Happy Easter!!!

Woke up at 8:17 only to find out my mom and dad had left me!  We had talked about goin' to an 8:30 church service this mornin', but I had slept through my first wake-up call.  oops!  I called 'em up, and they had only just left, so they came back and picked me up.  ha!

So we went to a church service in the Lake of the Ozarks for Easter.  Nothin' like bein' the guests and rollin' in late (by a minute) to a service...we had to sit in the front row.  oh well.

Went back to g'ma's after the service, then headed for the shower.  I never made it.  I woke up to someone yellin' at me sayin' it was time to eat!  It was noon!  I had a 1 1/2 nap before noon!  NICE!

And I thought I had been eatin' heavily up until this point...boy was I ever wrong.  Grandma brought out the big guns this time...ham, mashed potatoes, her famous noodles, green beans, deviled eggs, fruit, jello, rolls, pineapple cake, and tea.  woo hoo!  I ate like a king.

After stuffin' my face, I hung out with the fam a bit before headin' out.  Played some games and just talked.  And finally took my shower.

Then Dad and Randy took me to the airport about 3:30.  I was supposed to pick Jarryd up from Spirit of St. Louis between 5:00 and 6:00.  No problem.  I had called to get a weather briefing, and the flight looked good.  Clouds at 4500 feet AGL in Camdenton, goin' down to 3900 feet AGL in St. Louis with light snow to the northwest of St. Louis.  Freezing rain was reported from 4000-10000 feet MSL in St. Louis.  Winds 330 at 17 knots along the route of flight.  The report raised some caution flags (you never play with freezing rain), but I would still be able to get there VFR well below the clouds.  That would work for me!

So I was off.  I departed Runway 33 in Camdenton with about a 10-knot wind from 300.  And then I turned on course to St. Louis.  And for about the next 20 minutes, I was gettin' bounced all over!  The visibility was fantastic (I could see for miles!), but the ride was rough!  I leveled out at 3500 feet MSL, but I had a difficult time keepin' it there!  I would watch my Vertical Speed Indicator jump really high (to 1000 feet per minute in several instances), and then I would immediately see the altimeter follow suit...often findin' myself 200 feet above where I wanted to be.  These updrafts were pretty quick!  And I knew it was comin', too...right after I saw myself climb, I would wait for the "bump"...the top of the draft.  I would hit my seatbelt, and that was it.  Sometimes I came back down a bit, other times the plane just flew level.  But I would head back to 3500 MSL.  This was the first part of the trip.

The second part was just beautiful.  I saw some of the most incredible pieces of artwork in the sky.  At first, I had no idea what I was lookin' at.  Out in the distance to the right and left of me, I would see clouds with very tiny little white cylinders goin' to the ground.  They were very loose-lookin', and the best way of describin' 'em is to picture a see-through white evening gown.  Very light and movin' with the wind.

As I continued on my journey, about 90 miles outside of St. Louis, I realized what was goin' on!  I was watchin' snow fall!  But there wasn't a solid storm anywhere!  There were literally single clouds just droppin' flurries down to the ground!  But they were increasing in frequency and now in intensity!  The clouds were bigger, and the gowns were wider.  It's kinda like watchin' rain fall from a cloud off in the distance...but with white snow instead of the dark rain!  Beautiful!

But I had some problems.  The closer I flew to St. Louis, the more frequent these patches were comin'.  And they were now gettin' bigger.  They had stayed to the right and to the left of me up until this point, but that was no longer the case.  Off of my nose, I had a pretty big system right in my way.  As a VFR pilot, there was absolutely no way of goin' through it.  Visibility would have been non-existent.  That and the fact that the outside temperatures were below freezing.  Never a good combination with airplanes.  You just do not want freezing temperatures and moisture.

But (and this is hard to imagine without seein' it yourself) outside of the large patches of snowfall, the skies and conditions are absolutely fantastic!  The visibility is incredible (more than 10 miles), the sun is shining, and the clouds are mainly around the 4500-foot MSL range.  Simply no problems!  But I just had a wall of snow ahead of me and to the left.  Moving from the north to the south.

