Winter Flying

wrote in message
ups.com...
Since we are well into winter and snow and ice, how are you coping with
it? What are you doing to pick out XC checkpoints now that the ground
is covered with snow and everything looks different? How are you going
to handle taxiing on slick or ice covered taxiways and runways?

Winter before last I had a Warrior scheduled for a few hours the morning
after we got about 18" dumped on us. Stunningly clear day and air as still
as a pond. I got out to the field and ended up spending about 30 minutes
helping dig planes out and watching the FBO owner grimace constantly as a
pair of big front loaders danced in and out of the parking area loading snow
into dump trucks. The runway had been plowed but only down to a depth of
2-3" with an icy layer underneath. Nosewheel sterring and braking action was
crap, but if you had airspeed the rudder would turn your nose. Only problem
is that all that accomlished was to send you skidding (literally) sideways
down the runway. Having grown up driving pickups in upstate NY this was a
familiar sensation. Even the Citations were getting a bit of a sleigh ride
on rollout. Whatever direction you were headed when you touched down, that's
where you were going to be going.

-cwk.