Two Pilots & an LSW: Back in the Saddle

Monday, October 01, 2018

Back in the Saddle

My first day back in the land of the living was long and involved. I was up at 5:20 am, and out at the airport when it was still dark. We were wheels up by 7 am, and headed to Freemont, Michigan. The last time I was there, it was winter, I had a 30 knot crosswind, was in the Cheyenne, there was a blizzard, and I had to shoot an approach down to almost minimums. They don't have a fuel truck, so I got to self serve the Cheyenne in the freezing cold and high winds and snow, with no gloves because I wasn't prepared for that one. It was a good time. ;)

I looked up the weather up there for today, and it was cold, in the 40s that morning, rain, low IFR, occasional thunderstorms. So I wore a t-shirt and sweat shirt, and brought a light jacket. I thought that would be plenty for the 40s. It turned out, I was wrong. ;) The sunrise this morning was beautiful. Reds and oranges and golds fading to peach. And then we hit the weather. We got into some rain, we which turned into ice as we got up north. My first ice of this season, which made me frown and pout. It always has to be Michigan, doesn't it?! The clouds were around 400', and the minimums for the lowest approach there was 300'. So, not a lot of room, but enough. When we landed, they still don't have a fuel truck, so we parked over by the tanks, and I self-serve fueled up the 340 in the light rain. It was better than the blizzard. ;)

Inside, they said they'd be gone a couple hours. No problem. I looked around, and the drinking fountain was "out of order". The refrigerator was empty except for mustard and pickles. There was no vending machine, no crackers, no water bottles, no coffee maker or machine, no cokes, nada. No WiFi, but the signal was good enough for Verizon 3G. No courtesy car, nobody in the office, nobody around. The "couple hours" turned into six and a half hours. The phone rang one time. No airplanes landed, no radio calls were made, no person stopped in. It was completely deserted in there. The biggest issue I had, though, was the cold. The room had no heat control, and when we walked in, the windows were wide open. It was 44 degrees, which isn't freezing, but it's cold enough, and it stayed cold in the room all six and a half hours. That meant my nose and hands and feet got really cold, and I'd curl up on the couch and cover with my jacket and sit on my hand. I'd get up and walk around, jog around, warm up, and then sit down and get cold again. THAT was the hard part. I thought I'd prepared for the chill up there, but I wasn't prepared to be in it for 6.5 hours. I'd have brought a thicker jacket. Right before I left, I wandered into a room that had been shut up, behind another door, and found another wide open window. I don't know whose idea it was to leave their windows open, but I was really cold all day, the buggers.

I tried to take a nap, because I was unable to get to sleep before 2 am and was back up at 5:20, but I was a little chilly to get a good sleep in. But honestly, all in all it wasn't that bad. I had packed cheese crackers and water, so I was okay, and then one of the MBros guys asked if I needed lunch when they came back, and I said yes, and one of them dropped off a burger and tea for me, so I was in good shape then. :)

The flight home was uneventful. IFR for about half the way, then broke out into lovely 84 degree Kokomo weather. Filled up the 340, had the guys push it to the back of the hangar and the T-6 to the front, ran home and tried to nap. I got about 20 minutes of light dozing in, woke back up, and headed back to Kokomo for an evening flight with a guy working on the pattern. I watched the sun rise from 18,000' and the sun set from 1,800'. Not bad. Long day, but not bad.

The first photos are of the sunrise on the way there in the 340, and then the sunset back at Kokomo in the 172. The photos of Kaylee I'll explain under each photo. I snagged these by stealing them off of Instagram or Facebook from her friends, mostly! I'm having to get sneakier to get pictures of her now that I'm not going along on most of what she's doing!

Firing up the engines of the 340 to depart

The sky rises with fire that then spreads out into pastels

And this was the sunset at Kokomo in the 172

Joe (they were in playgroup together as toddlers!), Kaylee, Meredith, Caitlyn, Morgan. The "Crash Victims" from texting and driving, the video they made for school.