Tales from Braying Dock Manor | Part 2, An Aerial Dalliance Between Peaches and Heavy

Luxurious Impunity

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
09 Jul 2021	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - PMH (Portsmouth, OH) - DKX (Knoxville, TN)	5.4	2286.1

A muted rumble discerned through noise cancelling headsets gave evidence of the recently overhauled engine smoothly drawing us through the atmosphere. An amorphous labyrinth of vapor obscured the horizon beyond our windows, outlying residuals from the passage of Hurricane Elsa along the eastern seaboard. Warrior 481 tracked razor true on course from Sodus to Portsmouth, OH, the flight controls moving with nearly imperceptible precision as HAL smoothly maintained course and altitude. Meal service was about to start.

We enjoyed a far more luxurious ride to Florida than on our first foray in 2005. When combined with the ability to traverse an obscured atmosphere with impunity, the tone for our journey was set right from the start. Our days of dithering on the ground waiting for improved visibility were largely over.

Mission: SurnameFest

SurnameFest, Robbinsville, GA, 2019

Established in 2013, SurnameFest (not its real name) is an annual gathering of Kristy's immediate family for a week's worth of fun, games, and cohabitation in a rental house large enough to contain our madcap festivities. 2021 would have to compensate for 2020's pandemic-induced cancellation of plans in Vermont. Because Kristy's parents were in the midst of building a new house near Ocala, north central Florida became our destination for SurnameFest 2021. Fortunately, Hurricane Elsa passed through the area several days prior to the trip -- instead of during -- and obligingly moved out of our way for the flight south in Warrior 481.

Too Hot To Handle?

After breaking in Warrior 481's new powerplant in July 2020, it was plagued by persistent high cylinder head temperatures (CHT) until November when a successful fix was implemented. But low ambient temperatures in the fall may have cooled the engine with greater efficiency and I worried that the heat stress of a Florida summer might reveal an uncorrected flaw. Fortunately, a week prior to launching, Upstate NY reached the low 90°F range and a test flight revealed that CHTs were very well behaved in the climb. I concluded that my powerplant would tolerate the Florida heat. Still, I was relieved to have my JPI EDM-700 available for monitoring engine health on a journey into the unholy inferno of Florida's summer atmosphere.

Less than a week prior to departing for SurnameFest, my EDM-700 failed to boot. Troubleshooting suggested a total failure of the display, powered by archaic argon gas discharge technology. Fortunately, Ray had a second unit available as a loaner. It had been pulled out of a six-cylinder, turbocharged Mooney and, aside from complaining during bootup about missing two cylinders' worth of CHT and EGT probe inputs and senselessly flashing "TIT" at me (turbo inlet temperature), it worked flawlessly in Warrior 481.

IMC from the Start

Is The Bear near tears? Naw. It's just early in the morning.

From forecasts, I expected a low ceiling over Sodus for our 7:30 am departure on July 9. Reality was better than a solid overcast (photo, above), but still low enough to require a cell phone call from the ground for clearance. Kristy and I reflected on hours spent waiting for low ceilings to lift in Calhoun, GA during our first Florida expedition. Getting permission to simply blast off through the low scud was a game-changer.

Cloudscapes varied widely from low broken layers to growing cumulus stretching their tendrils toward the heavens.

Southwest of Pittsburgh, an aircraft emergency drama played out on the Indianapolis Center frequency. It seemed that an another aircraft had lost radio communications and was trapped above the clouds. The pilot was speaking to air traffic control by cell phone and another aircraft in the vicinity was coordinating with Indy Center to visually lead the emergency aircraft to safety. We never heard the outcome.

When we were partway through Ohio, we overheard Indy Center communicating with another aircraft, callsign "Thunderbird." That's an interesting callsign.

Before signing off, Center wished Thunderbird an excellent show. Kristy and I looked at each other with simultaneous realization. "I wondered who would have that as a callsign," Kristy exclaimed. The Air Force's F-16 demonstration team was to perform over Dayton, OH the following day.

After a three hour and forty minute leg, we let down toward southern Ohio's Greater Portsmouth Regional Airport (KPMH, airport #222) in search of fuel for airplane and people alike. Inbound, we assisted Huntington Approach by relaying a frequency to another aircraft in the area unable to receive Huntington's transmissions.

ForeFlight ground track from Sodus, NY (KSDC) to Portsmouth, OH (KPMH)

Skyline

Ours was the only aircraft actively operating at Greater Portsmouth Regional, though the hangar doors were open and an emergency medical helicopter rested on a nearby dolly. Despite the stillness, the place seemed ready to burst into a flurry of activity at any moment. The fact that it didn't can hardly be blamed on the facility or its immaculate 5,000 foot long runway. Fuel at Portsmouth is full serve only and, though the FBO counter was unmanned at the time of our arrival, a quick phone call to Josh took care of topping off Warrior 481's fuel tanks.

