Two Pilots & an LSW: Michigan Run

This morning I loaded up 7 other people and myself into the Cheyenne, and headed to Fremont, Michigan. I just went to 27,000', since we were only going 45 minutes away. It was very windy, and bumpy, at least until I got above the clouds, which wasn't much below 27,000'. Coming in to land up there, it was IFR, the winds were gusting to 26 knots, it was blowing snow, and it was 18 degrees. There are two runways. One was short but into the wind. The other was long, but a crosswind. The Instrument Approach went to the long runway, so if I wanted to land into the wind I'd have to circle to land on it, plus I'd have to land on a short runway with a fully loaded plane. So I just decided the 26 knot crosswind was the lesser of two evils. Got to practice an RNAV approach in and land with a nice gusty crosswind with the plane full of people.

Nobody came out to park me, so I picked a spot and, and folks started piling out. When we got inside, there was a desk guy who was trying to get someone to tell him what we'd need. When they pointed at me, his face was pretty funny. I said "I need 75 gallons of Jet A per side", and he said "It's self serve." I said "What? For Jet A?" He said "Yes, we don't have a fuel truck here." I'm going "UGH" because it's cold and nasty out there and I'm not in the mood to fuel the Cheyenne myself. He says "I can take your card, tug the plane over and fill it for you, but it'll cost you about $100." I think about it for about 20 seconds, hard, but finally I said "I can't justify an additional $100, I'll do it myself." (Their fuel was almost $2/gallon more than Kokomo's, too.) I pulled up the temperatures to see when it would be the warmest part of the day, and when the snow would stop. The answer was that the temps were dropping, down to 13 degrees, and the snow didn't stop all day, nor did the wind. So I got my coat on, no gloves because I wasn't expecting to be a line girl today, fired up the Cheyenne and taxiied it over to the pumps, shut down, and got to work.

The winds were so strong the ladder kept blowing over before I could get on it. The fuel nozzle was wrong on the Jet A pump. The wind is blowing icy heck at me, my hands are numb, and then I see the line guy walking over. He says "The nozzle is a helicopter nozzle. Here, let me change that out for you." He does that, then says "This hose is super stiff and heavy. Let me pull it out for you." It is, too. The two of us together had a hard time unwinding that hose. I put the ladder back up, it falls over before I can get on it. He says "You don't have any gloves. Here, I'll go up." Lol. I got Jet A all over my coat, as the nozzle leaked like a sieve, and the two of us together fueled up the airplane. I was grateful that he came over, considering doing that by myself would have been more problematic than normal.

Afterwards I went into the FBO and looked around. No Wifi/internet. No computer. No vending machine. Nothing in the fridge. Even the water fountain is marked "INOP". I ask "Do you have a courtesy car to go into town for some food since I'll be here for 7 hours?" Nope. *sigh* But all is not lost. It was warm in there, there was a bathroom, a comfy couch, Cellular internet on my iPad, and I found a place that would deliver a pizza and a Diet Coke to me. I ordered enough to give the line guy some too, to thank him for helping me out. I watched the wind whip the snow around outside the windows, and was glad to be warm and dry.

Coming home was easier. It was blowing like crazy still, but takeoffs in poor conditions are always easier than landings, and it was beautiful at Kokomo. There was even a pretty sunset, but I was too busy to get a good picture from the air of it. One of the line guys at Kokomo took a picture of me taxiing by with the sunset behind me. I hope he sends it to me. :)

I am going to Pennsylvania tomorrow morning, really early, so I called ahead on the radio and asked the line guy to stay and fuel me tonight. He did, and because I needed specific amounts, he had me stay out there and help him read the fuel meter until he was done. I really need to remember to bring my gloves and not expect that just because I don't expect to be standing outside for long periods of time, that doesn't mean I won't be. :p

There was a dog at the airport up in Michigan. He was a sweet, pretty dog, quiet with soulful eyes. When I was fueling up, he came over by me, and I said "Hey, buddy, it's really cold and windy out here, you should go inside!" Then I really looked over at him, and saw that he was standing directly into the wind, head up, with the snow blowing around, and he seemed quite at peace with it. I decided Michigan airport dogs are probably pretty used to winter conditions. He would stop by and see me in the lounge every once in awhile. Just a sweet boy.

I forgot a Kaylee story. Her Driver's Ed teacher was really complimenting her, said she was a good kid and a really good driver. That's always nice to hear. But the story I forgot to tell was that Kaylee said they were going along, and she was doing the speed limit to sometimes 5 under the speed limit, and a car came up behind her, started flashing its lights and honking its horn, but wouldn't go around her even though it was a passing zone. She said he was RIGHT on her bumper, and she asked the Driver's Ed teacher if she was doing something wrong, and the lady's like "No, I have no idea what this guy's problem is!" Eventually the car passed her in a bad area, pushing her off towards the side of the road, honking and mad. It's not like she was doing 35 in a 55, and her car had "STUDENT DRIVER" all over the back and sides, pretty hard to miss. So somebody out there is apparently a bit of a jerk. The teacher said she did well handling it, just kept doing her thing and didn't let it fluster her too much. I guess we all have to get our first Road Rage Person at some point, and she just got hers.

Here are some photos from today.