Today's flight in 2019

[bonal]

I recognize that shoreline 

[ilovecornfields]

4 hours ago, amillet said:

That is the route I flew down. It was already snowing inland and MEA is higher there and I was worried about ice

 

I’ve considered that route for those same reasons but decided to wait instead for better weather. How is the coastline? I used to fly to Eureka every once in a while and I remember not seeing a lot of inviting places to land in case something went south. 

[amillet]

The coast route is beautiful (when you can see it). I’ve flown it several times. On a similar flight a couple of years ago a Bonanza flying V23 Parallel to me at 12000 reported picking up ice. I was fine at 8000 along the coast.   There are few airports but not much difference than flying over the Cascades on V23.

[Yooper Rocketman]

16 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

Today's entry in "today's flight in 2019" is the flight I didn't take today.

A tough no go decision - and I didn't go.  I was hoping to have a nice picture looking down at a Thanksgiving traffic jam from the air hauling at 250mph.

Forecasts were pretty good, even as of this morning's TAF's for KPTD->KHFD (home Potsdam, NY - upstate, over the Adirondack mtns to the GA airport in Hartford CT).  It would be 1hr vs 6hrs drive.  But already the actual weather at my home airport was not agreeing at all with the forecasts. Forecast were (trying to remember) something like 10mi-8000 ft and actual 2 or 3mi, mist and 500ft.  Flyable but I am never excited if the forecasts are so unrelated to actual weather.  So then you need to assume you have no forecast at all.  Bad weather is supposed to be coming but this is worse than even the forecasts in several hours promise, so it is not just a case of the bad weather coming early.  And then at Hartford. Forecast were something like (trying to remember), 25k until around  3pm.  But at the time I had filed my IFR for, it was actually 800ft.  And likewise at all the airports around similarly totally off.  So then I thought maybe of launching and just end up to the North, since weather coming from the south, and then drive an hour or two south which if that was all there was to it, then ok.  I have done that before - but the weather in the mtns was worse than forecast too, and actually low IFR.  SO I have two no go triggers, either on and I don't go - one is I don't fly over low IFR and the other I want to see the actual weather line up at least a little bit with the forecast or I assume I have no forecast at all.  So that's enough not to go.  Strike three is ice is forecast at 9k and I filed for 7k (to get comfortable clear of mtns) but with the sky at 500ft and so dark and mirky it just looks like ice.  

I had gone to my hangar at 11 - pre-flighted the plane, with my dog, and then sat in the folding chair for like 45 min listening to all the current reports on the phone for all the airports all around, even the northerly route that is often a saving grace around the mtns - via Burlington,. vt, but there was 300ft ceilings in Malone (15 min flight north of here - a no go trigger - and that is not in the mtns) and 1400ft ceilings in Plattsburgh (a no go trigger because it is supposed to be higher than 5k by the forecasts) then it was fine by Burlington.

So after 45 minutes of sitting in my hangar, plane preflighted, preheated, ready to go - ifr flight plan on file, door open, but sitting in my lawn chair with my little dog on my lap listening to the phone weather on the phone with a selection of airports, getting cold because it is 35f (so how can those moist dark looking clouds not be icing?!  I have tks but yeah whatever) to figure out what's going on...I said bugger I'm going home. Took my luggage out of the airplane, dog bed out, put the pre-heat blanket back on, plugged the preheater back in...me and my little dog went home.

Even now that the afternoon TAF's came out - they are still complete fiction - 12:30 KPTD forecasts is 6sm 5000ft until 8pm -- actual is now 2pm 400ft and 3sm and raining mist. 37F

At Khfd at least the 12:38 forecast lines up with the actual - 900ft 3sm.  SO primarily the lack of line-up of the actual and the forecast with worse weather coming is what put the no go on alert plus the other two factors made it easy (but hard) - TAFs a complete fiction - which is worse than not just the bad weather early.  I feel good about it.  I might drive tomorrow - we shall see.  We are expecting snow in the am here, and massive winds in Hartford area tomorrow.  Last I looked 39mph.  30mph is my no go for wind trigger, no matter what direction, in my little plane.  Otherwise sunny...gulp. 6hr drive each way plus traffic, solo.  Well with my little dog.  And my wife and 3 sons are already there.  2 of my sons I don't see as much as I used to - since they are in college!  

