I had been planning some trips but weather has been great during the week while I worked but not so good on the weekends. I thought of an overnight run this weekend but the Sunday forecast looked a bit low so decided to just take a nice breakfast run Saturday. The weather was supposed to be pretty nice.
The first trip I took with my last Beechcraft was down to Vero Beach for Brunch at CJ Cannons. I also took CC there for Mothers day a while back. So this was sort of deja vu except with worse weather up by home.
We decided to sleep late and then head off for Brunch. We departed in overcast conditions and were soon droning along between layers.
Every once in a while we would be swallowed by the clouds and then see glimpses of blue skies above.
At one point we broke out the top and just skimmed between the cloud valleys.
Nearing Vero the clouds parted and we landed in gusty conditions. Luckily the wind was right down the runway. Little did we know that this would change.
We headed in and scored the last booth with the airport view. I could even see the tail of our plane.
We then feasted on brunch, enjoying the warm weather and contemplating the return flight. As we prepared to leave there was a rush of activity at the airport. Police, fire engines and ambulances. This is never a good sign. We walked out to the plane and could see across the field the emergency vehicles clustered around. We asked what was happening to some other pilots and they had heard a plane was on fire.
After seeing the plane that was parked next to us depart successfully we decided to fire up and see what was happening. We called ground and got our clearance but then held while they let a fire truck leave the scene. The runway into the wind was closed due to the emergency and we received an unusual clearance. We were sent onto the active runway to back taxi so as to get around the emergency and then back onto the taxiway.
As we taxied by we could see a plane that had been foamed. It looked like everyone got out OK and the fire vehicles were packing up. The plane was a single turboprop. I later saw a news report that confirmed that no one was hurt other than the insurance company. It was a multi million $ plane but that is why we pay for insurance.
We had to take off with a stiff crosswind and then spent most of the flight in the clouds. Good practice though. Landing at home base the gusts were up to 30 knots but pretty much down the runway. The above picture lets you know what the inside of a cloud looks like from the cockpit. A very successful day, we escaped the cold dreary weather for a bit, got some good eats and had a fun flight.
The first trip I took with my last Beechcraft was down to Vero Beach for Brunch at CJ Cannons. I also took CC there for Mothers day a while back. So this was sort of deja vu except with worse weather up by home.
We decided to sleep late and then head off for Brunch. We departed in overcast conditions and were soon droning along between layers.
Every once in a while we would be swallowed by the clouds and then see glimpses of blue skies above.
At one point we broke out the top and just skimmed between the cloud valleys.
Nearing Vero the clouds parted and we landed in gusty conditions. Luckily the wind was right down the runway. Little did we know that this would change.
We headed in and scored the last booth with the airport view. I could even see the tail of our plane.
After seeing the plane that was parked next to us depart successfully we decided to fire up and see what was happening. We called ground and got our clearance but then held while they let a fire truck leave the scene. The runway into the wind was closed due to the emergency and we received an unusual clearance. We were sent onto the active runway to back taxi so as to get around the emergency and then back onto the taxiway.
As we taxied by we could see a plane that had been foamed. It looked like everyone got out OK and the fire vehicles were packing up. The plane was a single turboprop. I later saw a news report that confirmed that no one was hurt other than the insurance company. It was a multi million $ plane but that is why we pay for insurance.
We had to take off with a stiff crosswind and then spent most of the flight in the clouds. Good practice though. Landing at home base the gusts were up to 30 knots but pretty much down the runway. The above picture lets you know what the inside of a cloud looks like from the cockpit. A very successful day, we escaped the cold dreary weather for a bit, got some good eats and had a fun flight.
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