Why people hate weathermen (and…weatherwomen?)

As my time in Michigan comes to a close, another door is opening quickly.  Inside that door is excitement, exhilaration, boredom, monotony, healthy fear, and anxiety.  And the name plate on that door reads: “Fly your airplane across the country for the 6th time, by yourself, for 15 hours.”  Yes, I am that crazy.  And although I still have a week before I leave, the biggest source of anxiety right now is weather.  Everytime I go flying, there are many variables that can all come together to make a very enjoyable flight, a very unenjoyable flight, a very dangerous flight, or…no flight at all.  Most important of all of those contributors is weather.  It is one of the only things pilots simply cannot control (save the fact that millions of dollars will get you a plane that can fly over and outrun inclement weather).  We can have perfect training, perfectly maintained engine and airframes, but when it comes down to it, weather is unpredictable and will laugh in your face if you ever say “weather won’t be a factor today” before a flight.

So here is my dilemma; sift through multiple different outlets for predicting and reporting weather and make a decision on when is the best strand on two days to start my flight.  Include factors like 1. Having to leave the love of my life behind in Indiana 2. School starts on August 25th, no excuses 3. there must be 2 days in a row that are flyable 4. heavy headwinds can severely slow and alter my entire flight plan 5. finally, weather never matches up with forcasts.

So that brings me to my point, weathermen and weatherwomen have a horrible job.  How can anyone keep a job that they know each day, their forecasts will never match what happens out there?  Recently in this area, there has been some really poor weather predicting.  There have been days with rain and thunderstorms that should have been sunny, and days that are beautiful and called for a downpour.  It gives my little faith at all in forecasting.

At these times I wish I did it like early aviators, “Just get up there and see how it looks.”  And I have to admit that on some legs flying to Michigan in years past, that has been the mantra.  But then again, the life expectancy for early mail pilots was one month…maybe looking at forecasts is not the worst idea.

So lets just hope I don’t run into this on my way home next week…

time to turn around....

or this…

no thanks...

or this either…

At least there is a nice rainbow....right?

So next time the weather isn’t what was forecasted…don’t blame the weatherman/woman…blame this guy …

Scary... :-0

- Never let the keychain hang straight down

– The Aerobat

High Winds and Abortion…

 

Banner over ND

I am sure you are wondering how these two elements go together in any way but I assure you they do.  Today, I finally got back in the saddle and was able to fly the good old Aerobat.  Oh how sweet it was.  I had missed flying her so much this semester. 

 

You may have heard about this guy that is coming to speak at a certain university in the South Bend area and it is supposedly a big deal or something.  So much of a big deal that a group has paid a banner plane pilot to fly a constant orbit around said university’s campus all day for the last 2 weeks.  Today that the good old Niles airport, they got a big city taste of politics in a small town.  The banner plane, a Cessna 150 juiced up with a Cessna 172′s 180 horsepower engine for towing, had taken off just before me and and was circling around to pick up his goods for towing.  After a close try, he missed and had to go around again.  Blasting down the runway about 10 feet off the ground, the hook caught the banner and slowly peeled it off the ground as the plane pulled up steeply.  In front of my eyes I saw a horrifying picture of an aborted baby in which I will go into no more detail along with the words “ABORTION IS TERROR” sailing off into the sky to supposedly shame everyone and convince them their pro choice view was on par with terrorism.  While I tend to agree with pro life supporters, I believe these shock tactics are really the wrong way to go about doing it, especially to go so far as to pay to have an airplane plaster the skies with this claim and obscene image for 2 weeks.  Needless to say, HOW DOES THIS MAKE GENERAL AVIATION LOOK!  My gosh, if people didn’t care much for small planes before, now every time they see one in this area they will remember the horrid picture it was towing or at least remember that general aviation facilitated such a display. I don’t know…

 

The Windsock

 

 

Regardless, some of you noticed, today was a very windy day in South Bend, IN.  While I knew this is usually not the most ideal condition for flying, I knew I could handle it.  However, I soon learned that my 1,500 pound dainty little girl would have the ride of a lifetime as soon as we left the ground.  Now, my Aerobat has aerobatic 4 point seat belts that often seen like overkill for simple flights like todays jaunt to diamond lake and back just to stretch her legs.  However, I found myself cinching those suckers down in an attempt to keep my head from busting through the sky windows above me.  I kid you not, this was severe turbulence.  As my instructor once told me, before aerobatics, you tighten your seat belts until it hurts, and then tighten them more.  I was very close to that stage today.  Needless to say, it was a roller-coaster ride out there today.  

Lessons learned?  1. Don’t give general aviation a bad name by selling out and pulling a banner that will upset people. 2. If the windsock can’t make up it’s mind, don’t go flying.

