Flying WI to Maine this weekend

Looks like as of right now Kent's at Defiance OH, taking a quick break.

Quick? ME??? :rofl:

Before I get to more of the story below, the first leg from KMSN to KDFI (Defiance, in western OH) was fairly uneventful. Normally I'd go VFR down the Chicago lakeshore, but between the weather and a certain president-elect, that wasn't an option today. Normally I'd just file direct through the KELSI penalty box, but today the weather looked like I might have to stay low to keep from icing up, so I filed airways so I'd have the ability to stay lower if I needed it. The first leg was MSN V9 KELSI V38 MAPPS V233 GSH V92 ILTON which would allow me to fly the whole route at 3,000 if I needed to.

I didn't need to. The weather was pretty good. I was in some very light snow for a bit between RFD and KELSI, but no other IMC until the descent into KDFI. The only other bit of excitement was that Rockford Approach completely forgot to hand me off. I finally called and asked them about it and got a frequency for Chicago Center.

Either Kent is staying on the ground in Ohio or he's decided to continue VFR, at least nothing is showing up on FlightAware past Defiance. Looking at the ADDS prediction of icing over western NY I can see why Kent might stay put for a while. I think he'd be OK if he could make the trip above 9000 MSL but that might be without any outs in a Skyhawk. There's a nice 30+ kt tailwind at 11,000 though.

So the reason for the long break was to re-check the weather and figure out my next course of action. I knew I was going to have good (good enough, anyway) weather as far as Defiance. I fueled the plane and the pilot, and sat down to look at the weather. My original route of KDFI VWV V126 ERI V270 CFB V542 ALB was fairly close to Lake Erie, and the lake was throwing up some NASTY stuff today:

BUF UUA /OV BUF135020 /TM 2044 /FL080 /TP A320 /TA M08 /IC MOD SEV 080-060 /RM /TA M02 060 (the HIWAS said it was moderate between 4000 and 6000 and severe between 6000 and 8000)

And if an A320 thinks it's severe, well... Take the ol' proverbial flying manhole cover and coat it with ice... Yikes.

So, I planned a new route farther away from the lake: KDFI MFD CIP ULW V542 ALB. I had descended through the lower scattered to broken layer of clouds on my way into DFI and did not pick up any ice. Tops were around 5,000 at that point. However, I knew the layer was going to be thicker up ahead, and I didn't want to be right in the tops. So, I filed for 7,000 knowing I'd need to make it up to 11,000 eventually. Tops were forecast to be between 10,000 and 14,000, but the VAD Wind Profiler (which is FINALLY available to pilots, at least on WSI - Woohoo! - One of the best weather tools, IMHO, and it's about time someone besides the briefers can see it) showed that the actual tops were only at 9 or 10 thousand along my entire route. Looking at TAF's and FA's it looked like there would be some spots where I could drop back down safely, so I again filed airways to allow the lowest MIA's for the leg.

When I finally launched, I climbed to 7000 and the first layer was 4000 to 5300 with no ice. Near Mansfield, visibility was going down and when I looked up it looked like there might be better vis above, so I asked for 9,000 (and the vis improved significantly). Later on (near Youngstown IIRC) it started getting dark and also looking like I'd be in the tops again before too long, so I asked for 11,000. During the climb I did go into the side of what I'd seen. I picked up a trace of rime ice around 10,000 and at about 10,200 in the cracks of the broken layer, I saw blue sky a ways above, so I went from a cruise climb to a quick "zoom" climb and busted out the top of the clouds at 10,700 whereupon there was suddenly a LOT more light, and unrestricted visibility.

One of my favorite outs is to have lots of extra fuel. Had there been no way to get down into Albany without turning into a popsicle, there was somewhat better weather to the south, so KPOU was my filed alternate. However, I was happy to see a big hole in the clouds at Elmira, and an even larger one at Binghamton.

I was conserving the 496's battery for when I really needed it, and when Boston Center said he was painting moderate precip in front of me, I decided that was a good time to use it! However, it turns out that the weather he was painting was a snowstorm that was all below me. No precip, IMC, anything at my altitude, and there were enough lights illuminating parts of the cloud deck that I could still see it OK.

After I'd informed Boston Center that I was above the weather, I also let him know that I wanted to stay high and do a slam-dunk approach into Albany (which was reporting 5000 overcast). As seems to be my luck when flying in weather that's forecast to be terrible, there was a big gaping hole over Albany and I didn't hit any IMC at all on the way in.

BTW, this Million Aire FBO at KALB is *fabulous* and that's a word I never use. Huge, clean terminal, free soda fountain/popcorn/coffee/cookies, friendly and helpful people, and 100LL is $3.68 from the truck and $3.18 from the self-serve pump, all open and staffed 24/7. WOW! Oh, and there's a room where I'll be sleeping tonight, in a bed, for free, with bathroom and shower for the morning. And, believe it or not, they're the only FBO on the field! I will *definitely* be back here. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a single thing they could do better. :yes:

EDIT: Man, but THEY did! I found a room marked "Cinema" that's got huge leather recliners in a stadium-seating configuration with a big-screen TV and a computerized system where you can choose movies to watch. I think I might need to live here. :rofl:
 
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Sounds like a good and challenging trip, Kent. Glad you made it!
 