Written cozy fire side.

 

 

Erik,

I NEVER second guess a “no go” decision.   It appears you don’t either.  Looks like a smart call.  Hopefully you and I will sit on a porch one day in rocking chairs reminiscing about our days flying before we become really old men.  

Tom

[aviatoreb]

3 hours ago, Yooper Rocketman said:

Erik,

I NEVER second guess a “no go” decision.   It appears you don’t either.  Looks like a smart call.  Hopefully you and I will sit on a porch one day in rocking chairs reminiscing about our days flying before we become really old men.  

Tom

:-). I bet we will share a pair of rocking chairs before then... and raise a toast glass of beer....and then too when really old.

A fun post script to yesterday's weather - by 330pm there was "thunder snow" which is a bizarre phenomenon I don't really understand.  It is a winter thunderstorm with snow, or freezing mist, but it is electric with lightning and thunder.  And it was at various places along the route.  Not forecast, but just another indicator of how yesterday's forecast and actual weather were so very far from each other so as to make the forecast completely useless.  I am very happy with my stated no-go trigger to include requiring that the forecast mostly be agreeable/understandable when compared to the actual weather at time of launch.

Edited November 28, 2019 by aviatoreb

[Rwsavory]

Thanksgiving morning flight over eastern Arkansas. Must be duckhunting season.

[HRM]

9 minutes ago, Rwsavory said:

Thanksgiving morning flight over eastern Arkansas. Must be duckhunting season.

LOL, now I am wondering if anybody's Mooney has taken a stray bullet! Here in Tejas, hunting season is pretty wild.

[Ricky_231]

Burning gas and taking the wife for a tour of the Hudson (skyline transition) - Atlantic City in the background on the way back. 30-40 knot headwind both ways (not even sure how that's possible :-))

Great controllers all the way - smooth ride up high but pretty bumpy below 4000ft - sick bag made its way out of the flight bag for the first time in quite a while.

[carusoam]

Ricky, what altitude were you at for the skyline transition?

Those pics came out great!

Nothing says freedom to fly like an aerial pic of Lady Liberty!

Best regards,

-a-

[Yooper Rocketman]

7 hours ago, carusoam said:

Nothing says freedom to fly like an aerial pic of Lady Liberty!

Could not have been said better!!

Tom

[Ricky_231]

7 hours ago, carusoam said:

Ricky, what altitude were you at for the skyline transition?

Those pics came out great!

Nothing says freedom to fly like an aerial pic of Lady Liberty!

Best regards,

-a-

They initially gave us 2000, but I asked for 1500' on the northbound leg and they were happy to oblige. Had us climb back to 2000' on the way back.

It's a lot less crowded than the 1000-1300' VFR corridor below and ATC is looking out for you (no self-announcing and helicopter dodging all the time :-)).

In fact, I flew IFR to Robbinsville and canceled in the air to continue on to the Hudson - ATC then offered to hand us off to NY approach and kept me in the system on FF all the way to my fuel stop at Monmouth Exec - it was great.

Cherry on the cake was the route back - I was expecting farms and more farms as we fly down over Philly then southwest to Virginia, but the clearance I got was on V1, down the Jersey shore, all the way to Dover with a cool view of the Atlantic for at least half the trip. Longer but much nicer.

[Ricky_231]

58 minutes ago, Yooper Rocketman said:

Could not have been said better!!

Tom

Hear hear!

