it's pretty funny that the last two days all the schools in the area have been closed for bad weather, and I've had flights. It couldn't have been THAT bad out, ya know?!

Again with the 5:25 a.m. alarm. I don't like it when I have consecutive early mornings that are that early. I was tired enough I forgot to warm up my car for as long as I needed it to, so it was a little chilly at first. The wind chill was -15F this morning, but the problem was the actual wind. Even at 6 in the morning it was blowing at 25 knots. That was blowing loose snow all over the back roads and stuff, but it wasn't too bad. I was concerned that it had been blowing like that all night though, and I was hoping that I wouldn't have any trouble getting the plane out of the hangar (that snow wasn't blocking the door again), that I could taxi and takeoff without the ramp, taxiway or runway having big drifts. So I left the house early to be able to go out there and check things out and see if I needed to do anything. It was mostly good news. The hangar door was not re-drifted over. I illegally ran my Explorer out down the runway, and the taxiway had one area of drifts, which I could mostly avoid, and same with the runway--it wasn't going to be a problem. The only area that was a problem was the little ramp right in front of the hangar. There were some deep drifts there. So I took my car and drove back and forth over them, smashing down the snow, flattening out the drifts on that ramp and the taxiway right out of it. Then it was time to preflight, let in the passenger I had coming with me today to fly right seat, one of my former students, and wait for my official passengers to arrive. When they did, I had everybody else load up in the plane inside the hangar, then I opened the door, tugged out the airplane into the frozen tundra, closed the door, hopped in, and off we went. Today she started a little easier, because of technique, less time sitting outside before I got to it, and 15 degrees warmer temps. It was windy and bumpy, but shortly we were up to 10,000', where I stayed to avoid the headwinds, and we all watched the sun rise again, enjoyed the music and a little chit chat. Birmingham was in the 40s today, so I didn't even wear my coat when we were down there. Had a little cup of coffee, walked around in light winds and sunshine, didn't rush them on refueling it, and just enjoyed a little bit of a breather.

The trip home it was just me and the right-seater, and I had her do all the work on the flight home except the radios. Human autopilots are great! ;) We went up to FL210, or 21,000', not because it was the best altitude for winds, but because she'd never been in the flight levels before, so what the hay, right? It was a nice flight, warm up there in the clear with the sun beating into the windows. Although now I'm debating on wearing sunscreen up there, I just haven't pulled the trigger on it. Anyway, as we got closer to home, the winds really picked up, until they maxed out at 125 knots coming at us from the side, slightly head on. I took a photo of it when it was reading 124, so close enough for proof, but it was a hefty breeze going on up there. Coming in we had 800' ceilings with a mile and a half visibility, so an instrument approach was in order. The winds were 280 gusting up to 28 knots, so that's a nice little crosswind for the RNAV 23 approach. But the actual hard part was next. I was originally going to top the airplane back off so it would be ready for the next trip, even though one isn't scheduled yet. But the wind, it was fierce, blowing almost 30 knots, and it was blowing all the loose snow and whipping it all around, into my face, which was frozen within about 10 seconds. I had long underwear on, two pairs of socks, the whole thing, but my face...wow. Anyway, I gave up on the fuel truck and decided to just put the plane away. When I got the tug out there though, the tug tires couldn't get any traction on the packed down snow and ice there on the ramp, and I couldn't get the airplane onto the tug. I tried pushing the plane backwards to a more clear area, but couldn't get any traction with my boots to move all that weight, either. Now my nose and lips are frozen--seriously. Couldn't move my face. Anyway. I couldn't think of what else to do, so I backed up the tug a little, lined it up perfectly, then started hacking up the snow and ice in front of the tug tires with the heels of my boots. Good thing I didn't wear tennis shoes today. When I got a clearer area in front of the tires, I made a run at it--and made it. It took me awhile to get the plane put away, but finally made it, and I spent the next hour thawing out my face. That part of the adventure was not so much fun. I must say I did not enjoy that. But, another day, another successful mission, the kiddo is feeling better (she just texted me and asked for toast with butter and jam), and I do NOT have to get up at 5:25 a.m. tomorrow morning. My phone will be off if anybody tries to wake me up and think it's funny, too. I shall be sleeping in and shall not be disturbed, thank you!