Looks like Kent just took off not long ago, and is on his way up to Maine. Acording to the METARs for his route, looks like it should be pretty clear... at least from my 30 second look. :)
 
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Indeed, it's beautiful out up here. Nice day to fly.
 
I bet that was a pretty flight. Pictures, Kent?

Glad you made it safely! :yes:
 
there's no other wrong way

Fixed for troof.

Maybe it's all the years of reading blueprints, but I can not stand track up, or anything else except north up. I also don't fly with my sectionals held upside down.
 
Maybe it's all the years of reading blueprints, but I can not stand track up, or anything else except north up. I also don't fly with my sectionals held upside down.
I fly with track up on both the 430 I use for navigation and the 496 for situational awareness; the weather display on the 496, especially, isn't too useful if it's displaying north up and I'm flying south.

In the car, I use a split screen display: the wider view is set to north up, the detail view is set to track up.
 
strangely, i hold my sectional north up, but like my GPS's track up.
 
Kent just a few more weeks and maybe some more 172s and you'll be needing this.
 

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Well... Dropped off the plane, got a look at a brand-new Skyhawk (still has plastic on the seats!) that had a ferry tank (124 gallons + 53 in the wings = 177 gallons or 22 hours!) already installed ready for the trip across the pond, and booked a flight home.

Two human mailing tubes later, I got back to MSN a scant 38 hours after the journey began. I had a 4-hour layover in Detroit, but that was OK because I got to have dinner and chat with Steve Tupper for pretty much the entire layover, which was cool.

Now... I am beat! I should probably head off to bed. :yes:
 
Kent did you snap any pics of your trip?

I sure did. My digital camera broke on the last day of my west coast trip, though, so you'll have to deal with iPhone pictures instead.

A shot of the plane:
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After takeoff from 32, and vectors of 270 and 180, here's a shot looking back at KMSN from a bit southwest of the field:
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And a shot in the other direction - Pretty, even if cloudy:
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The whole stack:
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Planes, trains, and automobiles - And trucks. All your favorite modes of transportation in one shot: At the bottom is an intermodal transfer yard, in the middle is I-88, and at the top is the Rochelle Koritz airport.
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Here's the entire panel. The small switch panel to the left of the audio panel has a button to clear strikes from the stormscope display on the 530, a switch to auto-tune the DME to Nav1 or Nav2, a button to mute the traffic alert, the power switch for the active traffic system, and a white "alert" light that comes on during the traffic system's test phase and when there's a traffic alert. I only heard one such alert on the entire flight: "Traffic! Traffic! One o'clock and four hundred feet below" as I was on final at Bangor. Pretty slick.
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A Glory was with me pretty much the whole time I was in cruise between Albany and Bangor:
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A couple layers of clouds below me, and a clear spot:
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An abandoned airport near Bangor that's been converted into a dragstrip :(:
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What a 172 with a ferry tank looks like:
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I think Steve or someone posted a shot of this plane (at Gaston's I think?) a while back, it was in the shop at Bangor:
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is that a turbine converted 206 on floats??
 
Is that the Old Town airport, Kent?

Bruce: You may be correct; however, when I was a lot younger it seems to me the "Winterport Drag Strip" was a former airport. And as the crow flies, Winterport isn't too far from Bangor. ????????????????? Kent???

HR
 
Is that the Old Town airport, Kent?

The closed one? Nope, looks like Old Town is still open. This is just about directly opposite Bangor from Old Town. It's the closed field marked on the sectional at the south end of the class C:

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Bruce: You may be correct; however, when I was a lot younger it seems to me the "Winterport Drag Strip" was a former airport. And as the crow flies, Winterport isn't too far from Bangor. ????????????????? Kent???

HR

That's exactly the one, Harley. Look at the sectional piece I just posted, and you'll see that it says "Winterport" right underneath the closed airport symbol.

Found some info on it - It was called Fernald Field. Opened between 1942 and 1944, maybe as a takeoff alternate for military aircraft from Dow Field in Bangor. It was the center of Caution Area C-133 on a 1954 sectional, which said that caution area was used for drones. Listed in the "low use airports" section of the 1971 Flight Guide, and closed sometime between 1971 and 1976. Funny, it looked like it was in pretty good shape from the air, as if it had only closed in the last decade or so.

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/ME/Airfields_ME_S.htm
 
Yeah; I thought that would be it. On the way from Rockland to Bangor -- by automobile -- North of Belfast -- where there is an airport -- one will pass through Frankfort(tiny little town), Winterport, Hampden, and then into Bangor. Winterport Drag Strip was a lot handier to attend from the Knox County area, rather than driving down to Sanford(in Southern Maine) which was the better-known drag strip.

When I did my Dual X-Ctry: Wiscasset > Pittsfield > Bangor > Rockland > Wiscasset we were enroute from BGR to RKD. One of the waypoints was BST(Belfast). At some point my CFI commented that I'd missed the Belfast reference.

"I don't think so; we're not there, yet. I think you'll find that's the Winterport Drag Strip over there. The old airport's been closed for years." Up came his chart.

"Your point. Carry on."

HR
 
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