Just across the Ohio River from Kentucky, southern Ohio was a bit breezy that morning.

Lunch was at the Skyline Family Restaurant, a well-reviewed diner in the airport terminal building with friendly staff and decent food. Behind The Bear, a chaotic array of children's artwork decorated the wall, giving the place a warm, family-friendly vibe. Behind me stood a cardboard cutout representation of a smiling former president. As is true for most politicians, the two dimensional cardboard cutout more successfully engendered an air of competence than the two dimensional individual it represented.

N21481 at Greater Portsmouth Regional Airport in Ohio

With the airplane and the entire crew appropriately refueled, we launched southbound across Kentucky for our overnight stop with Dad and Carol in Knoxville, TN.

Slalom Course

We picked up our IFR clearance to Knoxville Downtown Island Airport in the air from Huntington Approach just before crossing the Ohio River.

Back at 8,000 feet, the ambient air was cool and the clouds were initially far below our wings. But the afternoon sun did its work on the atmosphere and the cumulus began to build in the heat. Our strategy to arrive in Knoxville by early afternoon was specifically crafted around this phenomenon.

In the immortal words of King Arthur: "A duck!"

For a time, Kristy napped and The Bear remained absorbed in whatever book she was reading. HAL guided the airplane and I monitored the Knoxville weather and strategized on how best to manage the situation. Severe weather was expected to move into the area and was already active southwest of our destination.

With a start, Kristy awoke. "I just took a little nap," she mumbled in explanation.

"No problem," I assured her. "So did I." 

It would be an understatement to say that my little joke was poorly received.

At times, the clouds simply stayed out of our direct path.

Back with Indy Center, our controller was coordinating a mid-air refueling operation between a military KC-135 tanker, "Heavy", and its radio-silent partner, "Peaches". Throughout the operation, Center provided occasional instructions to Heavy for relay to Peaches while working to divert other airplanes around the conjoined ships floating thousands of feet above the surface.

Clouds were building aggressively near Knoxville and my primary goal was to avoid the foulest of the gathering storm clouds. Emerging from a forest of cumulus over a large hole, I was presented with a choice. I could cancel IFR and spiral down below the deck to proceed inbound visually or I could request deviations as needed around the larger, darker buildups. No rain was falling yet, but it looked imminent. I debated for a moment and chose to keep my IFR clearance. In the flatlands, spiraling down and proceeding visually would have been a good choice, but here, I worried about becoming pinched between terrain and cloud.

Knoxville Downtown Island Airport

Knoxville Approach granted deviations as needed and I dodged the biggest, darkest, meanest looking buildups while smashing through the smaller, innocuous cumulus. Slaloming around the worst of the weather, I picked my way through the obstacles until getting a visual on our island destination. Knoxville held on to us longer than I desired, but I eventually cancelled IFR about three miles north of the airport and high above pattern altitude. We plummeted earthward, entered the pattern for runway 26 on a crosswind leg, and squeaked Warrior 481 onto the runway with a respectable landing.

At the fuel pump, I waited for someone to fill a pair of jerrycans in the back of his pickup truck. When he was done, an airport vehicle arrived and an altercation ensued as a staffer declared that fuel could only be dispensed into airplanes. "Jerry" (ha!) explained that he was based at another airport that was out of fuel. The airport staffer impotently repeated the rule, but the fuel was already pumped and there was no practical way to repossess it. Finding the violator's receipt still in the fuel kiosk, I carried it over to him. He seemed appreciative, but eager to depart the premises.

Downpour

ForeFlight ground track from Portsmouth, OH (KPMH) to Knoxville, TN (KDKX)

The dark clouds we negotiated north of Knoxville only got darker and the rain started before we reached Dad's house north of the city. When Dad and I ran out for pizza, the rain fell with such wrath that we were both immediately soaked exiting the car. Portions of the road flooded. I was glad that Warrior 481 was well secured and wearing her pajamas for the evening. At Dad's, we talked, played a game of Sushi Go, and watched Guardians of the Galaxy before retiring for the night. We planned an early trip back to the airport to continue our journey the next morning.

On the way to Dad's house in Knoxville

At the completion of  a very successful Day 1, we had made an IFR(ish) departure from Sodus and logged 1.5 hours in IMC with 5.4 hours total. We visited the first of many new airports on this trip (Greater Portsmouth Regional). I wonder whether the NORDO pilot landed safely? As for Peaches and Heavy, I'm glad those two crazy kids finally got together. I hope it all works out.