Here We Fly Again!

Last Tuesday, March 15, I had a doctor's appointment in Columbus, GA, about 140 miles from home. That distance indicated a good trip to fly instead of driving. The weather was good, and it had been a month or so since I had flown, so I reserved the plane, and showed up at the appointed time, preflighted, and off we went. OK, I said "we," but I was by myself. Nurse Jenny didn't want to take the PM off, and a friend I called had to work, so I had no one to share my joy with. The 1.2 hour flight was uneventful, getting on with Atlanta Approach, flight following, and then transferring to Columbus Approach, then CSG tower, and a perfect right-pattern approach to rwy 6. I just love it when I come in with a circling turn and a steep nose-down right to the numbers! Wifey doesn't like those too much, starting with the turn, when she starts saying, "Oh, Jesus, help me Lord," and trying to get out. I don't know where she'd sit. I have taken her up so many times and talked her through approaches and landings, but it still gets her every time!

Anyway, good flight over, and the FBO gave me a ride over to the clinic, with another guy who flew in from Greenville, SC at the same time. Talk about timing! I don't know how his appointment went, but mine could have been better. I have been having a lot of trouble with a foot that I broke a year-and-a-half ago. It still hurts. With this trip, I found out why. It never healed. They did a CT scan, and there it was, big as life, a fracture right in the left ankle! I have an appointment with my attorney, and you can be sure that an orthopedic surgeon who told me it wasn't broken, is going to get his tail sued, right quick. That's another story. Anyway, they're gonna do surgery on 4/8, get it fixed right, and that's gonna take care of the flying for a couple of months.

Since I had such a nice day, and night was coming on fast, I decided to fly on over to Birmingham, Alabama, and spend the night with my son, who pastors Calvary Temple Assembly of God there. I made the necessary phone calls to him and to Nurse Jenny, then fired up the ole Cherokee, and off into the (dark) blue for a short 35-minute flight to EET, the Shelby County Airport, for the RON (remain overnight). We had a nice supper, spent some time with the two upcoming pilots, otherwise known as grandsons #1 and #2. Sorry I couldn't take them flying, but they had school the next morning, and I wanted to get an early start, to get the plane back early. Oh, boy, did I ever have a rude awakening in store!

Early, rooster-early, Wednesday morning. I got up, looked out the back door of Joe's house, and my heart sank. OHHH, NOOO! Fog, low ceilings, and it was pouring rain! No flying this day! The weatherguesser, otherwise known as the flight service station (FSS) forecaster, whom we pilots have to listen to - closely - before attempting any cross-country flight, had nothing but bad news. Ceilings below 700 feet, IFR conditions all over the south, nothing forecast all day for Wednesday. After a few checks during the morning, I gave up, went with Joe, my son, to his office, and helped him with his workload as much as I could during the day. Then back to the house, another nice night with the grandsons, and up early on Thursday morning. OHH NOOO, another IFR day! I looked out the door and thought I was caught in the movie "Groundhog Day," where the same day kept on opening day after day......Clouds, rain, low ceilings, and no forecast improvement! Back to the church with Joe, another day helping out. That evening, Thursday, the TV weatherman was giving out some better news. Clear skies forecast for the next day, and this news gave me such joy......I might get to go home yet! Calls to my wife let me know that I was missed - this made me feel good - and I sure missed her and the dog and the cat.....I missed home!

Waking up early, my body still on Eastern time, I got up and sneaked a peek out the back door, about 5 AM. Stars!! Hallelujah! The sky was completely clear! Great, this was just what I had been waiting for. First I checked the radar. Look at this site here:http://www.aeroplanner.com - it's something you might like to use for future reference..... and a check with the FSS, gave me good news. Well, mostly, anyway. It was clear, but over in Georgia there was a bit of low ceilings and clouds. But there were holes, at least they said so, so off we went to the airport. I opened the cargo door and took out my towel to wipe the moisture off the windows and...wait...what is this?? ICE!! What? It's not moisture, it's ice! I can't fly with ice! The whole airplane is covered with ice, from nose to tail!!! AAUUUGGHH!!

OK, I told Joe to go on with his work, he had an appointment later in the morning, so I told him to leave me at the airport, I'd wait for the sun to come up and melt the ice. An hour later, the FBO guy turned the plane around to finish the melting process, and I took my towel and wiped off all the moisture - the ice was gone now, thank God! I got on with my preflight, I had asked for 5 gallons of gas in the left wing tank when I left the plane here 3 days ago, it was there. I had about 15 gallons in the left wing and 10 in the right wing. Plenty to get home with the proper reserve. So far so good, then down to the end of the runway for runup. All OK, engine good, gauges in the green, but what's this? The DG (Directional Gyro) COMPASS WON'T SLAVE! What next? ARRGGHH, OK. We can fly without the DG. Don't want to, but got no choice here. I ain't gonna get Bobby's plane fixed away from home, especially when I have the GPS and the whiskey compass for references, we're gonna go.

Taking the active, off I went, climbing out nicely, turning east and off for home. It was pretty, nice and clear, but now I had the sun in my face. All through the climbout to 5500 feet, that sun was right in my eyes. No sun visor, I had to hold my arm up and block the sun with my hand for the first hour, until it climbed up over the windscreen. Finally, I could see, Atlanta Approach was providing flight following, and things, except for the DG, were going well. Under me, the occasional "broken" layer at about 2500 began to close up, and 40 miles out, I had to start down, with a layer forming up above me. Now it was necessary to keep my eyes open, to make sure there were holes down there that I could get through, to get under the lowest layer. There. Off to my right, was a nice big hole, and it was about the right distance from VDI, Vidalia, for me to get down. Off I went, the GPS reading about 15 miles at 78 deg, and here I went, breaking out under the layer at about 2300 feet. Then in about 5 minutes I had a visual on the field, and the holes, now above me, closed in for good. I was down now to about 1500, just above pattern altitude, and runway 6 was coming into view. Good, I would make a straight-in to 6, using the rwy 24 ILS back-course for a backup approach. The needles centered, I called my intentions, dumped in first 10 degrees of flaps, then 20, then 25, and in minutes there was this very faint "eek" as the mains touched down. Great! I had done it, a flight that had all the elements, good bad, and ugly. I have to say, when it was over, I was tired, drained, and glad to have gotten on the ground without having had to divert to an alternate. If you want to go flying, I hope your flights all have the same happy endings. Be safe, is my first and loudest admonition. Be safe, and above all, have fun. If it isn't fun, stay out of airplanes, because flying should first of all be fun, and the joy of looking down on God's beautiful green earth is the reward.

God bless, thank you for reading!

Joe Comer