Everybody make it home OK? I guess Dan and his wife must have made it since he's already posting on the redboard.
Yep. The first half was easy... VFR without the GPS or the sectional. I followed highway 29 for the most part. "See that town there, with the Cenex sign just south of the highway? That's Cadott, and the Cenex has a Subway inside..." I drive that road WAY too much.
Here's a pic Kate took of Rib Mountain near Wausau:
We got back to CLI and I got a claim pic for the
ConUS challenge... The flight home from CLI was a bit harrowing though. Night, snow, and the closest I've ever come to diverting for real.
The scene: Airmets for ice and IFR, reported ceilings 5,000 AGL at departure down to 2300 AGL at home, with snow in the forecast. Surface temps below freezing, PIREPS for ice in the clouds all day long.
After takeoff, it began snowing almost right away, with a couple of bursts in the pattern and becoming steady about 3000 MSL maybe 5 south of CLI. I went ahead and climbed to 4500, leaving my landing light on so I could see what I was getting hit with.
The snow created some very interesting effects in the landing light. Kind of like snow on a TV screen, only moving to the left at a very rapid rate. With the landing light on the left wing, there wasn't a problem with the mesmerizing straight-ahead view, but I did shine my flashlight out the front for a bit and it was very Star-Trekky. I also noticed later on in the flight when I was checking for ice that if I looked at the part of the wing where the landing light was, I could see the snow's interaction with the wing. It was making about a 1-inch boundary layer of snow bouncing back off the wing before sweeping back around it.
After completing the cruise checklist, I evaluated the situation. Figuring there was a good chance things could get worse, I decided to get prepared for a potential inadvertent IMC or icing encounter. I turned on the pitot heat and called Green Bay for flight following.
I also checked the airspeed indicator. 128KIAS. I decided that if I hit 125 and couldn't fix it or figure out why, it was time to get down. Green Bay got me a squawk for the rest of the trip home and a few minutes later handed me off to Chicago Center.
Chicago Center must have thought I was "fake IFR" or something. "Skylane 271G, maintain 4,500, report any changes in heading or altitude, maintain VFR, maintain proper altitude for direction of flight." Um, yeah. "Wilco, 271G."
I stayed at 4500 for a while. Waupaca was reporting ceilings around 1000 feet above my altitude. Visibility was mostly at around 8 miles, occasionally dropping to 5 or 6 for a few seconds.
Eventually, I decided to descend and see if that improved things any. "Chicago Center, Skylane 271G, leaving 4,500 descending 3,500." I think they still thought I was fake-IFR: First they said "Roger 71G, maintain altitude appropriate to direction of flight." Me: "Wilco, 271G will be below 3000 AGL." ZAU: "Oh, uh, roger." A minute later: "Skylane 271G, say flight conditions." Me: "Visibility variable 6 to 8 miles, light snow..."
At one point, I noticed I was down to about 126KIAS. I pulled the carb heat. My heart skipped a beat as the engine ingested a slug of ice and seemed like it was going to choke to death.
But, it came back to life and I got my two knots back a few seconds later.
I eventually began seeing cloud-like stuff in my landing light, but I could still see ~4 miles through it... Must have been heavier snow pockets or something. I dropped to 3,000 just in case, and got serious about diverting. I flipped to the NRST page on the GPS, only to find that the nearest field, 94C, is nearly 20nm away. And it's grass, which at this time of year means probably snow-covered, and quite possibly has no shelter. Next-closest is private. Hmmm. I tune in the MSN ATIS, and they're reporting OVC022, which is around 3100 MSL. About this time, Chicago hands me off to Madison.
After checking in, I decide to air-file IFR. I hadn't had any icing problems despite the abundant snow, and I want to stay legal, assuming the ceilings really are that low at MSN. Of course, you know Murphy's Law. As soon as I had filed and received my clearance, the weather improved quite a bit. Vis 8-12 miles, and the snow dropped off quite a bit. Approach tells me to expect a visual to 3, or if that doesn't work an ILS to 36. I spotted the field several miles out, was cleared for a visual approach, and made a great landing on runway 3.
On my way home, I saw a jet flying up the localizer for 36 just south of the beltline. He was flying through a bunch of snow, and just as he passed over the beltline the snow almost completely disappeared. There was a hole in the wx over MSN tonight...
I had a most excellent day today. Good to see everyone again.
