Long Weekend

My wife Janet, our daughter Melissa, and I flew to visit my parents this Saturday morning (KFWQ-KPTD) and had a great flight up -- smooth, clear, and VMC until Watertown, NY (Clouds over the lake and rain coming in from Canada).

I had filed along airways in order to avoid MOAs and Restricted areas along the route, but Fort Drum was not very active and so about halfway there got “Proceed direct Potsdam…”

That route put us out over the Eastern End of Lake Ontario. The airplane was running fine and I had enough altitude to glide to shore, but it would have been close. We made it fine and then went IMC for a while in and out of thin layers and rain.

The rain wasn't reaching the surface and despite the low layer of clouds below, PTD was reporting "Clear below 12,000..."

About 7 miles out the layer ended and I cancelled IFR. PTD was quiet and so I spared my Janet and Melissa 3 more minutes of flying (3 hour non-stop) and flew straight in to Runway 6. The landing was a full stall, can-barely-tell-you're-rolling deal that warned me there’s a bad one coming soon.

We spent Saturday visiting and enjoying one another’s company. Sunday, I flew some dual with one of my Dad’s friends who owns a Cherokee 180 but lacks some confidence doing long XC. We flew KPTD-KSYR and back, and enjoyed the great VFR weather. I forced him to land with flaps and he found out how much slower and more stable a landing can be with flaps (I know, I know…)

We returned to PTD and my dad and brother met us there. The four of us climbed into the C205 and flew to Saranac Lake, landed there, looked at all the nice private Jet hardware on the ramp, and then took off using short field technique.

Bill suggested we fly to Burlington, VT.

Bill had complained about the curtness of the Burlington ATC folks – I shrugged it off as new pilot jitters. But he’s right. I requested a practice ILS approach in order to demonstrate to my PP co-pilot what an ILS was and how it worked. ATC said, “Squawk 1234 and fly heading 060.”

A few minutes later ATC queried: “You gonna descend soon?”

“I was waiting for ‘Descend and maintain’…”

“You do what you want – you’re VFR…”

Ok, ok… technically he’s right. But this is a practice ILS – anytime I’ve done a practice ILS anywhere else VFR I get altitude. Oh well…

We landed and heard the rapid-fire taxi instructions. I made it to the FBO where we filled up with fuel. Loaded back up and requested taxi to active from Ground, but we needed a clearance before contacting ground – oops, Class C (we have a grand total of one Class C in PA and my class C ops are rusty).

Clearance, back to ground, taxi to active. “Hold at 15.”

We held. We looked around. We listened. We held.

“Cleared for takeoff runway 19.”

OK, so where is 19? No signs, no nuttin.

Bill, the new PP who had been there before said, “Taxi towards those doors.”

“Hunh?”

"The runway is there…”

I hesitated, as I looked for runway signs and was about to ask the tower, “Where’s the runway?” when I saw lots of white paint on the concrete in front of me. Duh (yeah, a quick glance at the airport diagram in the approach book would have helped, but we were flying VFR and we don’t need no steekin’ approach books VFR!)

I taxied across 15 to 19 and took off. A bit south of us there was a balloon festival of some kind – were about 25 hot air balloons floating in the smooth late afternoon air. We crossed Lake Champlain and headed for PTD across the northern Adirondacks at 4500, climbing a bit to cross some of the steeper peaks

The day was bright and clear and nearly calm, and we enjoyed a beautiful late afternoon flight over the more remote northern reaches of the Adirondacks. I found PTD and entered a left downwind and demonstrated a power-off 180 accuracy landing, keeping it tight and throwing in an aggressive slip just for fun. We touched down as smooth as baby oil about 20’ past the tops of the numbers and I was feeling pretty good, but looming dread filled my heart as I realized two ridiculously smooth landings in a row meant there was payback due.

I buttoned up the airplane and made sure it was ready for an early Monday morning departure. I checked weather a few times late, and once in the middle of the night. I wasn’t worried about the weather as much as the potential for bumpy clouds.

So far Janet has been good about flying with me – but she can’t stand being in the clouds and unable to see. She really can’t stand turbulence anytime, but in the clouds it scares her to death. I do everything I can to avoid clouds, and the few I enter when she’s on board I try to make sure are smooth. So I tried to figure out where the smooth was in the low creeping in from Kentucky.

I called FSS on the drive to the airport at 0630. It sounded as if there was light to moderate precip in the destination area, but a nice break between the current weather and the moderate to heavy that would come later. There was a thin layer above the airport and overcast higher up. A VFR departure was out.

