Cold and Rainy

The big thing to see in Colorado according to the tourist literature is Garden of the Gods.  This is a public park down by Colorado Springs.  Thursday had been great weather but we awoke to a down pour on Friday.  The weather South in Colorado Springs was supposed to be better and forecast to be nice by mid day.  We also planned to drive up to Pikes Peak after the park.

When we arrived in Boulder it was hot as in 90.  Remember we are at 5000 feet so the temperatures are supposed to be cooler.  Today it was cold as in 50s.  I thought I had brought my jacket along but apparently I left it neatly hung in the hotel.  As a pilot I adhere to checklists and procedures to keep me from forgetting critical items.  As a tourist I revert to an idiot heading out on a cold and windy day under dressed.  No problem though, I now own a cool warm sweatshirt.

We had slept in and left late to avoid the height of Denver traffic.  Our plan was only partially successful, basically Denver traffic stinks.    This delay worked to our advantage though as it gave time for the rain to move out but it was still cloudy.  One of the great views from the Park is Pikes peak, a 14,114 foot summit.  This was 2000 feet more than the peak we climbed the day before.  I won't bother to post any pictures, just find a piece of gray paper and look at it as this is all we saw of the mountain.

At the Garden of the gods we drove the loop and then hiked for 2 hours on the various trails.  They had one which was fully wheelchair accessible and several that were more suited to mountain goats.  We saw all manner of tourists climbing in places that were potentially deadly.  This seemed to be a recurring theme whenever we saw tourists and high places.

The Garden of the Gods is a great stop but I would rate Rocky Mountain National higher.  After finishing the park, we contemplated Pikes Peak.  They have a weather line you can call and we found out the road was only partially open due to dense fog, surprise.  Since we have seen the inside of a cloud many times before we decided to skip the mountain and headed back to Boulder for a late lunch.  Boulder is a quaint little city.  It is basically right up against the mountains and boast some incredible scenery (except today which was just gray).

Boulder is home to University of Colorado Boulder and the downtown has a nice tourist walking street.  Pearl Street is a few blocks of eclectic shops and restaurants.  We dropped in for some fancy tacos which I then supplemented with a Chicago dog from a street vendor.

I then did some class prep (remember I came for the class).  We finished the day by visiting the only Boulder mall for some Bison Burger and salad.  It was a local place and they kept is simple using the kitchenware to serve the food.

Rocky Mountains

After our long flight, we were happy to settle in for the night.  Our hotel, the Renaissance Flatiron was just minutes from the airport (BJC).  The boulder airport caters to some pretty impressive jets.  When we arrived I wondered if we would be treated like second class citizens.  I am happy to say our experience was 100% first class.  Upon arrival we had been met and parked and the line guy hung out to help us unload and golf cart us to the the building.

The staff at the FBO (fixed based operator) even clued us in that the hotel would come get us saving us an Uber fare.  She also helped us with our rental car woes.  I had tried in vain to call the local Avis office from Kansas but they never answered and the national line was no help at all.  The Signature FBO CSR had the secret cell phone number of the Avis manager.  I gave him a call after opening time and he was able to work a car for us a day early, problem solved.

The next issue was where to?  We had not planned to be there. Our room came with free breakfast so while eating, we started discussing our destination and the friendly staff gave us several suggestions.  I have to say that people in Colorado were exceedingly friendly, I was unsure if this was related to Colorado Amendment 64 but we enjoyed the great hospitality regardless.   We decided on a drive up to Estes, CO and  visit  Rocky Mountain National park.  The hotel was nice enough to drop us at the Avis office and we soon had a car and were headed Northwest.

We drove up through Estes which is a quaint tourist trap and entered the park.  The fee is $20 and well worth the cost.  The ranger station equipped us with a map and we decided to drive to the Alpine visitor center which is the high point, literally.  Along the way there are many great pull offs where you can take in the stunning views.

 The park sports lots of mountains but also has some nice wildlife to view.

The creature above is a Marmot but I just classed it in family Varmit.  We had a great time walking and sightseeing but we did feel the effects of the altitude.  Denver at 5000 feet was no big deal but when we eventually climbed (see stairs below) up to 12,000 we both had to take it a bit slower.