[0TreeLemur]

Flew for a weekend beachy getaway to Destin, FL, (DSL).   Early this morning a cold front went through, and on the flight back to TCL this evening we had a 40 kt headwind component.   Notice the asymmetrical glide ring!   Hate to see it, but that is a pretty nice feature in Foreflight.  The trip down was about 1.4h, and 1.9 back.  

[Skates97]

The weekend before Thanksgiving we flew to Phoenix and on the way back I passed 400 hours of flying. I've learned a lot and looking forward to the next 400. It was a fun arrival into Mesa Gateway (KIWA) initially being held 700' above the regular TPA for traffic already in the pattern, followed by a 360 for spacing and descending halfway through the turn to landing with three F-18's holding short and two F-5's on the ramp.

I downloaded the LiveATC feed and found I have an annoying habit of saying "All right" at the beginning of my answers to the tower (need to knock that off).

More detail, videos, and pictures on my blog - 400 Hours!!

[Huitt3106]

Yesterday I it was time to get night current. I took a quick hop from KROA to KMTV and greased the first landing. The rest were good but not greasers. I’m used to flying into a field in the middle of nowhere without competing lights for field location. On the way back to KROA ForeFlight was definitely a big helper when a field becomes tough to locate!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[EricJ]

11 hours ago, Skates97 said:

The weekend before Thanksgiving we flew to Phoenix and on the way back I passed 400 hours of flying. I've learned a lot and looking forward to the next 400. It was a fun arrival into Mesa Gateway (KIWA) initially being held 700' above the regular TPA for traffic already in the pattern, followed by a 360 for spacing and descending halfway through the turn to landing with three F-18's holding short and two F-5's on the ramp.

Very cool, and congrats on the milestone.    The big hangar with the dark doors just off your wingtip between the tip and the F-18s is our school hangar.     There's a lot of interesting hardware that flies in out of IWA, including the Marine F-18s, Harriers, and the F-5s for the aggressor missions (they have red stars on them).   The F-18s and Harriers also come to Scottsdale once in a while, so I see/hear them either at school or coming over my house.        Another cool thing that's at IWA from time to time is the Antonov An-124.   It never leaves the runway area, they park it out there for loading, unloading, and to wait for the next load.   I'm told this is because the taxiways can't support the weight of the aircraft, but the runway can.

There seems to be no shortage of interesting missions flown out there.

 

[Skates97]

1 hour ago, EricJ said:

Very cool, and congrats on the milestone.    The big hangar with the dark doors just off your wingtip between the tip and the F-18s is our school hangar.     There's a lot of interesting hardware that flies in out of IWA, including the Marine F-18s, Harriers, and the F-5s for the aggressor missions (they have red stars on them).   The F-18s and Harriers also come to Scottsdale once in a while, so I see/hear them either at school or coming over my house.        Another cool thing that's at IWA from time to time is the Antonov An-124.   It never leaves the runway area, they park it out there for loading, unloading, and to wait for the next load.   I'm told this is because the taxiways can't support the weight of the aircraft, but the runway can.

There seems to be no shortage of interesting missions flown out there.

 

Yep, two of the F-5's were on the ramp this trip. Last trip or the one before (I can't remember) there was a handful of Harriers, haven't seen the Antonov.

[Ricky_231]

Pittsburgh + KPIT, Lake Eerie and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, windmills + nuclear powerplants, tailwinds and more tailwinds!

[HRM]

30 minutes ago, Ricky_231 said:

Pittsburgh + KPIT, Lake Eerie and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, windmills + nuclear powerplants, tailwinds and more tailwinds!

OMG! Beautiful! As a native Pittsburgher I loved this...even though you misspelt 'Lake Erie' 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[0TreeLemur]

On 11/15 at about 10:50 a.m. over the Colorado Rockies, I saw this.    I wasn't flying- I was a passenger in an RJ.  But it was pretty cool to see.  We were at FL 240, flying from GJT-DEN.  

