Grrr .. 12 noon and it's cold here in Amarillo. Still very low clouds over most of my route. Low clouds and high mountains are not a good mix, if you know what I mean. Waiting until 1:30pm to decide where to go - - might have to overnight in New Mexico, if I can even get to New Mexico!
Talked to Flight Service weather briefer...Amarillo will clear by 3pm but not necessarily points west, and there's deep fog predicted for tomorrow too. What? I might not be able to travel tomorrow? I've already missed the quartet finals an I going to miss the chorus, too?
The briefer explains that the Amarillo weather, which extends into New Mexico, is usually worse than dry sunny Albuquerque, just over the mountains to the west. Half the airports on my route show low broken clouds, but Albuquerque is reporting scattered clouds at 11,000. I gnash my teeth are wait another half hour. It's getting late now, sunset is 6:19 - - I don't want to be flying in the mountains after sunset! I don't want to wait another day, or two, or three .... So I decide to stop looking at weather on the computer, and jump in the plane and take a look from the air.
The briefer explains that the Amarillo weather, which extends into New Mexico, is usually worse than dry sunny Albuquerque, just over the mountains to the west. Half the airports on my route show low broken clouds, but Albuquerque is reporting scattered clouds at 11,000. I gnash my teeth are wait another half hour. It's getting late now, sunset is 6:19 - - I don't want to be flying in the mountains after sunset! I don't want to wait another day, or two, or three .... So I decide to stop looking at weather on the computer, and jump in the plane and take a look from the air.
Hmm...Not my usual kind of weather but not 100% stupid. Scattered clouds at 5,000 ft, scattered to broken at 12,000. I climb above the clouds to 8,500 ft. I'm in between but I know the low clouds will get higher as I head towards the mountains. I can always turn back... let's go see what happens. It's 100% legal if I can maintain prescribed clearance from the clouds, and I am not being a total idiot if I can see the ground, albeit quite dark, below me 90% of the time.
I radio the air traffic folks (ATC) and explain I won't be traveling in a straight line and I won't be staying at one altitude and I need to avoid all the mountains, but I want to go to Albuquerque. They say OK and pretty much give me carte blanche for the trip.
I radio the air traffic folks (ATC) and explain I won't be traveling in a straight line and I won't be staying at one altitude and I need to avoid all the mountains, but I want to go to Albuquerque. They say OK and pretty much give me carte blanche for the trip.
There should have been suspenseful music playing on this trip.. I mean I could always see the ground, and I maintained legal separation from clouds but if I had left a trail of crumbs in the sky it would have looked like a drunken stagger.
I took a picture when I crossed over the mountains from the panhandle area to the Albuquerque area. You'll see what I mean. If suspenseful music HAD been playing this would have been the point where the entire orchestra transcends into heroic major chords
I landed at Double Eagle airport just to the west of Albuquerque and almost hugged the guys who met my plane on the ramp. Unfortunately all hotel rooms were booked due to a balloon festival, so with an eye towards the sunset, I climbed back into the plane and flew another 55 miles west to Grants airport, landing as the last vestiges of pink disappeared from the horizon.
Like Kimball Nebraska, no one was there - - but the office was open so I went in and turned on the lights. I called the phone number on the whiteboard and a delightfully amiable airport manager told me where the keys to the courtesy car were, and the best place to eat dinner (the Wow Diner).
I'm sitting now in the Wow diner right now. Eating delicious Cuban pot roast, and thinking how much I stretched my brain today. I was out of my comfort zone. I feel older, and younger at the same time. It was bold but not stupid. Unforgettable.
Updated map: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zQV_WmsNeAbIoBDiw53rsSCRVbo
Today's pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/Hf3QLV6r8y4fti7AA
Panhandle weather on the left, Albuquerque weather on the right .... see what I mean?
Updated map: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zQV_WmsNeAbIoBDiw53rsSCRVbo
Today's pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/Hf3QLV6r8y4fti7AA
Panhandle weather on the left, Albuquerque weather on the right .... see what I mean?
That's a great day! I love the photos - and what a cool looking diner. So nice that they have a courtesy car at the little airport. It's sounds like your flight was like a Family Circus cartoon that shows the path of the boy, running all over the place with dotted lines.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you made it to the SAI competition. I saw some of it online.