Monday evening t'storm arrives at OSH

: Lots of red on that 496 wasn't there? :-))


Does that mean that Jay bought a 496? ;-)

Yep -- impressions to follow.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
We had another big downpour on sunday the 30th.

Yep, it really, REALLY came down this morning, ruining our plans for an
early departure. I'll post some awesome pictures of the gust front
approaching. (It reportededly flipped one plane onto two other planes,
in nearby Appleton.)

We were inside the tent when it hit, holding the windward side up with
our feet. Despite this, the 6-foot tall tent collapsed far enough to
hit me in the head with the lantern hanging from the center hook -- and
I was laying down!

No further damage, but our neighbors had poles sticking right through
the top of their tent!

A wild end to a great week...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

We were there Thursday-Sunday. The storms that came in on both Saturday and
Sunday morning were the fastest moving weather I've ever seen. On Saturday,
we got up, showered, and saw the front heading our way. I thought we had a
good 30 minutes to grab breakfast and get to cover, but the clouds and wind
were on us in 10 minutes or less. Thankfully, there was no rain on
Saturday. Today, the experience was similar - fast moving storms, high
winds, but we got a lot of rain too. My understanding is that the Homebuilt
Cafe tent came down during the storm. We were in the Ace's Cafe, getting
very wet, despite being in the direct center of a 4,000 sf tent. When we
got back to Homebuilt camping, the row of porta potties had blown over. I'd
hate to clean up that mess, but I'd hate it even worse if I'd been inside
one of 'em when it went over.

Once things dried out, we broke camp, loaded the airplane, and headed south
where we saw some REALLY interesting weather. Just north of Aurora, I
deviated west to avoid some building convective activity. We went around a
rain shaft or two, and then I spotted a funnel cloud dropping from the base
of the convective stuff. It dropped 300-500' from the cloud base and
couldn't have been more than 3 miles away. I notified the tower at Aurora
that there was a funnel cloud 5 miles west of the field. This got their
attention, as well as the attention of several aircraft in the area. In a
couple of minutes, the funnel retreated back into the clouds, so I let
Aurora towere know that too.

My most miserable experience from Osh this week was the departure. First,
there was a loooooong line of aircraft taxiing for departure. Second, I got
stuck behind a jet. Breathing kerosene stench for a 20 minute taxi was an
eye-watering experience. Then came my departure. I thought the wind was
straight down 18, but the aircraft which departed in front of me got pushed
way left by a crosswind. Determined not to let that happen, I let the RV
weathervane, then made a horrible bounced (!) takeoff. Uggh.

KB

We were there Thursday-Sunday.

Dang! You shoulda stopped by, Kyle! We were doing the "Departure
Party" every night, with several different (always donated) kinds of
beer. We usually had anywhere from 5 to 15 people, "grading" landings
and departures. It was great fun!

When we
got back to Homebuilt camping, the row of porta potties had blown over. I'd
hate to clean up that mess, but I'd hate it even worse if I'd been inside
one of 'em when it went over.

Three of the four porta-potties nearest our campsite in the North 40
were blown over by that storm today, too. My son was very nearly
inside one of them when the storm hit -- he just missed it by a minute
or two -- and they blew over ONTO THEIR DOORS.

Can you imagine what being trapped inside must be like, with all the
blue water and, um, stuff, flowing everywhere? God almighty. They
were smashed up pretty badly, too. (Do they *insure* porta-potties?)

Once things dried out, we broke camp, loaded the airplane, and headed south
where we saw some REALLY interesting weather. Just north of Aurora, I
deviated west to avoid some building convective activity. We went around a
rain shaft or two, and then I spotted a funnel cloud dropping from the base
of the convective stuff. It dropped 300-500' from the cloud base and
couldn't have been more than 3 miles away.

Wow! Not many people can say they've seen a tornado THAT close.
Pretty scary stuff.

