Evidently it's time to get business cards... I don't even own a business!

Listening to - Steel Train - Dig

After a week of snow showers almost daily, and just overall bone chilling cold it was finally time to go flying again. I'm beginning to feel like a weekend flier - but not...

I booked the plane on Friday afternoon for some solo cross country time. The owner only had one flight booked from 8:30AM - 10:30AM so the plane was mine to do as I pleased from about 10:45AM on.

After I got the go ahead to plan for a long trip I began the flight planning process. This was hindered greatly by power surges we kept getting every hour or so last night. Very odd if I do say.

My first idea was to go visit friends up in Boston. First things first, I'm not flying into Logan cause that is just stupid and the Massholes will rape me for every dollar I'm worth. That fact evidently also holds true for Hanscom and Worcester as well. Everything I read on Airnav and AOPA pretty much said if you're GA - Stay Away. My plan then was to go into Norwood, Ma. and take the commuter rail to Back Bay and walk across the Commons to my friends shack up on Beacon Hill. Total transit time once on the ground approx. one hour.

Great - lets look at the schedule. If I leave by 11:00 and get good tailwinds I'll be there by 12:45 and the train leaves at 1:10. Plenty of time! Let's see what we have going back. Wait a second - I technically have to be back before dark. The owners insurance doesn't cover me at night even though in the past month I've had more night time than day. By the time I get there it's 2:10 and I have to be home by around 5:10 which means I need to leave by 3:10. Ok scrap that idea!

Well I could go up to Ithaca and visit my cousin. That's a nice flight (and maybe I won't starve me engine of fuel this time!). I know the FBO up there is decent and the transit system runs quite often from the airport - and if all else fails the taxi would be less than $20. I go ahead and check DUATs and it shows that they'll be overcast at 2,300' with snow showers throughout the day. Screw that my friends. I don't need ice in mountains in a place I don't know very well.

So after checking a few other places (New Bedford, Ma. (EWB), Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (5B2), Pittsfield, Ma. (PSF), and Windham, Ct. (IJD)) I opt for Windham, CT. The weather at EWB looked marginal and gusty, 5B2 would be socked in according to the forecast, along with PSF.

At this point I decide the best plan of action would be a trip to IJD with a stop at either HFD or GON.

I woke up this morning to the high overcast as forecast. IJD had a NOTAM up for the runway being covered with compacted ice and snow with braking action poor. I'll have to talk that over with the owner. HFD also had one for patchy snow on runway(s) with braking action of fair. GON was clear below 12,000' with no new NOTAM's and probably the best option. Initial plan before leaving the house was to head to IJD and do a fly over and check out the runway conditions before opting for a touch and go or not. After scoping the situation I would head over to HFD and grab lunch before flying back to ISP.

After the usual bank run to carry some spare cash on me (I always do that whenever I'm flying in case the credit card gets declined for some reason) I arrive at ISP at 10:25AM. Plane gets there five minutes later and I go and discuss my plan with the owner. She's iffy about my choice to try to head into IJD. It's an uncontrolled field that we don't fly into often. It's not that that she's really concerned about, more so the poor braking action and snow on the runway. We don't know how well the place is maintained and how compacted the snow would be.

We both agree that instead of flying overhead and giving myself the option, it is best to eliminate IJD from my list of places to go. Instead I'll try ISP -> GON -> HFD -> Lunch -> ISP. At HFD we at least know someone can relay us what the runway conditions are.

I headed over to the FBO to fill 496 up and double check my weather at GON and HFD. There was the chance of some gusty winds at HFD according to earlier forecasts so that was my main reason for checking.

During that time I come to the title of my post. It's evidently time to get a business card. As I'm checking the weather someone walks in and asks how it looks. I give him the standard, "Oh it looks good enough" and we begin talking about flying. Turns out he's the Flt. Ops manager at Mid-Island. He asks if I have a business card so he can add me to a list of pilots for various flying gigs and also (mainly) for seminars that they host monthly. I have to explain that I'm only twenty and lack the general need for a business card. Maybe once I get my commercial/CF-II I'll go ahead and make them up. If I'm not mistaken though that also dictates the FARs I can operate under since I'm "advertising"... FARs confuse me... But alas I learn them anyway.