So for the next 30 or so miles, I just fly VFR around the storm systems!  I was havin' so much fun!  I would be able to see paths where I could go in between the storms, and they weren't movin' too awful fast, so I wasn't too worried about one catchin' up with me too quickly.  But I was well aware of where alternate airports were along my route.  I would pick out the closest one every time I made a new move.  I tune into airport weather reports along the route, and I quickly learned exactly the situation.  I was headin' for Sullivan Regional (or at least close enough to it) at one point, but I had noticed that the clouds were overtaking that area.  And after a brief check with that weather, it was confirmed.  "Light snow, visibility 2 1/2 miles..."  Not good.  The visibility was sure enough limited in those areas with the gowns of clouds.

So there I was, flyin' S-curves through these patches of snow.  And all the while, I was fascinated with the clouds, too.  A completely solid wall of white from cloud to the ground.  No mercy whatsoever.  At ground-level, the thickness was just as great as at my height.  It was quite a sight.

Well, I've managed to stay VFR for quite some time, but I now see another problem up ahead.  I am fast-approaching the Spirit of St. Louis Airport, but I am quickly becoming boxed in.  To the north, I see a system makin' its way down.  To the south, the airports for alternates were already masked in a blanket of white.

And St. Louis was out of the question.  "Information Romeo...Spirit of St. Louis...snow...visibility 1 1/2 miles...ILS Approach to Runway 26L in use..."

I am a VFR pilot.  These were well below minimums.  And although I have been practicin' ILS approaches for weeks now, I was not certified to use such an approach.  At least not yet.

So I look north.  A wall of white is makin' its way down.  I look south.  She's already covered.  And I am only 20 miles out.  But St. Louis just won't...and can't...happen.  So I choose an airport outside of the St. Louis airspace, and I go in for a landing to wait it all out.

I land at Washington Regional airport, just 16.5 nautical miles from Spirit of St. Louis.  I am only 10 minutes away!  But as I land into the north, I see the snow comin'.  I circle to land on Runway 24, and I touch down about five minutes before the snow hits.

And frankly, the snow isn't too bad.  It's wet snow, and the storm passes in a mere 15 minutes.  I call Jarryd to let him know I'm grounded, and he completely understands.  But he's at the Spirit of St. Louis, and he says that the sun is visible.  Understandable.  This storm system has been quite fun to watch...perfect sunshine followed by white-out conditions followed by perfect sunshine.

But I wait for about 15 minutes, then check the weather.  "Information Sierra, visibility 6 miles, haze..."  Maybe this is my moment of opportunity!  The snow has passed, and I can see a possible path again.  So I head back out.

I get in contact with the Spirit of St. Louis tower, and I am cleared to land Runway 26L.  No problem.  12 miles to go.  I had to go to the north a bit, then east, but I've got great visibility...at least around me.  10 miles to go.  But I see a problem.  My GPS is tellin' me that the airport is dead ahead.  And I'm sure it is.  Perhaps behind that wall of white.  The airport is completely and totally covered by clouds and snow...down to the ground.

"Spirit of St. Louis Tower, Cherokee 98014, cancel landing, must maintain VFR, request circle hold..."

Or somethin' to that effect.  And she cleared me to circle for a bit until the storm passed over the airport.  So I flew in circles for about 15 minutes...completely VFR...just waitin' for the right opportunity.

And then it came.  I first saw the river, and I knew the storm was movin' past.  Then I saw the runways.

"Spirit of St. Louis, Cherokee 98014, runway in sight, inbound for landing..."

She cleared me for a right-hand downwind into Runway 26L following a Learjet on a 5-mile final.  Sounds great.  And it was quite fun to watch.  I was literally watchin' the clouds peel back from the airport.  From my angle, I could see Runway 8.  Inbound traffic on Runway 26 was still on the ILS procedure...no visibility.  And so as I flew the 10 miles to the airport, I watched the clouds roll back.  But not overly quickly.

So slow in fact that the tower asked if I wanted to land on Runway 8 instead.  I kind of chuckled, then said no, I would do a short downwind and final onto Runway 26L.  As I'm in the downwind, I see the Learjet pop out of the sky right over the numbers.  That's pretty sweet!