You know we were really above 12,000 because the sign says so.  I was a bit curious whether the elevation was at the base of the sign or at the level of the text.  Just to be safe the other pictures are us standing on rocks above the sign.   If you squint you can see the blue tinge from lack of oxygen.  It was all downhill from here, we headed back to our hotel and dropped by the plane to clean it up a bit.  It seems I hit every bug between Florida and Colorado.  If you squint, you can see the Denver skyline over the left wing.

We met up with a friend for Vietnamese food (pho) that evening and after too much food, some additional local ice cream, she then took us on a quick walk in Chautauqua park.  We finally learned why they call the area the Flatiron.  You can see one behind us.  It is a somewhat misleading name as it is not Iron rich but rather flat sandstone.  I was not too disappointed by the deception and consoled myself with a spectacular sunset over the mountains

I blame Cindy

In 2014 I signed up for a course on Mountain Flying taught in Colorado.  Right after signing up we decided to move to Singapore which messed up my plans.  The folks at the Colorado Pilots Association were quite nice and gave me a refund but it was something I wanted to do so once getting back I started planning to attend.  Initially I was going to go alone but the more we discussed it, the more it seemed to make sense to make a vacation out of it.  It just so happened that we had friends for CC to visit while I was in class in Boulder, CO.

Once deciding to go the planning started.  It is 1290 Nautical Miles from Jacksonville to Rocky Mountain Metro airport.  The simple way to go is to draw a straight line and then stop 2 or 3 times for gas.  That was the initial plan.  I looked carefully for airports that had good reviews, yes airports get reviews on pilot sights.  I also looked for the better gas prices.  Airplane gas is tightly controlled and consistent but varies greatly in price.

Everything was set, we planned to head out on Thursday and depending on weather either go all the way or overnight and finish on Friday.  Class was scheduled for Saturday for the classroom part and Sunday was the flying part.

The weekend before I started watching the weather and the beginning of Tropical Storm Cindy was born.  This put a wrench in the works as Cindy was going to come up through the middle of our route.  Now I am instrument rated which allows me to fly through clouds but does not get you through big nasty storms.  Monday I hatched the plan to leave Wednesday. I expected low clouds and visibility in the morning so we planned to leave later after it lifted and overnight in Tulsa.  Why Tulsa?  It was on the way and had lots of hotels around.

Wednesday morning we awoke to low ceilings and low visibility all over the South East and storms rolling in off the gulf.  Now we can fly over the clouds but in a single engine plane if you have a significant issue you may become a glider.  This is something we practice and all pilots should be able to glide to a survivable landing.  You need to be able to see the ground to do this.  For this reason, I avoid flights over very low weather to reduce risk.

Time for plan B, always have a plan B.  I decided we would head up the coast where the weather was pretty good and basically go around the bad stuff.  In a car this is not usually viable due to the increased time but at 200 mph, you have some flexibility.  Thus Wednesday around 10 AM we launched for out West by heading North.  We headed up over Savannah, Augusta and the Jasper GA North of Atlanta where we had our first fuel stop.

From here we headed to Memphis.  We landed at General Dewitt Spain Municipal Airport.  A real mouthful when making radio calls.  The airport is right on the Mississippi so you cross over into Arkansas as you make your landing pattern.  At our first stop we just used self serve fuel but when we pulled up to the pumps in Memphis, the staff came and pumped my gas, then they made sure we had cold waters and bags of candy for the road.  While planning our next segment another staffer even cleaned our windshield.  Now for me to do this I need a step stool, I am short and the plane is tall and most people need some height assistance..  The gentleman nicknamed Tiny, was able to do it without much trouble though.

Leaving Memphis we were on our way to Tulsa for the overnight.  About 30 minutes into the flight I looked at the time and the weather and said, "you know we could go all the way today".  After some quick discussion and calculation, we updated our destination to Great Bend Kansas.  Now this decision had an element of danger, not the flying.  I had not checked if rooms were available and our car was reserved for Friday.  Throwing caution to the wind we landed at Great Bend.

Kansas is know for its wind and Great Bend did not disappoint.  Kansas was having a heat wave so getting out of the plane we had a 30 knot 98 degree blast furnace.  We quickly headed inside to plan the final segment, call our hotel and call the car people.  The hotel was easy and we had a room, Avis was a nightmare and could not help me.  Undaunted we headed out for Colorado.

