The Scariest Thing I've Ever Seen

As anyone in the Upper Midwest knows, we're getting our first real winter in
many years. Temperatures well below zero (we set the record on December
7th, at minus 19), and snow every day are making life hard on everyone.

Yesterday we got hit hard, with another all-day snow. At times visibility
was reduced to zero, as the white stuff fell in dense waves. Luckily, there
was little wind, or blizzard conditions would have prevailed.

As I was out shoveling the hotel sidewalks for the fifth time, I heard a
wowing engine noise overhead, as the pilot went from flight idle to full
power. The constant speed prop took a second to catch, and then the sound
rose into a crescendo -- right over my head.

I couldn't believe it.

Looking up vainly into the intense snowfall, I followed my ears with my
eyes. Finally I caught a glimpse of the plane -- a single engine Cessna
182 -- as it flashed overhead.

In nearly knife-edge flight.

At that moment a guest walked past me on the way to the lobby. He mentioned
that it seemed like an awful night to be flying, by which point I was
already running toward the sound. The plane had disappeared into the snow
and murk, behind our Airport Building (the one closest to the runway), and I
strained to hear the *crump* sound that a light plane makes when it hits the
ground.

With the deep snow, I couldn't run fast enough, so I just stood there,
straining my eyes and ears, hoping to see the guy come around. Suddenly,
there he was -- this time directly over the field, banked at a 60 degree
angle, obviously trying desperately to keep the field in sight as he
circled.

Then, poof, he was gone. The snow just swallowed him up again.

By now, my heart was pounding. I knew this couldn't end well, and I ran
toward the airport, again straining to hear anything that might indicate a
direction of flight.

Suddenly I spotted him again, in an impossibly tight base-leg turn, barely
100 feet off the ground, coming around for Rwy 30. The wind was not
favoring this runway, but I'm sure he was just willing to take "any port in
a storm"... First visible, than not, I caught a glimpse of his landing
light again as he touched down, theoretically on the unplowed runway...

He touched down well past the halfway point of the runway, and was going way
too fast.

Now at a dead gallop, I was able to see him slide to a stop, just before the
end of the runway. The deep snow had saved him, and he stopped in an
impossibly short space...

Jogging back to my nearly-forgotten guest (who was trying to check in for
the night), I could only shake my head in wonder at what some guys will do
to fly.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:3Ogmf.609603$x96.519786@attbi_s72...

Jogging back to my nearly-forgotten guest (who was trying to check in for
the night), I could only shake my head in wonder at what some guys will do
to fly.
--
Jay Honeck


You misspelled "die".

---------------------------------
DW

Wow, if you could BARELY see him. It must have been extremely hard,
maybe impossible for him to see the runway. Were the runway lights
covered up by the snow too?

The Monk

Wow, if you could BARELY see him. It must have been extremely hard,
maybe impossible for him to see the runway. Were the runway lights
covered up by the snow too?

Actually, this happened right at dusk, so there was just barely enough
light for him to see the airport -- except that everything was white.
The only way he could possibly see the runways was by discerning the
difference in snow depth between the indented surface -- the runway --
and the surrounding area. Even with 6 inches of fresh snow it would
have been a different depth than the unplowed surrounding areas.
(We've got around 18 inches on the ground now...)

How he managed to do this in the failing light, in a driving snow-storm
and near-zero visibility is beyond me. He's one lucky SOB.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

GPS.

It's really increased the temptation to do stupid things.

--

Roger Long



"Jay Honeck" wrote
How he managed to do this in the failing light, in a driving
snow-storm
and near-zero visibility is beyond me.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message ups.com...

How he managed to do this in the failing light, in a driving snow-storm
and near-zero visibility is beyond me. He's one lucky SOB.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


A C-182...

Jay Honeck wrote:

How he managed to do this in the failing light, in a driving snow-storm
and near-zero visibility is beyond me.

I've only flown through snow once, and the visibility wasn't as bad as this
case, but I found that I could see down *much* better than I could see ahead. I
expect he had a much better view of the airport than you did of anything.

That said, from your description he certainly seemed desperate to keep the
airport in sight. His visibility couldn't have been very good.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

On 9 Dec 2005 07:35:00 -0800, "Jay Honeck" wrote:

How he managed to do this in the failing light, in a driving snow-storm
and near-zero visibility is beyond me. He's one lucky SOB.

Jay, not sure about your term "driving snow-storm". Your first
description of the situation was that luckily, there was little to no
wind although lots of snow was falling.

Using the descriptor "driving" makes it sound like there was wind.

Thanks, Corky

How he managed to do this in the failing light, in a driving snow-storm
and near-zero visibility is beyond me. He's one lucky SOB.

Jay, not sure about your term "driving snow-storm". Your first
description of the situation was that luckily, there was little to no
wind although lots of snow was falling.

Using the descriptor "driving" makes it sound like there was wind.

Sorry. I guess it was only a "coasting" snow storm... Or, perhaps,
"running"?

"Walking"?

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

Jay Honeck wrote:

Sorry. I guess it was only a "coasting" snow storm... Or, perhaps,
"running"?

"Walking"?

How 'bout "heavy snow."

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.