Each year, I try to visit Columbia, CA at the beginning of May for a fly-in with camping, canards, and tequila.\u00a0 It’s a beautiful airport with on-field camping, and a real pleasure to attend.<\/p>\n
This year, the weather didn’t look as promising, but I figured I’d keep my head on my shoulders and play it by ear.\u00a0 I got a standard briefing and watched the weather, and it looked like there might be a window to get to where I wanted to go, so I loaded up the plane and headed out.<\/p>\n
Taking off from 77S\u00a0 on Friday morning, I headed south towards my first stop, Redding, CA.\u00a0 Ceilings were about 3,000′ AGL so I stayed near I-5 for most of the route.\u00a0 I flew through some light rain along the way too, but nothing bad.\u00a0 One eye on the moisture, another on the outside air temperature, and another on my airspeed.\u00a0 Wait, how many eyes was that?<\/p>\n
For most of the trip, my ground speed was a sedate 90kts because of headwinds, so the flight south took quite a bit longer than usual.\u00a0 I also spent some time maneuvering for weather, most significantly after Medford.\u00a0 The pass near Ashland had some crummy low clouds along the ridge.\u00a0 As I got closer, I was eyeballing it pretty fiercely.\u00a0 Ahead, I could see open air on the other side, but the window between the ridge and the cloud was less than 200 feet tall.\u00a0 “@#*$ that, that’s a sucker hole”, I announced aloud to myself.\u00a0 I banked the plane and turned back to the semi-clear sky behind me.\u00a0 Considering my options, I climbed up to about 8,000 to take a look over it.\u00a0 Ahead, I saw that this was a cloud bank that just covered that pass, and there was a big, stable dry path to the Dunsmuir valley, so I flew on top for a few minutes and emerged in a nice clear valley.\u00a0 It was a little bouncy, but compared to the claustrophobia of the Medford valley, overall a nice change.<\/p>\n
I followed I-5 down to Lake Shasta, getting bumped around a little bit along the way, but nothing extraordinary.\u00a0 Some intermittent rain hit along the way, but I kept the temperature up using altitude so no problems.\u00a0 Finally, I trudged my way into the Central Valley and down towards Redding.<\/p>\n
I landed at RDD and grabbed some lunch at the Chinese restaurant.\u00a0 As I ate, I watched the weather.\u00a0 Looking east, I could see the hills clearly, but there was obviously some rain out there.\u00a0 Pulling up weather on my phone, I could see that something yucky was moving through parts of the valley, but it looked like the route into Columbia was still fine, so I finished eating and headed back into the air.<\/p>\n
My route was fairly simple: Go direct RDD->KGOO->O22 so I could safely avoid the Beale Air Force Base TFR.\u00a0 I would skirt along the edges of the MOA to the north of it, then make my dogleg to KGOO and continue into Columbia (O22).<\/p>\n
As I flew, I noticed a pattern beginning to develop.\u00a0 The ‘little line of rain’ I had seen actually extended much further than it looked to the eye, the cloud bases were beginning to drop ahead of me, I found myself needing to navigate around tiny scattered baby clouds that were just sorta hanging out at all levels, and the terrain below was mostly canyons and cliff faces.\u00a0 The rain was picking up, and while the temperature was high enough that I didn’t worry about ice, I started to get a funny feeling at the back of my neck.\u00a0 30 minutes into the flight, I was north of Chico and something didn’t feel right, so I shut off all distractions in the cockpit and went over the list in my head:<\/p>\n
Suddenly, I realized the implications of my mistake.\u00a0 The temperature was trending downwards towards the dew point, and the adiabatic flow was probably the only thing keeping the ceilings as high as they were through brute force if nothing else.\u00a0 In simpler terms, I was probably in the middle of a cloud that couldn’t really form ONLY because there was warm wind\u00a0 holding it off for an unknown period.<\/p>\n
I immediately responded.\u00a0 I noted my heading, then made a 180 turn.\u00a0 Sure enough, the big open area I had flown through minutes before was slowly closing before my eyes as clouds formed in the calm spots.\u00a0 I chopped the throttle and descended to remain clear of the clouds, then let my feet do the walking on the rudder pedals as I stole a couple quick moments to cross verify my position on the chart.\u00a0 Plotting my escape, I decided to divert to Red Bluff, CA, a hop, skip & jump south of Redding.<\/p>\n
I worked my way east, exiting the mess that was forming and zeroed in on KRBL.\u00a0 Along the way, I noticed the winds picking up and the rain getting heavier, and with them came more of these battleship-sized clouds steaming their way across the sky at all altitudes.\u00a0 I stayed well clear of them and came in to land on runway 15.\u00a0 After I touched down, I parked, shut off the engine, then just rested for a moment, suddenly weary.<\/p>\n