Leaving Memphis I thought I left all the bad weather behind but we found more over Kansas.  After a short detour we were on our way in to Colorado.We landed about 6:30 PM Mountain time.  Total time en-route was 10.5 hours.  We originally planned 1290 mile and flew a bit more than 1400.  It was a long but satisfying day.

Also for those counting We added Kansas and Colorado to the list of States, mark of #45 and #44.

Have plane will bum about

One nice thing about having a plane is that your weekend outings can cover a lot more territory.  Last night CC mentioned we should visit the West Coast, of Florida, not California.  I Initially thought of Venice, Florida not Italy but then Apalachicola came to mind.  Apalachicola is a sleepy little old Florida town in the panhandle.  Technically not West Coast but it was Gulf Coast.

Driving takes about 4.5 hours each way but the plane made the trip in 1:25.  This time is from engine start to shutdown.  Our schedule, we left the house around 10:20 and were  in the air at 11:00.  Arrived at 12:15, saw everything, ate and were back in the air at 2:15.  Landed at 3:20 and were home by 4:00.  Driving would have had us returning home at 9:20 PM.  Basically we saved 5 hours and had a heck of a lot more fun.

When we fly our favorite routing is Direct.  The introduction of GPS has made this the norm in most uncongested airspace.  Today we could have received direct but I filed to WOUND intersection then direct.  Intersections are just points in space defined by radio navigation aids.  They make it much easier to communicate navigational paths as I can just request an intersection and ATC then knows where I want to go.  In this case WOUND keeps you over land as opposed to flying out over the gulf.

As I was saying Apalachicola is a sleepy town.  Even so they have a nice airport.  I took a risk and headed out without being sure of ground transport.  As we were approaching to land the FBO (fixed based operator) inquired on the radio if we needed fuel.  We did and I also asked if there was a courtesy car available.  There was so we were set.  We landed and taxied to the parking area.  I was directed to a space right up front and before I could get out there was a car parked behind the plane idling and frosty cool inside.

So one problem when you arrive somewhere is how do you get from the airport to where you really want to go.  In Knoxville Uber came to the rescue.  Jekyll has the cool buggies but that is not the norm, OK it is like no where else.  If we stay for the night or more we often rent a car.  If you just need to a few hours many places have airport cars.  Airport cars are there own discussion but basically you buy gas for they plane and they lend you a car.  Good deal for both parties.  The only problem can be if other people came before you and there is no car to borrow.  Today we were lucky.

We headed out for lunch and drove through town and then over the bridge on highway 98 to Eastpoint.  We stopped at a local joint called Lynns Quality Oysters.  It is a seafood market and restaurant.  Nothing fancy but the above picture was from the deck where we ate so the lack of decor is offset by the views.

Apalachicola is known for oysters but since it was not an R month we went with some shrimp and Mahi Mahi dip.  The deck was great and the temperature by the water was high 70s, cold in Florida.  The one issue is that to make the tasty smoked Mahi dip, they need to smoke fish each day.  Some of the tables were directly downwind of the smoker but by seating ourselves strategically we mostly avoided the smoke.

After lunch we drove back to town.  It is really only 2 blocks long and built around the tourist trade.  We strolled a bit and took at the waterfront and old buildings.

Apalachicola is still rural, as we were strolling, logging trucks were rolling down main street.

The best thing about Apalachicola is the seafood, the gulf and the beach.  A bunch of stores selling junk, oh I mean great souvenirs is less exciting.  The nice thing about the plane is that we had an open return.  When we were through strolling, I used my phone to file our return flight plan and then we drove back to the airport.  We paid for our gas and were soon airborne and on our way home.  Now to plan an outing for Sunday....

Tennessee Fly In

Another state down.  We headed off this weekend to Knoxville Tennessee for a fly in.  A fly in is typically a bunch of people just congregating at an airport.  In this case, this was the 9th iteration of this fly in and it was organized by members of an online aircraft message board called Beechtalk.

Beechtalk is the place to go to discuss all things Beechcraft or aviation related.  As a bonus they prohibit political discussions.  If you have been following the weather this weekend you may know that it was not perfect.  Lots of concern regarding storms.

Friday came and we woke to some low clouds in Jacksonville and some storms in the Knoxville area.  No problem, I had to work the morning and by mid day things were much better at both ends.  We departed and had an easy flight with a bit of a tail wind.  Coming over the mountains we dodged a few rain showers and soon were on the ground at the Knoxville Downtown Airport.