- Never let the keychain hang straight down

— The Aerobat

IFR in Scottsdale

Post-rain Cloud Bank over Scottsdale

Disclaimer: For those of you who live were this kind of weather is commonplace…I do apologize and you may be upset with the following comments.

This morning I woke up to rain, 900 foot overcast ceilings, mist, and haze, 2.5 miles visibility, and 59 degrees with an indication of three letters seldom seen together in Arizona aviation weather reporting, I F R.  Instrument Flight Rules means the ceiling is less that 1000 feet above ground level and the visibility is less than 3 miles.  The pilot must hold an IFR certificate and file an IFR flight plan to fly in these conditions.  These are truly rare days in Arizona.  A recent count showed only 15 out of 365 days last year were true IFR weather days.  So I have to say, witnessing this weather is very interesting to me.

A pacific storm that had been brewing offshore finally made its way into the valley.  This was a abnormally slow moving storm as we usually see the fast, here and gone thunderstorms in Arizona.  As the ceiling started to lift this afternoon, it revealed an amazing tapestry of cumulus clouds.  The dark surrounding clouds made one particular white cloud incredibly bright (pictured above).  In person, I could hardly look straight at the cloud because it was so bright.  You  may not have been able to tell from the picture but the tops of the cloud were probably getting close to 50,000 feet.  This would definitely be a “fly around” not “fly over” cloud.

Weather is truly amazing.  Never take it for granted and NEVER forget the power that it holds.

- Never let the keychain hang straight down

— The Aerobat

The Pilot Bladder

How I learned about “The Pilot Bladder”

It all started on a very exciting and important day in Colorado Springs, CO.  This was to be the day that I would become The Aerobat, the day that I was introduced to the amazing aircraft, my 1979 Cessna Aerobat 152.  This was the day that I kindled a lasting and loving relationship with such beautiful piece of mechanical workmanship as ever I had laid eyes on.  My father and I met the aircraft broker at the Colorado Springs Airport and I have to say, I got a little choked up as I witnessed the small yet stunning aircraft roll onto the ramp.  I had done all of my training  thus far in an older model 152 with nearly 11,000 hours on it.  It car terms, that is like 200,000 miles on the odometer.  The Aerobat152 had 1,100 ORIGINAL hours.To see all the plastic in perfect condition with a stark white color compared to cracked and yellowing plastic was a sight in itself.  Boy was she a beauty on that day, and I have to say, I still catch a glimpse of her as I am leaving the airport or FBO and stop for a moment to behold its radiance.

So how does this relate to bladder control at all?  Listen carefully.

After a preflight, I hopped into the right seat of the airplane with the dealer.  I was only 16 at the time and held a student pilots license so it was necessary for another licensed pilot to be in the airplane for the flight from Colorado Springs to Scottsdale, KSDL.  I had not had breakfast that morning or much to drink although I will confess now, that was not by plan but simply by chance.  After about a 3 hour leg, we stopped in Albuquerque, NM at the Double Eagle airport, KAEG.  We gassed up and decided to head into the restaurant for a bite to eat.  And thus began my journey with “The Pilot Bladder”…

The exquisite dining room of Tio Bill's Mexican Restaurant

Entering this fine establishment, we were greeted by a 9 year old boy and told to sit anywhere.  Seconds later, that same boy came over to take our order.  Before words could escape out lips, the boy informed us that they only thing on the menu they could make today was the Green Enchilada.  After a 3 hour leg of flying, we were both hungry and decided it was better than nothing.  Now being an Arizona native, I enjoy spicy food and feel like I have a high tolerance for it.  The green sauce on the enchilada exercised that tolerance for sure.   As the enchilada got smaller with each bite, the amount of water that I HAD to consume grew exponentially.  Without thinking twice, I had to continue to suck down that water to keep my mouth below the flash-point temperature.  After helping the sole cook in the kitchen make our food, the same boy brought the food out to us, bussed the table, and rung us up at the cash register.  Does New Mexico have child labor laws?  Anyway, we jumped back into the airplane and headed out for the last 3 hour and 20 minute flight to Scottsdale.  Everything went smoothly until about 5 minutes into the flight.  We were still climbing out when it happened.

