“There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing” Sir Rannulph Fiennes, Scottish adventurer
“Spontaneity is the quality of being able to do something just because you feel like it at the moment, of trusting your instincts, of taking yourself by surprise and snatching from the clutches of your well-organized routine a bit of unscheduled pleasure.” Richard Iannelli, The Devil’s New Dictionary
Ahh adventures….the spice of life! Having been on the ground most of February due to weather, the itch to fly was particularly strong when Saturday dawned fairly clear and bright, albeit a little chilly. Before I ran out to run some errands, Michiko suggested I book an airplane for a couple of hours in the afternoon. So while waiting for the barber, I booked N988M, the trusty 182RG, from my Ipad. An hour later, on our normal weekend morning walk for some exercise, Michiko and I were trying to figure out where to fly that afternoon. We agreed that, depending on the weather, we’d give our friends Cornel and Jen in Bangor, ME, a call and see if they were free for a late lunch that afternoon.
They were game, and so after taking a look at the weather and filing an IFR flight plan northbound, we headed out to the airport at about 12:30. With the weather so nice for a change, everyone and their uncle seemed to be out flying and the airport was hopping.
I had originally filed:
BDR v229 GDM v39 AAUG v3 BGR (From Bridgeport via Victor 229 (airway) to Gardner MA, then via Victor 39 to Augusta ME and then via Victor 3 to Bangor).
As I warmed up the plane, I picked up my clearance from the tower: Bridgehaven 5 departure procedure (fly runway heading as you climb), radar vectors to Madison, Victor 1 to Hartford, then Victor 229 to Gardner then Victor 39 to Augusta then direct to Bangor.
However, as we did our runup and checklists, the tower amended the clearance: Bridgehaven 5, vectors to Madison, Victor 1 to Hartford, Victor 229 to Gardner and then Victor 106 to Kennebunk and then direct to Bangor.
(That routing didn’t last too long either—once in flight, as we got to New Haven, we were cleared direct to Hartford and then at the intersection DVANY, we were cleared direct to intersection CLOWW and then direct to Bangor. Guess there wasn’t a lot of other traffic up there on a chilly afternoon!)
The tower was busy with 3-4 aircraft in the pattern, 2-3 more inbound and a Trinidad opposite us also waiting to take off. After a heavy twin landed and then a Piper did a touch and go, we were finally given the instructions to line up and wait on Runway 29. Before we’d even come to a stop (and with the Piper ahead of us only a couple of hundred feet off the ground, we were cleared for takeoff. Following the departure procedure, we climbed westward until about 1,500 feet when New York Approach gave us a right turn towards Madison VOR. As we leveled off at our cruise altitude of 5,000 feet and I trimmed up the airplane, we got our new clearance towards Hartford.
As we headed inland, we started to get some very light turbulence, which became a little steadier, with a couple of roughish bumps that were making Michiko a pretty unhappy camper! We were in an out of the base of smallish clouds, some so thin you could see through, a couple more substantial and taking up to a minute to get through to the other side. Ironically, there wasn’t much turbulence at all in the clouds themselves. But the sensation of rushing up to a cloud and popping in and out was not one Michiko enjoyed. When she wasn’t gritting her teeth at the mild chop we were experiencing, she laughed that the clouds weren’t as soft and fluffy as they looked. As we progressed north and east, we had a good strong quartering tailwind, helping us along as fast as 160kts or so.
Then I made a bad boo-boo. The cabin heat control had been full on and it was getting a bit toasty. I really don’t like to fly feeling overheated and it tends to make passengers airsick when in any sort of turbulence, so I pushed the knob in. Unfortunately, we lost ALL heat—the knob wouldn’t budge at all and the defrost didn’t seem to make up for the lost heat either. Michiko was even unhappier as our breath started to show vapor in the chilly airplane. (But at least it took her mind off the bumps, a little bit!)
As we got handed off from Boston Center to Portland Approach, I asked the controller for a climb to 7,000 feet, hoping for a slightly smoother ride. Thinking back, I should have made that request much earlier in the flight for Michiko’s comfort—lesson learned. It was a little chillier at 7,000 but when you’re frozen, you’re already frozen! I had George (the autopilot) flying the plane, allowing me to scan the instruments and for traffic while keeping my gloved hands on my knees to keep them warm!
About 2.5 hours into the flight we started getting vectors from Bangor tower to line us up for our landing on Runway 33, directly into the wind. The landing was a fairly nice one, even with the frozen toes and knees! We made the first pulloff and were soon parked on a ramp covered with thin patchy snow and ice (apparently they had had 10” of snow the previous day). It definitely felt warmer down on the ground, but we still had a long walk across the large ramp to the warmth of Avitat where our friends awaited us.
