Rarefied Prismatic Air

A Great Among Great Aunts

My Aunt Mary -- technically my great aunt as she was my grandmother's sister -- passed away on September 18, 2024 at the age of 92. She was the last of her generation, the longest lived of her many sisters. Because my grandmother often (constantly?) feuded with her sisters, I was not close to many of my great aunts on that side of the family. Mary and Carolyn were the exceptions, both of them warm, caring, well humored, and imbued with a bright intelligence that I connected with strongly.

When I was young, I adored Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill. Bill was boisterous and would laugh until red in the face. Mary was soft spoken, but steadfastly ensured that her people were well cared for. The last time I saw Mary was March of 2020, just before pandemic lockdowns made interstate travel challenging. Bill, her husband of 63 years, had just passed and I spent a long time with Mary at the funeral home in a very engaging conversation where I heard several family stories that were new to me. She could really tell a story! We even exchanged a few letters afterward, which is something that I rarely do anymore with anyone.

Now that she was gone, I was determined to say goodbye.

Back to the Commute

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
21 Sep 2024	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - PTK (Waterford, MI) - SDC	5.5	2912.5

While planning to fly from the Williamson-Sodus Airport across Canada to my hometown airport of Oakland County International ("Pontiac") in Michigan, I was struck by how flying this route has been increasingly driven by family tragedy since 2018.

Preflight complete, hangar door closed, ready to go...

At 6,000 feet, I anticipated a 2 hour, 45 minute direct flight to Pontiac. I wanted to arrive at the funeral home around 10:00 am when visitation started and planned to stay for the 11:00 am funeral. Due to a recent incident at Michigan Aviation, loaner vehicles were no longer available. Instead, I planned to take an Uber from the FBO to the funeral home and back. I did the math and chose a 7:00 am launch time from Sodus that would put me in the air right at sunrise.

"Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning..."

I launched from runway 10 right at 7:00 am, climbing eastbound toward the crimson sunrise before turning on course. I hand flew the entire westbound journey and even captured some obligatory Niagara Falls photos along the way.

Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls.

Inspirational Weather

ForeFlight screen capture showing weather on both sides of my course.

I often consider the stretch of Ontario, Canada between Buffalo and Detroit to be an alleyway threaded between three Great Lakes that narrowly constrain the route. The boundaries are practical, if not physical. In other words, I could fly out over the Great Lakes if I wanted, but prefer to stay over land for safety reasons. Weather encountered within this alleyway poses a greater risk to flight because the flexibility to deviate around it is reduced. However, I have often encountered weather on both sides of the route with clear sailing along my planned course. Such was the case on this morning.

The edge of a rain shower on the Lake Erie Shore.

Thus faced by benign weather, I had an easy flight over a moody Canadian landscape.

In the distance, virga streaked the morning sky.

A circular rainbow over Ontario, Canada.

Then I saw something I had not seen since September 2001 while flying my first solo at the controls of a 1976 Cessna 150. That day, I climbed into the sky alone for the first time with heart thumping in the anxious knowledge that I truly held my own life in my hands. I turned downwind for runway 27 at the Dowagiac Municipal Airport (C91) and found myself in light rain with the sun at my back. In that moment, I witnessed a breathtaking circular rainbow shimmering in the air before me, centered directly around my trajectory like a portal to a better future.

Twenty three years later on the way home to say goodbye to Aunt Mary, I saw it again. I have watched for this phenomenon for years without success. (The closest I've come was the fogbow or "Jersey Halo" I saw flying home from a work trip in 2019.) Its appearance before me was as inspiring as it was fleeting, lasting just a few moments. I spent the next several miles reflecting on all that had changed since I last saw it, both in the world and in my own life. This exercise quickly made me feel old.

I am not someone that reads portents into everything I see and do not necessarily link the purpose of my flight with the appearance of that ephemeral apparition. Not in a cause and effect manner, surely. But were it not for Aunt Mary, I would not have been in the right place at the right time to see it. For me, the elusive optical phenomenon is now associated with memories of her wonderful smile.

Hello and Goodbye

Final approach, runway 27L, Oakland County International ("Pontiac").

After that, the rest of the flight was utterly perfunctory. Because of low fog covering southern Michigan, Detroit Approach assigned me the RNAV-27L instrument approach procedure into Oakland County. Although the atmosphere remained hazy, the fog moved out before I arrived and the instrument procedure became unnecessary.

I parked at Michigan Aviation and was in an Uber headed to the funeral home within minutes. I arrived right at 10:00 am, so my plan was well executed. The first people I recognized were Aunt Mary's sons Jeff and Billy.

"You came a long way," commented Jeff when he saw me. When I explained that I adored his parents, he smiled sadly. "Yeah, I know." I offered Jeff and Billy my condolences and caught up with them in addition to my cousins Jane, Mark, and Ellen. I spent a quiet moment at Aunt Mary's side saying goodbye and found myself profoundly grateful for the opportunity.

After the service, I walked to the former Pizza Hut in Waterford that I once frequented with my high school friends. It had transformed into an Indian restaurant, the sign at the road proclaiming: 

NOORJAHAN INDIAN CUISINE

A World of Flavors Right Here in Waterford

I don't know why, but the tagline made me snicker. Yes, even here in Waterford. I delighted in the incongruity of sitting in the Pizza Hut of my youth while enjoying Indian food for lunch.

Quick Turn

After lunch, I hailed an Uber back to the airport and launched on an instrument flight plan to Sodus about 3.5 hours after I first arrived in Michigan.

"November Four Eight One, say direct heading to ADRIE." The years may have passed, but little has changed. (A little inside joke; I have received that same question from Detroit Departure many times over the last six years.)

After nearly three hours of hand flying that morning, I let HAL take control of Warrior 481 for the trip home and listened to music while the gently rumbling airplane carried me back across Canada, watching the fluffy clouds drift past my windows. The weather I encountered that morning had long since dissipated and the flight home was an easy one. I was back on the ground by 4:00 pm, just in time to start flight planning for the next day's adventure to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome with the Williamson Flying Club. Put mildly, it was a very busy weekend.

Despite that, the brief time I spent with family was well worth the effort and I was glad to have taken time to visit with my cousins and pay my respects to Aunt Mary. As for the spectacular rainbow that harkened back to the day of my first solo, that was certainly a bonus.