Now we all know, these things don’t hit you like a ton of bricks.  A tiny, mousy voice in the back of my head said…”I’ve gotta go.” Ha.  I didn’t hear that.  Nonsence.  I used the bathroom right before I walked out to the airplane.  But the voice came back.  This time is said the same thing but in a moderate, todler like voice that parents often choose to overlook.  Well maybe but it’s not that bad at all.  I can hold it till AZ.  But it came back again.  This time like a pregnant mother, “I’ve gotta go, that means I’m stopping whatever I am doing to getting up to move quickly to the bathroom.”  So I thought, yikes, by the time I get to Scottsdale, I am really going to have to go.  But the voice came back again.  “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD IF YOU DON’T GET ME TO A BATHROOM I SWEAR ON ALL THAT IS HOLY I….WILL….DO….THIS.” And I knew what “this” meant.  We all know what “this” means.  A little friend that had not visited since the days of plastic bed sheets….

Agony gripped me for the rest of the flight.  3 hours of shear agony.  The mind does crazy things under duress.  I found myself blurting out “Man I gotta go” without even thinking about saying it.  I tried clearing my thoughts of anything aquatic but always manged to look down and see a river or lake or I had to constantly turn down sips of water offered by my copilot.

Minutes from Scottsdale, I had never been so excited to land.  Seeing the airport come into view was the only thing that eased the pain.  A simple request to circle before landing would easily have pushed me over the edge.  On the ground, the engine shut down, the prop had not stopped spinning and I was already out of my seat belt and stumbling toward the bathroom.  The rest, as in time spent in the restroom, I will leave to your imagination.

So the moral of the story is…NOTHING TO DRINK BEFORE A FLIGHT OF 2 HOURS OR LONGER.  I don’t care what people say about dehydration at altitude or any of that junk.  I can promise you that having to use the bathroom this badly was MUCH more dangerous than a very slight amount of dehydration.  Fill up on liquids after the flight, not before or YOU…WILL…BE…SORRY.

- Never let the keychain hang straight down

— The Aerobat

Automated Weather Observation

The Automted Weather Observation System or AWOS, is one of the most important pieces of pre-flight information available to pilots.  AWOS is an automated computer recording which observes, in real time, temperature and dew point in degrees Celsius, wind speed and direction in knots, visibility, cloud coverage and ceiling up to twelve thousand feet, altimeter setting, and density altitude.  Recently, additional sensors which have become available for AWOS systems include present weather, freezing rain, and thunderstorm (lightning).  The recording is one of those hilarious computer voices that is often hard to understand but usually just fun to laugh at.  You can reach this information from a VHF radio or from a phone.  AirNav.com provides both the VHF frequency and the phone number.  I have the phone numbers of my frequently visited airports in my phone contacts.  I also make a habit of entering the AWOS phone number in my phone for a given destination airport for a flight.  That way I can check the weather at my destination before take off and probably the most important, this allows you to check the airport conditions of that airport if you will be spending any length of time away from the airport.  Especially on trips to new airports, a weather computer may not be available for use at all airports.  Because I am fully, ridiculously and sometimes embarrassingly absorbed in all things aviation, I often find myself calling the different AWOS numbers just out of curiosity or if there are high winds or inclement weather.  Pretty lame, right?

But all kidding aside, the AWOS system is a free service that all pilots should take advantage of.  Below is a picture of an AWOS set up at an airport as well as a diagram of the elements.

Typical AWOS airport station

AWOS Diagram

- Never let the key chain hang straight down

— The Aerobat

Marble Canyon, AZ – Home of the Real Forrest Gump

In March of 2008, my father, my good friend that owns a beautiful turbo-normalized G36 Beechcraft Bonanza, Ms. Aerobat and I took a flight to Marble Canyon, AZ.  Just south of the Glen Cayon Dam that forms Lake Powell, Marble Canyon is the first is home to Lee’s Ferry, a point at which early explorers and travelers had to cross the Colorado river before it blasted down the landscape to continue gouging out the ominous Grand Canyon.

The sun was still stretching its arms as is came over the horizon while we drove to the Scottsdale Airport.  Awaiting us was a state of the art hangar and inside sat a G36 Bonanza.  The air was stagnant and the temperature was at the point where cold or hot is indecipherable.  Loaded up, we started the long taxi to the ramp, prepping for take off as we went.  Lifting into the air, the sun reminded us of its presence of to the east as it came over the mountains.  We climbed quickly over Scottsdale, Carefree, and into the unforgiving mountains.

Halfway there, we found ourselves on the east side of Flagstaff’s own Humphreys Peak.  Flying under the cloud cover, the rays of light bit through as if they were trying to track our plane from above.

Snow on the ground, Sun blazing through the clouds

North of Flagstaff, the cloud fleeted away and the sun poured down on the breathtaking canvas that lay ahead.  As we drew closer to the airport, the rock took on amazing shades of red, tan and brown.  The airport was at 3500 feet but the terrain around was close to 7,000 feet.  This meant a considerable “drop like a rock” descent and I was more than happy to oblige.

On final into Marble Canyon.