I loaded and preflighted the airplane, and called for clearance, said our goodbyes, and took off.

The clearance was only to the PTD NDB – Boston Center wouldn’t have us on radar until we reached 6000. We climbed in the hold over the NDB and when I reached 5000 called Boston and told them we were in VMC and had terrain clearance. Boston gave us As Filed and we headed to the Watertown VOR.

There was a high overcast layer somewhere in the teens, and a few clouds below us. The air was smooth and a bit hazy. We were cleared direct to the Bradford VOR, and as we flew over the eastern end of Lake Ontario, I could see cumuliform clouds ahead. Uh oh.

I looked at the sectional for options along the route and started dialing in AWOS freqs. Nearly every alternate was reporting “1/2 mile in mist” or “scattered at 200’). We had plenty of fuel (7 hours), but a U-turn didn’t make sense yet.

I climbed to 10k, then to 12k to stay above the layer. Other airplanes were asking for deviations and trying different altitudes to avoid turbulence. The OAT gauge was at 35 F at 12k. Ice and no O2 meant we were as high as we could go.

We crossed the Bradford VOR and snuck in between two moderate cells on either side. We were in and out of cloud but one was particularly energetic and we got shaken a bit – nothing, really, but to already-scared passengers, enough to make me worried about her.

I looked at the XM returns and queried Cleveland center and decided we would be better off waiting out the moderate precip near our destination. I flipped though the approach book, found Clarion (AXQ) and requested diversion. The RNAV 24 had the closer IAF and the winds were calm to 3 knots, so I asked for vectors.

We were in solid cloud as we descended. I had over 9,000 feet to lose and the IAF was coming up quick. I slowed the airplane down and deployed 20 degrees of flaps. As I reviewed the approach Cleveland asked if I had the AXQ NOTAMS.

“No, I do not.”

The helpful controller read the RNAV 24 NOTAM – MDA is now 2100, not 1760 as published – good to know!

I was established and still descending. After the FAF I descended to 2100 and no more. We were still in solid cloud. From time to time I caught a glimpse of the ground straight down. I clicked on the lights and asked Melissa to look for a runway or lights ahead. I maintained power and we floated along at 2100’, intently looking for a break. The GPS showed the runway at 3 miles – now 2. Nothing. Suddenly there was a break – I saw a warehouse, then a road. I looked to right of course (I let it drift a bit left) and there was a REIL.

I headed for the runway and touched down gently on the rain-slicked surface. The blessed FBO with the blessed bathrooms were beckoning. The FBO guys and some helicopter jocks in flight suits watched us taxi in with expressions that ranged from wonder to curiosity.

I raced past them to the blessed porcelain, then called ATC to cancel IFR.

Relieved, I checked weather on AWC. Ugh – the moderate precip was moving very slowly to the northeast – towards us.

I asked for a crew car – there was none, but the field A&P lent us his pickup. We drove to Clarion and ate brunch at Perkins. I filled his truck with gas and headed back to the airport an hour later.

The situation was a bit better – the moderate precip had changed to light, but hadn’t moved much. Vis and clgs were still tight (600’, 1 mile vis), but flyable. I called Flight service, filed, called for clearance, and took off into 1000’ overcast.

The flight was smooth and we were in and out of multiple layers at 4,000. There was plenty of commercial chatter and a few GA planes out flying approaches. Pit Approach was busy, and scolded a waterski that took too long to answer.

I was about 15 miles from the airport when we hit some more in-cloud turbulence. I’d promised a fairly smooth flight but now this. Ugh.

I asked for vectors for the RNAV 26 and got established. The winds were a bit tricky as the correction required changed as we descended. Once again my “co-pilot” was tasked with looking for a runway. We were in and out of clouds, flying at MDA, looking for REILs or PAPI. GPS showed 3 miles to go, I spotted a familiar farm, looked up, and there was FWQ.

Another flawless landing in an 8 knot direct crosswind on a rain-soaked runway made me dread what was coming on some flight someday soon. We taxied to the hangar, called to cancel, and unloaded the airplane.

After every flight I replay what went right, what went wrong, and what I will do differently next time. The list was long and I have some stuff to practice, but overall it was great weekend of flying and great time with family and friends.

But the biggest benefit is that when Janet and I talked afterward she said she’s ok with flying, she just doesn’t like flying in the clouds.

So I said, “What about low and slow on a clear morning or afternoon?”

“That could be fun…”

So I’m calling that guy who’s selling his Aeronca…