January 28, 2004
Out of Nowhere
Click for a larger image.
Today started out as a beautiful day to fly. Due to illness and weather, Sunday was my first time in a plane since 2003. So I was glad today was so sunny, clear, and mostly calm. I was scheduled to do some more hood work, which I was looking forward to, so this was going to be a dual lesson.
We got settled in the plane, I started it up, and began taxiing to the end of Runway 27. Along the way I noticed how non-descript the sky had become. It was no longer blue, but it wasn't grey. Nor was it really white. It just was. Just a big blank canvass. I noticed this, but it didn't strike me as 'wrong.'
I did the runup, made my departure advisory on the radio, and we were off. As we got to 500' AGL, we both looked ahead (west) and I think I was the first to say, "That doesn't look good." We were looking at a snow squal heading our way. We didn't get to the Chain O'Lakes before realizing I wasn't going to get much out of this lesson besides good decision-making practice. I turned around and practiced a few crosswind, short, and soft field takeoffs and landings.
The temps were in the single-digits to low teens F., so the performance from the aircraft was amazing. On one short-field takeoff, me and my CFI (about 400# combined) got to 500AGL in the Warrior before the far threshold of a 3270ft runway. We had a decent headwind, but it was still the quickest I've climbed yet - solo or dual. After a little more fun with a super-short landing (nailed the numbers and stopped in only a few hundred feet), I parked the plane just as the snow began to fly.
It wasn't a bad storm, but it came up a lot quicker than the weather-folk had predicted. That's the way it goes sometimes.
Click for a larger image.