Eventually, I grabbed my gear and went into the FBO to check weather.\u00a0 Sure enough, this offshore storm was moving in and dumping a bunch of crud all over.\u00a0 I hung out in my cockpit for an hour or so, checking how things were developing and taking a little nap, then decided this trip probably wasn’t going to work out.\u00a0 Columbia was started to get boxed in by weather, and a quick call to the organizer of the fly-in revealed that turnout had been quite limited so far.\u00a0 Checked in with the local Enterprise rent-a-car and while they had nothing in stock, the gentleman there kindly offered to give me a ride up to Redding to try my luck up there.\u00a0 That was super cool, ‘Jim’ at Red Bluff Enterprise is tops in my book, and I’ll definitely be doing business with them when possible.<\/p>\n
I grabbed a shuttle to the Comfort Inn and stayed there until the next morning.\u00a0 I spent the first half of Saturday splitting my attention between re-runs of Law & Order on TNT (RIP Jerry Orbach, you were great), my laptop with aviation weather websites, and the window showing me the sky outside.<\/p>\n
After lunch at a local cafe, I headed out to the airport.\u00a0 The ceilings were up and the rain was starting to slake, but the winds were howling.\u00a0 I stood out by my plane and watched the sky for a while.\u00a0 Those battleship clouds were still around, but they were all at least 1,000 AGL and more scattered than before.\u00a0 But they were booking!\u00a0 The ASOS was reporting 20kts gusting 28kts, but it was right down the runway.\u00a0 I watched a pair of helicopters blast past, heading north, then watched a Cessna 185 come in to land.\u00a0 He came in slowly, inching his way down to the runway like he was a helicopter himself because of the wind, then carefully taxied over to where I was waiting.<\/p>\n
“How’s the ride up there?” I asked.\u00a0 He said it was fairly smooth.\u00a0 He was heading south, so he had been fighting this headwind the whole way, but he said he could barely feel any turbulence.\u00a0 Thanking him, I headed over to my refueled Warrior and took to the air.\u00a0 My no-flaps takeoff roll was nonetheless short, and I had to dance a little on the pedals to stay coordinated as I made the turn to downwind and picked up 40 kts in a few seconds.\u00a0 Tuned into the Redding VOR and D->RDD on the GPS, I blasted up I-5 at an indicated 120kts and a ground speed of about 145kts.\u00a0 This was with me throttled back, too, so it was quite a ride.\u00a0 Occasional gusts would give me a little ‘push’, but I had a nice margin on my IAS so it just felt like bumps.<\/p>\n
Closing in on Redding a few minutes later, I looked ahead and decided the weather forecasts were either optimistic about the Shasta Corridor or that I was just getting too conservative in my old age, so I called into the tower and set up for landing.\u00a0 One thing really caught my attention and that was the increased radius of my turn from downwind to final!\u00a0 I had planned ahead, I thought, but it was obvious I had underestimated the energy expenditure of that 180, so my pattern was a little pot-bellied.<\/p>\n
Landed no flaps, I still managed to make the first turnout, then it was over to the Jet Center to check out weather again and do some real thinking.\u00a0 It was becoming clear that my usual Siskiyou pass route wasn’t going to work.\u00a0 There were low ceilings developing, and I knew this wind would set up a real teeth smasher in the I-5 canyon, so I needed an alternate.\u00a0 I checked out the weather radar and saw that it was better if I headed east, so I spent some time in Google Earth checking out some routes before finally deciding.\u00a0 I would fly RDD-089 (Fall Rivers Mill)->LMT Klamath Falls.<\/p>\n
I carefully taxied out, did a careful run-up, then took off into the 20kt headwind.\u00a0 I made the careful 180 again then screamed across the countryside towards Burney Mountain.\u00a0 As I turned east, my ground speed dropped from 150kts to an almost lethargic 130kts, and I climbed joyously into the clear air (well, clear below a 10,000 foot overcast I guess) and reveled in the freedom of being able to maneuver.\u00a0 As I closed in on the ridges, I thought about the incredible mountain-wave and vortexes these winds might be creating, so I stayed high and steered clear of them on their downwind sides.<\/p>\n
Breaking free of the Valley, the weather immediately improved…\u00a0 then got choppy.\u00a0 As I turned direct towards Klamath Falls from 40 miles out, I tried to radio a turbulence PIREP to Flightwatch, but they weren’t able to hear me or I them, so I contented myself with actively trying to avoid chipping a tooth each time I was slammed up and down in the cabin.<\/p>\n
It smoothed out as I entered their Class D airspace and my landing was nice and smooth.\u00a0 One notch of flaps this time, and still, made the first turnout.\u00a0 I was starting to notice a trend…<\/p>\n
I decided to take a little break and get an updated weather picture, plus there were some friends in Klamath I wanted to see, so I spent an hour hanging out and watching the Wx.\u00a0 Finally, it was time to head out, so I jumped back into the cockpit took off.\u00a0 As I was holding short of the runway, the tower was talking to a commuter that was coming in to land the opposite direction on the same runway.\u00a0 He asked me if I was ready to go, and I was.\u00a0 “Cherokee 33139, winds 160 at 5, cleared for immediate take off runway 14.\u00a0 Start your left turn as soon as possible.”\u00a0 Acknowledging, I took to the runway and took up.\u00a0 I climbed a couple hundred feet before turning crosswind.\u00a0 As I did, I looked over and saw the tower was right next to the runway and I could have legitimately started my turn early enough to fly by.\u00a0 Keying up, I said “Shucks, looks like I missed my one chance to actually buzz a tower!”\u00a0 After a moment, the controller radioed back with a chuckle: “Yep, you did.”<\/p>\n
