Well we had another awesome time at 6Y9er this year. AdamB and I ( apparently we are now referred to collectively as the Adams) Flew up in A2s Turbo Trinnie. We had been planning the trip for weeks and I bought airline tix up and back from Philly to Manchester NH where I was going to meet A2 and fly the northern route over the north side of Lake Huron to the tip of the UP and on to 6Y9. We planned in great detail B bought the needed charts I plotted the route and we were getting psyched.
Then the massive SLOW moving low over the UP and Canada toward the end of last week threw all of our plans out the Window. Such is GA. Instead B decided that he would fly down to Wings Thursday night stay at my place and we would take the southern route south of lake Erie and up the lower Peninsula of Michigan.
Friday morning arrived bright and clear but with a cold front that ran from just east of the Ohio Michigan boarder down to Texas and hooked around up to Arizona. Up in Ohio it was spawning some nasty TS. So we launched from Wings and headed NW across Pennsylvania and saw some respectable ground speeds in the 140 kts range. We picked Franklin/Venango county KFKL to stop in Western PA refuel, grab some lunch and wait for the front to pass, and wait and wait and wait. After lunch and watching some old episodes of the Sopranos and a documentary about a mob lawyer the front passed and we went out to the plane to check things out. The front past and wind shifted from the North West and while things generally looked clear there was a lot of low lying scud off the ends of both runways. We played the eh can we make it over that stuff on climb out game for a bit before we decided to file. Good decision on our part as we were in it for a bit. We broke out and headed west across Ohio at around 6000' and when we made the turn north west at TOL up into Michigan it wasn't long be fore the ceilings came way down and the winds and precip kicked up. We got to Hastings to meet Ed and stay over his place with howling winds out of the WNW. As we approached we made our obligatory ATITPPA call just to tick Ed off. Of course he and Liz who was inbound knew who it was. We landed at 9D9 and froze our keisters off in the gray windy drizzle. Liz landed in the Sooper Yankee shortly after us.
After some great brew pub brew some Mexican food and A2s 46oz margarita we were off to Ed’s to get some rest. Saturday dawned gray and cold and more windy than Friday. Winds were ripping out of the NW. AdamB and I decided to go to 16K and cross lake Michigan, Ed decided to see how well his Comanche worked as a hover craft over the lake and Liz G-d bless her headed back to the East side of the LP so she could skirt some Wx and then head north. She gave it a valiant try but the winds were just too much for the Yankee and she wisely decided to scrub and headed back home. 2 and I saw 70kt head winds flying across the lake and ground speeds around 104 but as low as 96 Brutal. The lake and both shorelines were totally over cast. When we got to Wisconsin we requested lower so we could get under the layer and head north to 6Y9. We descended to 4K and picked up a trace of ice more like frost on the leaded edge as we descended through the clouds. Luckily they were not all that thick. The whole while A2 and I were talking to Liz, Ed and picked up Kent and Pete on 122.75 We acted as a relay since we were so High. After breaking out we diverted to Menomonee for fuel and a bathroom break. A beautiful airport, with $3.98 fuel, that was absolutely deserted. We took off again for the 30-40 min flight north to 6Y9 at 2500 as the ceiling was now around 3500. We were the last plane in to 6Y9 and Diz thoughtfully keep some burgers on the grill for us. Needless to say it was good to be back. Pete and Kent were there as was Clark whom it was great to meet. Unfortunately Pete had a hair stylist appointment so he and Kent only came for the day. Ed A2 and I took them back to the airport in the evening and got some great shots of their departure with a setting sun as the Wx began to clear up as that freaking Low finally bugged out Northeast. The evening was spent where else but hoppys with Ed, Diz, Brad, Clark and Ryan and family friends of the Fredericks from back home. Given the cold Wx we were all given a spot in the Frederick's cabin and had a great night star gazing by a warm camp fire. The night sky there is AMAZING.
Saturday was a blast although Clark had to leave a couple more planes flew in and we grabbed a late breakfast at Bill's Grill and did some awesome 4 wheeling. The weather was so great on Sunday I got a tan and my pasty friend from NH got a sunburn.
Departure today was a bit exciting we had to abort once as we just didn't get the speed we needed ( we think due to some bumps we took), and while we obviously made it out the second attempt those trees to give you something to think about. We hopped over to Sawyer to get fuel and fill up the 02 but they couldn't fill the O2 today due to the holiday. A2 handled the 12,000' runway well . We left SAW and climbed up to 17K and then requested FL210 to get over some Wx. We were following a front moving north east across Toronto and when we got to Toronto ran into a wall Temps were -18 C and we didn't want to go IMC with the temps. There looked like there were gaps with clear on the other side but as we got closer it was just too hard to tell so we requested lower and circled down through a hole and BAM there was Toronto. We got vectored a bit due to and Airshow and got a bit of actual at 12K over lake Erie but we shot across the lake quickly and over flew Buffalo saw the falls and headed D-> Wings. All in all an awesome weekend.
Again KUDOS to the Fredericks! They showed us a great time. As always large crowd or small 6Y9 is more fun than one should be allowed to have. Despite the Wx the BBQ was well attended by pilots, locals and folks who were just on vacation and heard about it and drove in. If you haven't been there you need to get there.
Flying with AdamB was fantastic. He really knows his plane well and is a super pilot. He is a great person to analyze options with. Photos are below.
I spent my weekend camping with my extended family near Tan Tar A resort (site of the annual Cherokee Fly In) at Osage Beach, MO (K15). I had THIS weather all weekend:
