Some winter flying pix for you snowbirds out there...

You guys in warmer climes may wonder what all the fuss is about the
weather at this time of year. Until you've preflighted in air that
hurts to breathe, and shoveled out your hangar for the umpteenth
time, it's hard to imagine what a challenge winter flying can be.

We took a flight on Xmas day (the first nice flying day in ages) and
-- because I actually got to ride in the BACK seat (a *very*
comfortable vantage point, BTW) -- I took some video and snapped a few
winter scenes.

Here's a short video of Mary taxiing past some big snow piles. Gotta
watch the wings carefully in these conditions, in a low-wing bird:

http://tinyurl.com/358t5b

Here's a picture of my daughter playing in the snow outside of our
hangar. It's snowed several times more since these were taken, so the
piles are even bigger now.

http://tinyurl.com/2tkfwr

Not many wives would do this! Here's a picture of my co-pilot
shoveling in front of the hangar. This year we've shoveled snow every
day since Thanksgiving:

http://tinyurl.com/2m3fh2

A good shot of what the snow plow leaves behind in front of the hangar
door:

http://tinyurl.com/2tbc34

Unrelated to snow, here's a decent shot of our panel-docked 496. The
AirGizmo makes a nice, neat installation:

http://tinyurl.com/3crnry

Winter flying is awesome -- it's like having an extra 100 horsepower
-- but everything takes longer. We're hoping to fly later today --
it's absolutely CAVU here, for the first time in weeks -- but the
temperature outside right now is zero degrees. At that temperature
tires deflate, flaps don't retract without assistance, and everything
creaks and groans -- but that's what you put up with if you want to
fly in the Midwest.

Now, don't you guys in California feel better about putting up with
all that traffic and smog?

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