I headed north across Klamath Lake.\u00a0 There weren’t any weather stations ahead, but the radar looked promising so I flew on up, getting bounced around a bit over the water for some reason.\u00a0 Snapped some pics and then hit a little rain.\u00a0 Checking the outside temperature, I saw that it was almost zero, so I immediately chopped the throttle to descend to warmer air to pick up a safety margin against icing.\u00a0 Once or twice as I was descending, I saw a couple of tiny white spots on the wing.\u00a0 No actual ice, but it looked like a couple of water droplets had hit the wing and exploded….\u00a0 then parts of them had stuck.\u00a0 That’s as close to ice as I want to get, so I watched them closely as I descended.\u00a0 outside temperature rose to a couple degrees, but now I knew I had to make a decision.\u00a0 The route I had chosen would take me just outside the Crater Lake wilderness area and would require a climb from where I was now.\u00a0 Looking ahead about 10 miles, I could see the rain continuing, the clouds dropping, and the ground rising until everything met.\u00a0 I clucked to myself, then did another 180.<\/p>\n
Turn turn fly away,
\nlive to fly another day.<\/p>\n
I pulled up weather on my iPhone using the fantastic AeroWeather app and contemplated routing back through Klamath to Medford then up I-5, but the only station in that valley between them described some iffy weather, so I flew back to Klamath and landed just as it started to rain in earnest.\u00a0 My friends picked me up and took me to their home and gave me a nice place to sleep, then I was out the door at 6:00 Sunday morning and grabbing a weather briefing.\u00a0 It didn’t sound to good, so I started to think an Amtrak exit might be best for now.\u00a0 I thanked the briefer and hung up, then walked out to meet my taxi.\u00a0 A few minutes later, I was looking up at the sky and seeing big patches of blue, so I called back for an abbreviated briefing.\u00a0 “Say”, I started after giving him my tail number.\u00a0 “What can you tell me about weather north of Eugene?\u00a0 Any holes or big breaks in coverage I might be able to use”?<\/p>ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder
It was the same guy I had talked to, and he gave me the bad news.\u00a0 No good openings, there was an AIRMET for icing to 25,000′, and the Eugene area looked cruddy.\u00a0 “The train it is.\u00a0 Heck, it was worth a shot considering this clearing sky above me, but it sounds like I can do this flight another day.”\u00a0 He offhandedly responded with “I think you made the right decision the first time”, and I had to agree.\u00a0 It gnawed at me a little, but years ago I decided to stick to weather abort decisions, so I got onto the train.<\/p>\n
10 minutes out of the station, it became obvious that I had chosen correctly.\u00a0 The mountains were in the clag, the blue spot over Klamath Falls was stuck in one tiny spot and closing, and every direction I looked, it was a mess.\u00a0 We quickly transitioned from rain to snow then worse, and I have a small album of pictures to prove it.<\/p>\n
I’ll probably grab a train back to Klamath in a few days when it’s nicer.\u00a0 “Time to spare, go by air” and all, but it’s still an adventure I’ll always remember.\u00a0 It might not feel glorious or anything, but I know I picked up some good experience that will serve me in the future.<\/p>\n
Plus, who knows?\u00a0 Maybe next year I’ll actually be able to go camping.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
PS: I wrote the above while on the train.\u00a0 Now that I’m back in Eugene, there are big chunks of blue sky above.\u00a0 I found myself second guessing my weather abort, but then I gave myself a mental slap on the cheek.\u00a0 “Ben”, I scolded myself, “I’d rather be thinking about how I might have been able to make it than discovering that I definitely can’t”.<\/p>\n
– Ben Hallert<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Each year, I try to visit Columbia, CA at the beginning of May for a fly-in with camping, canards, and tequila.\u00a0 It’s a beautiful airport with on-field camping, and a real pleasure to attend. This year, the weather didn’t look as promising, but I figured I’d keep my head on my shoulders and play it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[54],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eaa31.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eaa31.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eaa31.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eaa31.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eaa31.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/eaa31.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313,"href":"http:\/\/eaa31.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions\/313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eaa31.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eaa31.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eaa31.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}