Do I get to say "told you so"
Glad he decided to turn around instead of pushing it more. That weather was nowhere near good enough...
Sure, only if I can borrow the P-Baron. Tony said he didn't realize it was me impersonating you last night, so I'm sure the insurance won't notice.
I didn't really think I was going to make it home (although might not have emphasized that much, since there's always the hope). What I had hoped was that I was going to make it to, say, Jasper Indiana and stay at a friend's house. Chicago was obviously completely out of the question. I also figured that I had an easy out of a 180 back to Ames if necessary, which I figured was a possibility when I took off.
The runway was icy on takeoff, and good practice. To avoid being sideways down the runway on takeoff, I applied power slowly and gingerly, probably about 10 seconds from idle to full power. With 5700 ft or so of runway, it wasn't like I had to worry about running out. By doing it that way, I managed to take off in a straight line and smoothly. I'd gotten Jesse's PIREP, and went straight to a VFR on top clearance (first time I got that) and they let me pop right up. I then climbed up to 11,500, and started heading for Indiana.
That's when I started looking at the 496 more (thanks Missa). Since I had an easy out of making it back into Ames, I was comfortable continuing on. The barometer was dropping very quickly (like 0.5" every time I got handed off), and I saw the wall of weather that eventually caused me to turn around. Part of the deception was my track vs. my heading, due to the crosswind. Basically to get around it required due south, and looking at weather patterns on the 496 it looked like I was going to need to go to Mississippi if I wanted to avoid it. So, worse than I saw when I looked at it earlier. Also, the forecast for tomorrow looked better. So, once it got to the point where it became evident that the solid wall was actually worse than I thought from what I'd checked at the hotel, I decided to turn around and come back to Ames.
I ended up landing with about close to a direct 15 kt crosswind due to the more favorable runway being really slushed up. Good landing, plane and pilot back on the ground safely.
It really was a beautiful flight, and good learning experience. Fortunately, I don't have to be back at work until Wednesday, and I can take more vacation if needed. That said, nothing against Ames but I'd rather get home tomorrow if possible.
If you have to get stuck somewhere, getting stuck here with such excellent company is as good as you could hope for. I had a great time seeing everyone and meeting a bunch of people for the first time. In reality, I'm glad that I didn't leave yesterday because it was such a good time. That said, leaving today would've been nice.