They parked the early arrivals out back and we were the first arrival put at the end of the row up front.  Here we are all alone.

We found our way to town and enjoyed a nice walk downtown, dinner and  meeting up with some of the group.  In the morning we returned to the airport for the real festivities.  More people had arrived after us and our plane was no longer lonely.

The Saturday arrivals started rolling in.  We had come 2.5 hours, some had come 4+ from places like Cedar Rapids.  We watched planes land, talked planes, looked at planes and generally did plane related stuff.

One of the cool things about this fly in is getting to see history live.  This plane, a Twin Bonanza or T-bone,  which looks brand new is from the 50's.  The modern turbo prop king air below and it still share parts.  Sorta like the kids and Grandpa.

After much aviation stuff we all sat down to a nice BBQ lunch.  In all about 70 people came, more were expected but the weather kept some away.   After lunch we headed out and the weather was looking pretty good at first.  We did have a 27 knot headwind on initial climbout but it gradually declined as we headed South.

We were up at 9000 and mostly over nice puffy clouds and made our way over Athens GA.  At this point the weather started looking worse.  Our next waypoint to cross was Dublin GA but a thunderstorm had parked itself overhead.  The controllers were very accommodating and we began a re-route to the East.  The closer we got to Dublin the worse it looked.  The picture does not do it justice but you can see the thunderhead and between was rather dark.

We kept deviating East as the weather was clear in that direction.  It looked like once we were South of Dublin we could turn South and get through the line of building storms but as we cleared the first storm, we could not clearly see a safe path through.  I threw in the towel and asked for a turn more to the East towards Savannah.  There was a line of weather running East but stopping well short of the coast.

As we came to the coast the dark storm clouds ended and we could see a clear path to Jacksonville.    After that it was an easy run back to the airport.  In the end, a great fly in and another state off the list.

Weather to go

One of the harder aspects of flying is managing the weather.  Now you can't change the weather but you can decide whether to participate in it or watch it from the ground.  Yesterday, I had planned a flight to Atlanta.  I was watching the weather during the week and as things unfolded it became apparent that weather was going to be a problem.  One thing you learn early is that it is not all that predictable.  This day the predictions were close. I woke up and the radar looked like this.

So this was not a pretty picture but when you go 200 mph, you can often just go around stuff.  What was concerning as well was those colored dots.  Green and Blue indicate visual conditions.  Red is instrument and magenta is low instrument conditions.  Thus not only would we be looking at dodging storms but we might be solid in the weather which makes it harder to see things building around you.

As you can see as the day wore on it was not getting any better.  We cancelled the flight and enjoyed the day at home.

Today I woke up with the intention of taking CC for some Eggs Benedict down in Vero Beach.  There is a nice place on the airport.  The forecast was for good weather all day so when I woke up and the coast was all low instrument weather, I was a bit disappointed.  In this case, I had a good feeling that hitting snooze would fix the problem

Delaying an hour changed the weather picture and we were off at 10:00 instead of 9:00.  Other than a few soft clouds we had great weather heading down.

The late start put us behind the local crowd so we had to wait for a table but eventually we had a nice breakfast/lunch and headed back.  The afternoon forecast was supposed to be a few scattered clouds but we had a bit of un-forecast weather.

Heading North along the coast we started to encounter some bumpy clouds that were building into rain showers.  The controllers were very accommodating and by flying about 2 miles East of our planned course we avoided the rough stuff.  As we came up to Daytona area there was a good size storm building.

Now when I started flying we would watch the weather channel before heading to the airport and that was the last look we had at the radar before launching an hour or two later.  As the years have passed, they put radar displays at airports and then we had cell phones.  Now we get the information sent via data link.  This is pretty good but the information may be several minutes old so it is great for avoiding areas of storms and giving you a heads up as it did today.  It is not great at tactical avoidance as things can change fast.  Today it gave us the heads up and we then used our eyeballs to confirm a safe route around the cell.

We deviated East and came up the coast.  You can see the storm as we passed it.  The picture does not show it well but it looked dark and rainy under there.  With the help of air traffic control, some data and our eyes, we were able to complete the flight safely and have a nice breakfast.