IFR for blowing dust

denverpilot

denverpilot

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DenverPilot
KBKF went IFR in the wind here today. Wheeeeee.

(It’s truly nutty outside. I saw a dust devil so large I would have rated it an F0 tornado back when I was weather chasing but knew it didn’t have anything other than angry winds to support it. No convection.)

da1f6d31e1de8a73c1e20c89f8ef4f09.jpg
 
The view from the office looking toward just east of the old Stapleton control tower.

5364a6cf358eb29338397dadba5cd0c1.jpg
 
KFTG went IFR.

Listening to DEN on LiveATC an Airbus reported a 55 (!) knot loss on departure for wind shear. Wheeee. Holy frack.

Altimeter is the lowest I’ve seen it here in a while. 29.51.

And now some idiot has a stuck mic on DEN Tower.

d832c3c7d6ef8814780cf0cfcc7d7bad.jpg
 
Yup. Flew an approach to minimums once somewhere in California due to blowing sand.
 
Last time I picked up a SVFR it was 1.5 SM BLDU with winds like that. Sucked.
 
The dog stuck his head out the door and decided to stay inside and sleep on the couch.

Smart dog.

DEN 280 - 29G51 at this time stamp.

KBJC 260 - 60G75
 
already posted about putting my 5th wheel up on jack stands this morning ... but yeah ... ^ that (murphy's post).
 
KBJC 172045Z 26060G75KT 30SM BLDU BKN150 11/M09 A2959

Blowing dust? I think blowing dust, trash, lawn furniture, tree branches, small children, and poorly tied down airplanes is closer to reality.
 
Hope my hangar at BJC is there in the morning if not I hope it makes it to EIK where the rents are cheaper.
 
12 miles as the crow flies from the house. Finally starting to die down now.

KAKO 172153Z AUTO 32043G59KT 10SM FEW020 16/M05 A2960 RMK AO2 PK WND 32068/2055 WSHFT 2040 SLP003 T01561050
KAKO 172138Z AUTO 32046G62KT 10SM FEW020 16/M04 A2958 RMK AO2 PK WND 32068/2055 WSHFT 2040 T01561044
KAKO 172110Z AUTO 31047G62KT 7SM BKN019 BKN030 16/M03 A2952 RMK AO2 PK WND 32068/2055 WSHFT 2040 T01611028
KAKO 172059Z AUTO 33046G68KT 4SM HZ SCT017 18/M02 A2950 RMK AO2 PK WND 32068/2055 WSHFT 2040 PRESRR T01831022
KAKO 172057Z AUTO 32052G68KT 1 3/4SM HZ SCT014 19/M01 A2950 RMK AO2 PK WND 32068/2055 WSHFT 2040 PRESRR T01891011
KAKO 172053Z AUTO 33044G57KT 1 1/4SM HZ FEW012 21/M02 A2947 RMK AO2 PK WND 33057/2051 PRESRR SLP945 T02111022 55001
KAKO 172048Z AUTO 28034G51KT 1 3/4SM HZ FEW012 21/M04 A2943 RMK AO2 PK WND 28051/2047
 
azblackbird said:
12 miles as the crow flies from the house. Finally starting to die down now.

KAKO 172153Z AUTO 32043G59KT 10SM FEW020 16/M05 A2960 RMK AO2 PK WND 32068/2055 WSHFT 2040 SLP003 T01561050
KAKO 172138Z AUTO 32046G62KT 10SM FEW020 16/M04 A2958 RMK AO2 PK WND 32068/2055 WSHFT 2040 T01561044
KAKO 172110Z AUTO 31047G62KT 7SM BKN019 BKN030 16/M03 A2952 RMK AO2 PK WND 32068/2055 WSHFT 2040 T01611028
KAKO 172059Z AUTO 33046G68KT 4SM HZ SCT017 18/M02 A2950 RMK AO2 PK WND 32068/2055 WSHFT 2040 PRESRR T01831022
KAKO 172057Z AUTO 32052G68KT 1 3/4SM HZ SCT014 19/M01 A2950 RMK AO2 PK WND 32068/2055 WSHFT 2040 PRESRR T01891011
KAKO 172053Z AUTO 33044G57KT 1 1/4SM HZ FEW012 21/M02 A2947 RMK AO2 PK WND 33057/2051 PRESRR SLP945 T02111022 55001
KAKO 172048Z AUTO 28034G51KT 1 3/4SM HZ FEW012 21/M04 A2943 RMK AO2 PK WND 28051/2047
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Wow. Love that pressure reading and the automated station saying “PRESRR”!!! Haha.
 
Planned on landing at Kennett MO last week and just before departure the weather went from CLR and 5 miles with gusts to 29 kts to VV 0 and 1/4 mile. When we flew by it looked like a forest fire. Every airport close by was clear and at least ten miles. Kennett sits at the northern end of a large rice growing area.
 
I imagined the rocky mountains to be a bit rockier. That John Denver's full of **it man.

Yeah I know, Denver is in the flat lands and the mountains are just West. Your picture just made me think of that movie line.
 
Anyone know how to use google street view to find my garbage can?
 
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Timbeck2 said:
I imagined the rocky mountains to be a bit rockier. That John Denver's full of **it man.

Yeah I know, Denver is in the flat lands and the mountains are just West. Your picture just made me think of that movie line.
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Hahaha. People think we are right up against the mountains because every shot of downtown is done with a big telephoto lens that flattens the depth of field and brings the big purple rocks right up behind the skyscrapers.

From downtown it’s about 30 miles to the first “real” mountains past the 9,000 MSL foothills. From my house it’s an hour solid to the foothills by car. :)

coloradobluesky said:
Anyone know how to use google street view to find my garbage can? :)
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LOL! LOL!