You you can tell from the picture below, the airport left much to be desired.  A single runway 3500 feet long and only 35 feet wide…remember…most commercial runways are 150 feet wide.  We felt like we will landing on a sidewalk to say the least.  With the Bonanza owner in the left seat, we touched down on what was once asphalt and had to actually make a slight right hand turn while still cooking along at about 50 knots.  Something most pilot will never encounter.

The Marble Canyon airport, teeming with infrastructure and traffic...

Once on the ground, we headed over to the Marble Canyon lodge for breakfast.  This was a common resting point for adventurers who came to Lee’s Ferry for fishing or rafting trips.  The breakfast was in perfect fly-in style with a wonderful Arizona influence.   With eggs and Navajo fry bread in our stomachs, we starts walking toward the canyon.

The Lodge and the infamous stretch of road...

I have deemed this road infamous for the following reason:

Walking toward the canyon, the four of us were graced with the presence of fame.  A very old gentleman, complete with long white hair, an even longer white beard, a red headband, soiled shirt and short shorts and shoes that forgot they ever held the color name “white”, jogged slowly by us.  My father grabbed Ms. Aerobat and said, “Look, that is this man who the Forrest Gump movie was based on.  He lives around here still runs 30 miles a day.”  Ms. Aerobat quickly fumbled for her camera and she watched in awe as history ran by her.  Soon, my father broke out in laughter and Ms. Aerobat suddenly realized she had fallen for the first of many of my dads cons.

We finally made it to the canyon surveyed the landscape.

Marble Canyon looking north toward Lee's Ferry

The Aerobats in an authentically contrived wigwam.

It was time to head back to the Valley.  In this next picture, notice the severe terrain different from the left to the right of the picture, this gave the airport an incredible backdrop.

Back to the Steel Horse

The Colorado rushing toward the Grand Canyon.

As if we had not witnessed enough beauty in one day, on the way back, Mt. Humphreys in Flagstaff was shrouded with cloud cover but the sun was shining straight through onto the Snow Bowl ski area.

Magnificent

On the way home, I was able to sit left seat and pilot that bird all the way to land in Scottsdale, putting a cap on an amazing flight and an amazing day.  I highly recommend a trip to Marble Canyon.  The scenery is out of this world and with a field elevation of only 3500 feet, it is safe for most GA airplanes that can land and take off in 3500 feet of runway.

- Never let the key chain hang straight down

— The Aerobat

Aerobat152, Say Intentions:

Welcome to the first post on the Engine in the Green, Airpeed Coming Alive blog.  The purpose of this blog will be to discuss various aviation related issues including Aerobatics, VFR flight, IFR flight, New airplanes, Old airplanes, Military Aviation, and General Aviation.  The blog will be referred to in post as “Engine, Airspeed”.  Personally, I will refer to myself as “The Aerobat”.

With that, I will explain where the name comes from.  Long ago during my Private Pilot training, my instructor taught me a little mantra to say out loud every time the engine is cranked up and humming on take off.  It is a mental checklist that all engine systems are performing well, and that we are gaining airspeed.  This not only help you know that you are getting full take off power, but that the pitot tube is nominal.  So as legend has it, this mantra stuck with me, as some saying or mental checklists that you learn during training fade away.  Safe to say, if a passenger does not hear those words come out of my mouth on take off….buckle up….the old pilot isn’t on his game.  That said, I would truly recommend this small saying to new pilots as well as seasoned veterans.

Finally, I would like to say a bit about my airplane.  My baby is a 1979 Cessna A152 Aerobat.  With 1,300 hours ORIGINAL TOTAL TIME ON AIRFRAME, she is truly a sight to behold.  I will include a slightly stylized picture in this post. The airplane has the Sparrowhawk 125 horsepower engine upgrade.  I also installed an intercom but the rest of the plane is “out of the factory” quality.

I truly am in love with this airplane.  I speak to it by name (usually while flying alone…).  Although her name is usually babe, sweetheart, love… This airplane has carried me across the country to Michigan from Arizona, three times now.  She has pulled me out of horribly botched aerobatic maneuvers.  She has forgiving me for atrocious landings and thanked me for the greasers.  She has scolded me for time left out in the Arizona sun and loved me for hangar time in Michigan.  There is a funny thing about the attachment that really is possible with an inanimate object…especially when there is obvious proof that she is VERY animate.  There is a certain attachment to something that literally holds your life in the balance and can easily choose whether you live or die that day.  I’m not superstitious, it is just a healthy respect for a piece of machinery that has the power to give and take life.

Overall, I hope everyone enjoys my posts.  Please comment often and feel free to request other posts or ask questions.

- Never let the key chain hang straight down

—–The Aerobat

My 1979 A152 Aerobat