I wonder what that would look like on a 496?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
We were there Thursday-Sunday.

snip

Once things dried out, we broke camp, loaded the airplane, and headed
south
where we saw some REALLY interesting weather. Just north of Aurora, I
deviated west to avoid some building convective activity. We went around
a
rain shaft or two, and then I spotted a funnel cloud dropping from the
base
of the convective stuff. It dropped 300-500' from the cloud base and
couldn't have been more than 3 miles away.

Wow! Not many people can say they've seen a tornado THAT close.
Pretty scary stuff.

Not scary at all. Other than one dark cloud (with a funnel sticking out the
bottom), there was no turbulence in the area and only a couple of small rain
shafts. It looked like lots of other building weather I've flown under or
preferably around. The real surprise was that a relatively small cloud
could spawn a twister. If the RV didn't have a wood prop, I probably
wouldn't have deviated and would have flown right under the cloud where the
funnel appeared.


I wonder what that would look like on a 496?

It appeared and disappeared quickly enough that I think you'd have been
lucky to have gotten a radar snapshot which showed it.

I think this took place at 1:20 PM Central time (plus or minus 15 minutes).
I wonder if anyone knows where to find yesterday's radar loop from Aurora,
Il? It would be interesting to look at those pictures.

KB

--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article .com,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

Wow! Not many people can say they've seen a tornado THAT close.
Pretty scary stuff.
I wonder what that would look like on a 496?

Look up "hook echo". There should be some good radar images for you to
study.

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 18:56:52 -0400, "Morgans"
wrote:
Use an inflated air mattress. That keeps you and your bag out of the water,
sloshing in the low corner of the floor.

The inflatable air mattresses are great... If the water gets too high,
you just float... I found that the queen size mattress fit my tent
just about perfect... Just enough space left for an ice cooler of
beer...

The inflatable air mattresses are great... If the water gets too high,
you just float...

I've never liked them - but maybe I just have the wrong kind. I find
that I sink down in the middle and all the air goes to the outside,
which makes for uncomfortable sleeping. Maybe they make air mattresses
with separate bladders.

Jose
--
The monkey turns the crank and thinks he's making the music.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

"Jose" wrote in message
...
The inflatable air mattresses are great... If the water gets too high,
you just float...

I've never liked them - but maybe I just have the wrong kind. I find that
I sink down in the middle and all the air goes to the outside, which makes
for uncomfortable sleeping. Maybe they make air mattresses with separate
bladders.

Jose
--
The monkey turns the crank and thinks he's making the music.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

I have a pair of Therm-a-rest self inflating mattresses. Good for
backpacking and for air-camping. I sleep better on a Therm-a-rest than on
our bed at home. Kelly, my wife, doesn't like the therm-a-rests at all.
Different strokes for different folks.

Inflated, the Therm-a-rest gives you about an inch or two of elevation above
the tent floor. Plenty to keep you out of a little moisture, but nowhere
near enough if you have a leaky tent and a low spot that encourages water
pooling in one place...

KB

On 30 Jul 2006 21:04:25 -0700, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:
Can you imagine what being trapped inside must be like, with all the
blue water and, um, stuff, flowing everywhere? God almighty. They
were smashed up pretty badly, too.

So will they start requiring the porta-potties to be tied down like
the aircraft from now on? Sounds reasonable...

On Tue, 01 Aug 2006 02:33:34 GMT, Jose
wrote:
I've never liked them - but maybe I just have the wrong kind. I find
that I sink down in the middle and all the air goes to the outside,
which makes for uncomfortable sleeping.

I don't like the small ones that are marketed towards backpackers... I
like the large and thick mattresses that are marketed more towards
vehicle based camping or as spare guest beds... Yeah, you sink a bit
in the middle, but if you sink all the way through, you didn't have it
aired up enough... You definitely don't want to have to blow one of
these up via just lung power... The AC outlet type blowers will
inflate or deflate one in less than 90 seconds...