Shelter From the Storm(s)
(continued) On the eve of the proposed flight, both men said that the flight could be possible, but that up to the minute information would steer the decision. I slept fitfully.
Next morning, I awoke to whipping winds and dark, uneven skies. The storm was now tracking westward from Jacksonville towards the panhandle. A flight westward over the Gulf of Mexico would circumvent the storm. But what a deviation, hundreds of miles out of the way. What about contingency planning? Rob and I discussed losing an engine and having to divert to Mobile or back to Fort Myers, well south of the storm. Plenty of fuel for either, we decided, even if I had to drift down to a lower altitude and burn more gas in the remaining engine. Doug called with similar thoughts; head west around the westward side of the system, put up with the headwinds, avoid the nasty stuff to the eastern side, stay well away from precip. Little did I know, I was to ignore both advisors.
I drove to the airport in a wary mood. I loaded the airplane with some luggage and the dog in a light rain. The wind was out of the west at 18 gusting to 25 knots. The pitot tube covers snapped erratically. I filed to head west to Panama City, then reverse course back towards the northeast once clear of the weather. I selected 20,000 feet. Not too high where the airplane's performance starts to fall off, not too low where she burns too much fuel. A quick stop in the men's room; a furtive look at the radar. The rain had already engulfed Panama City. I would be going even further west.
Topped off, I started up and headed out to Runway 18L. Cleared for take-off, I lifted off and turned right to 310 degrees. This path would suffice for only a few minutes according to Nexrad and onboard radar. It was rocky. I was step climbed to 11,000 then turned over to Jacksonville Center. The first bands of red were showing about 20 miles straight ahead.
JAX said, "Five Eight Whiskey, I know what you are trying to do, you know, by going west and all, but we've had several airplanes go through this thing." I was stunned. A quick glance at the Nexrad did show an alley with no precip at all -- all the way to Taylor at the top of the state.
"Airplanes like me? In the mid-20s?" I asked. "Yes," came the answer.
"Okay, then, we'll give it a shot," I said."Cleared direct Taylor when able, climb and maintain Flight Level 200," he replied. I turned to find the dog asleep on the floor, just behind the wing spar, oblivious.
In and out of cloud at FL 200, we suddenly burst in the clear. We were in the "eye," if that's what you call it, of a tropical storm. It looked like I was in a huge white porcelain bowl. I couldn't see the ground, but the sides of the storm were obvious. There was light chop only. So far, so good.
I could see ahead and it almost looked as if I could top the north wall at 25,000 feet. I asked for, and got, Flight Level 250, contact JAX center on the next freq. "Good morning, JAX, Five Eight Whiskey, Level 250. How are the ride reports ahead at our altitude?"
Image: © FlightAware.com / Not for Navigation
"I don't know. I haven't had anybody go through there recently." WHOAA! I was in the eye, it looked like I could see ahead pretty well, there were bands with more red on the radar, but there were breaks. In some places there was no precip at all. I decided to carry on. The dog sensed this was not a time for canine communication. He just looked up at me.
At 250 I was again in and out of cloud. This time there was ice. I had turned on the windshield and pitot heat and neither was overwhelmed with ice accumulation. Thirty minutes later I was in the clear.
I landed for fuel in Suffolk, Virginia. When I called Cathy she said, "Where are you?" "Haven't you been tracking us on FlightAware?" I asked. "Oh, no, I forgot." "Well, you might want to look it up," I said. "I'll be there in a few hours."
Cathy met Corbett and me at LEB and we tucked the airplane into that gorgeous hangar. That night the drinks and dinner were especially good. When I turned on the e-mail, I saw this from Rob Haynes: "Hurricane Hunter: Why go around a storm when you can go through the eye? Well done, lad." Attached was the track you saw at the top this story.
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