The article details the significant physical challenges of preparing an airplane for winter flights in Maine, including extensive manual snow and ice removal due to inadequate airport plowing and the difficulties of maneuvering aircraft on icy surfaces.
The author recounts personal dangers, such as nearly being run over by his plane on glare ice and the eventual need to install a winch to manage thick ice ridges at the hangar entrance.
While essential for winter safety, the author describes the phenomenon of "baggage creep," where an accumulation of survival gear and tools leads to excessive weight in the aircraft, humorously noting it could create new hazards.
This is about flying in winter—when you are on a scheduled commute. It’s about adding extra time towarm up the airplane and clear the ice and snow from in front of the hangar. And, it’s about all the things that can go wrong when you are trying to warm up the air-plane and clear ice and snow from in front of the hangar.
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Chuck Boyer was an engineering graduate of Penn State, a former Army Ranger, and a retired corporate consultant. He commuted from a grass field in western Maine to Boston for 12 years in his 1957 Piper Tri-Pacer, logging about 2,000 hours, all VFR. He flew west in 2021.