The woman at the Avitat counter gave me a (genial) rough time, siding with Michiko at my idiocy of playing with the cabin heat knob! But we made immediate plans to stop in at a store to pick up heating packs and a fleece blanket for the return trip that afternoon/evening.
After a fun couple of hours hanging out with Cornel and Jen and catching up (and thawing out!), we headed back to the airport. Unfortunately, for all the ribbing I had gotten upon our arrival, Avitat had forgotten to refuel the airplane. So while the fueler came out and Michiko stayed warm in the FBO with our friends, I went out and pre-flighted the airplane. Happily the wind had dropped off considerably so it was a little less raw—but let’s face it, it was still Bangor in February!
After saying our goodbyes and paying for the fuel (they gave me $0.07 discount which was nice), we got the plane fired up so the engine could warm up. There was a brief hiccup when I couldn’t find my approach plates and feared I had left them in the back of Cornel’s car, but ultimately I found them and we picked up our IFR clearance. Similar to earlier in the afternoon, what I filed and what I got were two different things! Instead of the multiple points I had filed for, we were given direct all the way to Gardner MA then Victor 229 to Hartford and then direct to Bridgeport. We filed for 4,000 feet going back, hoping to keep lower to avoid headwinds and to ensure we stayed well below any clouds (and icing issues).
Close to about 8pm, we were cleared to take off on the huge runway there. (Bangor gets a lot of military transport flights bringing troops overseas and back—the runway is 11,440 feet long!) Climbing up into the night we had great visibility and could see I-95 for miles and miles. Michiko was wrapped in her new fleece blanket and had her new ski socks on. Both of us had toe warmers in our shoes and handwarmers in our gloves, which helped a lot. Michiko was in much better spirits—she is after all a truly great sport to put up with me!!
As is normal on night cross country flights, the air was silky smooth and, even though it was early evening, the radio was essentially dead. We only spoke to ATC for handoffs from Bangor to Portland to Boston to Bradley and finally to New York Approach. Only when we got down to the Boston/Bradley area did we hear other traffic arriving and departing.
All along the way, I checked the ATIS weather reports at airports along our route. At Manchester NH, their ATIS had a notice that the HIWAS (Hazardous Inflight Weather Advisory Service) had been activated—but the info was regarding heavy snow that wouldn’t be starting until a good 3-4 hours after we had landed.
Just after we made our southwestward turn at Gardner, I started to see very light snow frozen in the light of our wingtip strobes. Visibility remained great though—towards Hartford off to our west was crystal clear and even the lights of Bridgeport and New Haven 40 miles out were still there. Never having flown through snow before, I kept a careful eye on things, including checking the leading edges for any indication of ice or moisture—but with the outside air temperature showing -10C, I don’t think there was much chance of that as long as it wasn’t warmer at higher altitudes. According to the various airport weather readings, temperatures on the ground were 2-3 degrees below freezing with dew point spreads of 5-9 degrees, so not much chance of visible moisture, either. The clouds, a scattered and broken layer at 8-10,000 feet and an overcast or broken ceilings at 9-12,000 feet, were well above our 4,000 feet of altitude.
Just south of Hartford, the snow showers got a little thicker, reducing forward visibility a bit, probably to 10nm. However, I could still make out dim lights of towns to the south towards the coast line and had crystal clear view to the west northwest towards Bradley if we needed an out quickly. None of the guys going into Boston or Bradley were talking about ice as they came down through the clouds.
There was a little bit of pucker factor for me, just because it was the first time flying through snow—and certainly my first time flying through snow at night. But I knew it was plenty cold outside (as well as inside!) the plane and there was no ready moisture at hand to cause icing problems. My inner alarm bells were quiet, but alert, watching for even the tiniest hint of trouble.
Around Meriden, we broke clear of the snow showers and had a perfect view of New Haven and Bridgeport—straight in for Runway 24 and greaser of a landing, albeit I came in a little fast and only 2 notches of flaps. Within a few minutes, we were tied down and wrapped up. Paperwork done (and heat knob squawked) and we were off to Dunkin Donuts for very well deserved/much needed hot chocolate. At home, a hot shower helped get the chill out of my bones!
It was definitely a learning experience, and I definitely felt “cautious” but ultimately secure that I was safe and had multiple outs if we’d found a complete whiteout or temp inversion or something actually wet out there. I went back and looked at the METARs again, which bear out the fact that it was at least another 3-4 hours after we had landed that any stations along that section reported light snow with a couple reporting mist as temperatures warmed.
