Two Pilots & an LSW: S. Carolina

Monday, May 17, 2021

S. Carolina

I got to sleep in this morning, and then drove the hour to Frankfort to hop in the 340 with Ethan and his wife. The forecast was getting bad, the clouds were coming down to IFR, the rain was moving in with some convection, and the icing forecast was really bad. I was thinking we'd have to keep it below 11,000' for half the state to avoid some severe icing. It was ugly looking and getting worse, and I spent a lot of time going over my options, where the weather was the worst, how to avoid it, etc.

We get in the plane, and it's...nothing. I mean, it's IFR, but the rain isn't bad, and I got ZERO ice. After all that forecast, absolutely nothing came of it. Not that I'm sorry, I was not looking forward to this. He's not instrument rated and he's still catching up on the plane and I don't know the Garmin 750 well so I didn't need a big challenge. But it all worked out great.

Three hours later we arrived in Charleston, SC. It was warm and sunny and lovely. I topped off all the tanks, grabbed some chips and a granola bar, and headed three hours home. I like flying by myself, and I enjoyed the time. I read a book, listened to music, had the autopilot on, and just cruised. My heart rate was around 63 bpm, which is my resting heart rate. I'm cruising along in the clouds looking at rain, and my heart rate is totally at rest. That's about right.

When I got home, I saw a video that "Airshow Stuff" took of us arriving at the Avenger Gathering in a 6-ship formation. For once I was pleased with how it looked. I can't post it here because it's just on their Facebook page and I can't save off the video. I wish I could. So you'll just have to see it on my Facebook Page. I'm kind of pleased with it. :)

Pics from today aren't nearly as fun as the formation video, but here they are anyway.