Then I get to just past the runway, and I turn in for the base leg.  If I would fly a normal downwind, I would be in clouds.  Thick, low, clouds...with snow.  So I turn early, then land on Runway 26L.

I loved it!

I meet Jarryd inside, we check the weather, and we realize that we're goin' to have to do more of the same on the way out.  We see a window, go out and start the airplane, then see another patch movin' in ahead of Runway 26.  No good.  We both decide it's not a good idea.  So we turn off the airplane, then wait about 20 minutes for it to pass, too.  We see another opportunity, and we take it.  Tower advises us of patchy and intermittent snow throughout the entire area.  VFR is off and on.  haha...yeah, I know that, friend...

And we're off.  For what should've been a nice flight of dancin' around the clouds and snow again.  Jarryd is IFR-rated, but we didn't file, and so we're shootin' to stay VFR.  Clear of clouds.  Clear of precipitation.

And then we have a bit of a setback.  The alternator dies.  Not just goes off for a bit.  She dies completely.  We reset it, then turn it back on.  Nothin'.  Nothin'.  Nothin'.  Tower asks me to check my transponder to see if it's workin'.  His voice is crackling.  He doesn't read me back...hmm.  Our electrical system isn't charging!  That's a problem...especially since we are goin' to soon be on a night flight!  We would definitely need lights to see our instruments.  The alternator had worked flawlessly on the trip over to St. Louis with me never havin' to even reset it.  But not anymore.

So we try to turn off some stuff to see if somethin' is grounded out, but she just won't turn back on.  The needle is dead.  Tower had given us a heading to fly after departure to keep us out of the way of two jets behind us, but I had received clearance to do whatever it took to stay VFR.  I held my heading given to me beforehand, and we waited until we were out of their airspace before changing.  But changed we had to.  I had to adjust my altitude to stay clear of clouds, and I had to make several turns to venture around some snow systems.

By this time, we have everything electrical just shut off.  Completely shut it all down.  So we have no radios, no GPS, no fuel pump, etc.  Our plan is to fly VFR with our map and try to make it to Camdenton before nightfall.  Of course, as Jarryd and I both said to each other, if we have to change that, we have to change it.  No need sacrificin' safety.

So we flew without electricity for around 30 minutes or so.  I had fenagled my way around the clouds, and we were trackin' ourselves on the paper map.  No problem.  The plane was flyin' great!  I had tried to turn the power back on, but the alternator was still dead.  Oh, well.

Well, after that half hour, Jarryd tries again, and voila!  She works!  The alternator is back on!  And after changin' course to avoid one other system, the flight itself is a breeze.

From the middle of Missouri on, we had an absolutely beautiful flight clear of clouds and snow with perfect visibility.  The moon was out, the stars where shining, and the ride was calm.

So Jarryd and I just sat there and talked.  We were back in Chanute 2.6 hours after we had departed.  Winds were calm back home.  What a change from earlier!

All in all, I flew 10 hours over the past three days.  And I gained some invaluable experience!  From flyin' cross-country to weather briefing to flight planning to decision making to just enjoying the sights and experiences, I came out on top.

And really, at no point did I ever feel unsafe.  Were the experiences memorable?  Absolutely!  Were they normal?  Probably not.  Could they happen again?  Of course!  Did I put myself in danger?  Nope.  I always had an alternate airport, I stayed out of the bad weather, I had back-up plans, I thought ahead, I planned ahead, and I reacted to the uncontrollable.

On a personal flight, I've never had to actually land at an airport other than my destination airport.  But in this case, I knew I had to.  I was only 12 minutes away, Jarryd was waiting, we wanted to get back home...but it would've been dangerous and silly.  So I landed.

I've never seen snow from the air before.  But now I know what it looks like!  I've never had to circle for awhile before landing, but now I see why that is sometimes necessary (even though I was VFR in an undefined holding pattern nonetheless!).  And I would say I've never had an alternator failure, but that's not the case.  Several years ago our alternator failed on a night flight, and we lost everything.  We even had to bring out our back-up flashlights to see what we were doing.

So frankly, I loved the flight!  It's one of those you just can't plan on.  It will never happen this way again, but that's the beauty of flying...you never know what you're goin' to get!