[Ricky_231]

11 hours ago, HRM said:

OMG! Beautiful! As a native Pittsburgher I loved this...even though you misspelt 'Lake Erie' 

Damn - I've been spelling it wrong my entire life. I actually went back to google maps to check just now. Well you learn something new every day...

[carusoam]

MS...

1) Learn about Mooneys...

2) Learn a few new words along the way... improves vocabulary and words the Old English people use vs. the New England words I learned...

3) Learn some things about spelling...

4) Learn the right spelling Or get the wrong meaning... those words that sound alike, but are spelled differently... (Homonyms?)

5) lessons in geography include... all the great pics in this thread!   Three rivers, but not three mile island... TMI is a bit further East.... (Harrisburg)

 

When I misspell something... often, it is Siri that has made a change without me knowing about it... and all those random caps... 

Best regards,

-a-

[tmo]

No pics, but yesterday I learned first hand how much later the Mooney will land (stall) when really light...  Purpousedly ran one tank almost dry (all the way is next on the experiments list, on a longer flight); the last circuit was with about 9 gallons left.

 

 

[gsxrpilot]

I posted this on the Mooney FB group, so apologies for those of you who already saw this...

The wife and I made a quick trip to Austin over the weekend. It's really our annual Christmas visit to the in-laws. The plan was to fly BJC (Rocky Mountain Metro) to Smithville (84R) on Friday morning and then return Monday. We ended up returning Sunday night instead.

It was also an opportunity to get JD and Chad at SWTA to do some work on the Mooney. I've been having some electrical issues and really wanted to get them sorted out.

The flight BJC to 84R was quick with a nice tailwind. I'm pretty sure we can beat the airlines door to door going this direction. 3:45 at 17,500.

Here's the requisite performance data 

Somewhere there was a conversation on the alignment of the horizontal stabilizer in cruise. So here's mine.

The return trip was a whole different story with as much as 50 knots on the nose at times. We stayed low at 12,500 for the return. I dipped down to 9500 at one point to get under a MOA and down to 10,500 at another point to stay VFR and out of some ice at another point. We stopped at DUX on the way home for fuel. I was running at pretty high power, ROP and burning a lot of fuel on the trip back just to fight the headwinds. And no pictures as most of the flight was after dark.

Here's one picture/screenshot of what it looks like to go just under a hot MOA. 

It was a good trip and such a good way to travel. I'm very privileged to own and fly such a great machine. I'll give a PIREP on the work done at SWTA in another post.

 

[Davidv]

1 hour ago, gsxrpilot said:

I posted this on the Mooney FB group, so apologies for those of you who already saw this...

The wife and I made a quick trip to Austin over the weekend. It's really our annual Christmas visit to the in-laws. The plan was to fly BJC (Rocky Mountain Metro) to Smithville (84R) on Friday morning and then return Monday. We ended up returning Sunday night instead.

It was also an opportunity to get JD and Chad at SWTA to do some work on the Mooney. I've been having some electrical issues and really wanted to get them sorted out.

The flight BJC to 84R was quick with a nice tailwind. I'm pretty sure we can beat the airlines door to door going this direction. 3:45 at 17,500.

Here's the requisite performance data 

Somewhere there was a conversation on the alignment of the horizontal stabilizer in cruise. So here's mine.

The return trip was a whole different story with as much as 50 knots on the nose at times. We stayed low at 12,500 for the return. I dipped down to 9500 at one point to get under a MOA and down to 10,500 at another point to stay VFR and out of some ice at another point. We stopped at DUX on the way home for fuel. I was running at pretty high power, ROP and burning a lot of fuel on the trip back just to fight the headwinds. And no pictures as most of the flight was after dark.

Here's one picture/screenshot of what it looks like to go just under a hot MOA. 

It was a good trip and such a good way to travel. I'm very privileged to own and fly such a great machine. I'll give a PIREP on the work done at SWTA in another post.

 

What an oil temp to be jealous about! Particularly at 17k feet.