welcome, spring

Welcome, Spring! Which, in this part of the world, means "Welcome, Fog!"

I planned out my 150nm, three-leg, solo cross-country trip last night. My plan was to go to Barnstable (KHYA) via Bedford (KBED), Norwood (KOWD), and Plymouth (KPYM), then, after a short stop there, go to Mansfield (K1B9), and then return home. It's about 160nm straight-line distance, with one good 72nm leg, so it's well over the 61.109(a) requirements. I called Griffin at KHYA and checked on the tie-down fees ($12) and other logistics (they're right at the end of Delta, across from Rectrix).

Things were looking great on the weather last night. We have a storm coming in this afternoon, but the morning is nice and calm with clear skies. Imagine my surprise when I call 800WXBRIEF and I'm told "VFR not recommended" and "AIRMET for that region." I look out the window -- some cirrus, but blue skies above. The briefer insists that KLWM has 2nm visibility in mist, as does KHYA.

I head out to the airport, and my plan is to call flight service again and get an update. Surely, it has to be just a little bit of morning fog, that's gone away by now, right? Going up 133 to 125, I can see the airfield and the tower from the road because they've cleared out the trees that once stood there. The beacon is on. Hmm. That's not good.

Once I turn into the airport, I can see why they're IFR. There's a bank of clouds right over the Merrimack river, with mist covering the runways. The tower and everything to the south is in clear air, but the rest is muck. I stand outside and watch a twin take off into the mist on IFR from runway 5, and disappear at maybe 200 feet.

If only the airport were more conveniently located directly _on_ Sutton street.

Tim and I did some talking about the planning I did, and about my plans as we head towards getting a license. He seemed impressed that I didn't take the easy way to get the cross-country time (Barnes and Keene would be much simpler), but agrees that I can do it. I probably have around 10 hours to go -- more or less depending on how much I can practice my specialty takeoffs and landings.

We checked the weather again, and KPYM now has a 1400 foot ceiling. We do some checking, and everything along the coast (except KHYA) has clouds. That really makes a mess of my plan to follow the coastline from the 260 Marconi radial in order to stay out of the restricted area. I might not be able to _see_ the coast.

Oh well. It looks like I'll have to wait two weeks to try again. Next week, I'm off to Philadelphia for IETF. Not as PIC, though.

Posted at 11:05AM Mar 07, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  |