Well after talking to this fellow I went back and checked the weather - again. I was waiting for the 16Z updates. Let's take a look shall we?

Here's GON at 10:00AM -

KGON 081456Z 27006KT 7SM HZ SCT005 BKN100 04/01 A3023 RMK AO2 SLP235 T00390006 53007

Ok that's doable. I'm not too worried about the scattered layer.

Here's GON at 11:00AM -

KGON 081548Z 27009KT 6SM HZ BKN015 06/02 A3022 RMK AO2

Heyo! That broken layer dropped a ton eh? My guess is that the temperatures warmed up and as that happened, the 500 scattered layer (not bad) raised to a broken layer at 1500'.

Thinking about it now, I more than likely could've gotten in easily with a GPS approach to runway 23 since the temperature was relatively warm and the layers surrounding ISP were thin (<200' in thickness). Rather than experiment with the handling qualities of a Cessna 150 covered in ice (say that layer was thicker and the temperature colder than actual?) I opted for a straight shot to HFD for lunch and back.

Obviously if this was summer, I could've easily done something like ISP -> GON -> IJD -> HFD -> ISP all under IFR if need be. Alas, such is the life of an instrument rated pilot in an aircraft that simply can't get out of icing conditions if encountered.

Sam wrote a good article about GA safety at his blog. Anyone in the GA community should read it. I found it interesting and insightful. One of the things he mentioned is that a CRJ or a A320 or a B737 can fly into known icing conditions because of one key thing. They have the excess power to climb through the icing layer. (I believe it's excess power that gives you the ability to climb... it's excess something haha. I should know this; it was in the CFI written.)

After updating the owner on the new plans I'm finally (I know, this post is dragging but gimmie a break!) off.



Climb out from Runway 24 @ ISP



Turning Northbound out of ISP



Climbing through the haze and scattered layer. Teller should recognize the field!




Between a scattered/haze layer and an overcast layer.



Stony Brook Hospital



Stony Brook University (Where I attend uh... classes)



Normally I could point out my car here... But it's at the airport.



Flying over the sound in between layers.



I told you I fly the nicest equipped Cessna 150. Check out that Garmin 430 ;-) Oh yeah and there's my face in the mirror haha.



There's New Haven, Ct. and I-95. Normally to drive from my house to New Haven it takes two hours. It takes twenty minutes to fly there. I love aviation



A frozen river up in Connecticut.



There's HFD!



Abeam the numbers for runway 20 @ HFD



Sitting on the ramp at Atlantic Aviation in HFD

So I made it to HFD in once piece. I had a nice Philly Cheese Steak sandwich at "Wings" the restaurant there at HFD. Met an interesting group of guys there watching football and TV and just bs-ing. After bidding adieu I called up everyones favorite - Lockheed Martin Flight Services!

This guy was pretty helpful and we determined I should be able to make it back VFR no problem. I knew the clouds were relatively thin and temperatures were now warm enough to justify an IFR flight. Coming back IFR from HFD though you have to fly the PONEE.2 arrival going R/V HFD.WIPOR.ORW.GON.BOROS.CCC.. ISP. Usually not a big issue, but the winds aloft were upwards of 35kts which would make the trip back very long.

Here are some photos of the trip home.



Thanks for the sandwich HFD!



Have I mentioned I love flying?



Would ya look at that haze layer? I thought this was winter not summer!



All set up for the ILS 24 at ISP if need be...



Another shot of the beautiful GPS



Getting vectors cause I can't see the damn airport. The conditions didn't warrant a pop-up IFR so I opted to just bring it in VFR using the GPS.



Where's that airport again??



There it is!!!



Set up on the right base runway 33L



Rounding out the base to final turn



Slightly high but still plenty of time to correct. How about I put down the damn camera and fly!



Taxiing back in.

Well it was a wonderful flight and another valuable learning experience.

To check out all the photos click the link below

ISP - HFD 12-8-07

Happy flying folks,
- Matt