Today was trash day and when I got home I noticed the garbage truck for the first time ever had emptied my can and then dragged it down the hill at the end of the driveway and tucked it back up against the fence down out of the wind. They were probably seeing most of the neighbor’s cans half a block from their houses.

While that drop off in our driveway down from the neighborhood dirt road down on to our property can be a pain in winter, the little wind shelter the berm makes for west winds sure comes in handy as a place to stash the trash cans behind that and pushed up against the fence to the east. They’re also hidden enough there that nobody complains that we just leave both of them out there.

But usually it’s me that rolls them down the dirt driveway off the road and lines them up against the fence. The trash truck guys deserve a thank you and a good tip sometime when I see them for taking care of it on days like today!
 
murphey said:
The dog stuck his head out the door and decided to stay inside and sleep on the couch.

Smart dog.

DEN 280 - 29G51 at this time stamp.

KBJC 260 - 60G75
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Yikes. That's storm force, bordering on hurricane force. The only place around here I've seen winds like that is the top of Mt. Washington.
 
azure said:
Yikes. That's storm force, bordering on hurricane force. The only place around here I've seen winds like that is the top of Mt. Washington.
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Happens every spring here. The utility poles west of BJC are about twice the usual diameter....and suburban sprawl is filling the area with housing (note I didn’t use the word homes)
 
I landed in Raton, NM once when the asos was reporting very close to that. Went to less than a half mile within 15 minutes of landing. That weather came in 3-4 hours before it was forecasted and there aren't really a whole lot of other options around those parts. Gotten there 15 minutes later I would have had to go to a distant airport somewhere. Also, the only time I ever had a rented plane hangared overnight.
 
Clark1961 said:
Happens every spring here. The utility poles west of BJC are about twice the usual diameter....and suburban sprawl is filling the area with housing (note I didn’t use the word homes)
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The lost Rocky Flats plutonium is also a detractor for buying there.

Of course *some* of it blew to Kansas. Haha.
 
Landed at DEN yesterday on Southwest. Wind at landing 28036G55.
 
what all this dust would do to a jet engine ? I suppose they don't have engine air filters
 
blueskyMD said:
what all this dust would do to a jet engine ? I suppose they don't have engine air filters
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The engine doctors can say more. The interesting thing I learned was that jet engines are washed with soap and water. The guys used a weed sprayer and a water hose while motoring the engine. They may have started the engine, I don't remember. They did have some sort of snafu with the igniters during the process.
 
gkainz said:
I'm 12 miles SSW of KBJC, and between the 150 MPH and 160 MPH Gust corridors
http://seacolorado.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/FINAL-COLORADO-FRONT-RANGE-GUST-MAP-2013.pdf
so everything not built or secured to hurricane strength wind standards has long since migrated to Kansas.

Even so, we get new creaks, groans and disconcerting noises from the house as it complains about the spring breezes here.
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That is a great report - I had no idea anything like it existed!
 
Tomorrow (fri 4/20) snow & rain. In mid-April
 
murphey said:
Tomorrow (fri 4/20) snow & rain. In mid-April
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Yup.

I MIGHT have a new student on Sunday if this crap settles down.

Which of course is making me watch the weather like a student who’s dying to solo. LOL.

Oh and probably in a Skyhawk too. Yay. Haha.

After all my 182 time I’ll be wondering what the hell is wrong with the engine and why aren’t we going up?! :) :) :)
 
denverpilot said:
For frack’s sake... enough with the wind already...
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We have had years where the sky was constantly yellow with dust, the wind would start at 10 am and grow in intensity all day, exceeding 40kts. Crap blowing around town, trucks getting blown over, roofs sailing away, doors busted or ripped off hinges (@Stewartb) everyone choking on the dust, cows flying past, vis down to a mile, for days on end all April. Some say there are more suicides during these storms. Thank God they do not happen every year - this year was awesome; gentle and halcyonic here.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
We have had years where the sky was constantly yellow with dust, the wind would start at 10 am and grow in intensity all day, exceeding 40kts. Crap blowing around town, trucks getting blown over, roofs sailing away, doors busted or ripped off hinges (@Stewartb) everyone choking on the dust, cows flying past, vis down to a mile, for days on end all April. Some say there are more suicides during these storms. Thank God they do not happen every year - this year was awesome; gentle and halcyonic here.
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Sounds. Awful. Ha. You can keep it.

I’ve read about people going truly mad during the Dust Bowl years. Hard to imagine how nasty that was.
 
denverpilot said:
Sounds. Awful. Ha. You can keep it.

I’ve read about people going truly mad during the Dust Bowl years. Hard to imagine how nasty that was.
Click to expand...

I can imagine ... I worked power line construction across WY, SD, ND, NE where the wind blows relentlessly, and saw all of us turn into cranky, grouchy SOBs after an hour or two in the wind every day.

Geographically, I tried to say the above is really "the mid-west" since it's kind of in the middle of the west ... why is the mid-west not the middle of the west?
 
gkainz said:
I can imagine ... I worked power line construction across WY, SD, ND, NE where the wind blows relentlessly, and saw all of us turn into cranky, grouchy SOBs after an hour or two in the wind every day.

Geographically, I tried to say the above is really "the mid-west" since it's kind of in the middle of the west ... why is the mid-west not the middle of the west?
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Were is west? It kept moving for awhile...
 
The freezing fog/snow/slop has arrived. That’s my house over there in the fog at the other end of the driveway.

47deb187e8612581b59fde8e02dec44f.jpg
 
gkainz said:
Geographically, I tried to say the above is really "the mid-west" since it's kind of in the middle of the west ... why is the mid-west not the middle of the west?
Click to expand...
The feds say so: "The US Census Bureau says Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin constitute the region known as the Midwest."

I believe in the early 1800s it was Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
 
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