Flight 100

07-09-00

C172

N07-local

2.0 solo; 3 landings

"Pilotage; air work... warm, OC w/increasing haze; rain; dry runway at N07... good lndgs"


warm, hi OC, vis 10 mi in haze, wind calm

This is one of those mornings... while I drove to the airport, the sky went from broken high clouds to a solid blanket. The briefer had warned of a rainy front with IMC wandering in from the SW, but it should stay VFR long enough for me to get in a couple of hours of practice.

I start off with two good landings at N07... guess I'm still pretty fresh from last week's efforts.
Then it's off to the west to wander around a bit near the river... do some MCA and stalls, then maybe land at Stroudsburg.

As I guide 06G towards the Delaware, I can see the low clouds and rain way off yonder, just as described. The sky above is now a solid ceiling of dark gun-metal gray, but high above me.

I'm using dead reckoning, ignoring the STW VOR, and eventually, against a stiffening wind, I find myself right at the big S-bend in the river, near Blairstown. I decide to follow the river south as I go through MCA and stalls. There's nobody else up here; nice and quiet on the radio.

Nothing to say about my MCA practice- I've got that down.

A few drops of rain plop against the windscreen. Hmmm. Remembering my misadventure near Sullivan on my first long XC, I take a good look back towards N07. There's blue on the eastern horizon, and the overcast between here and the Hudson is thin. No sign of rain that way, either.

No real sign of rain here, either, aside from a few odd drops. The vis is still bout 10, although things are looking mistier to the SW- which is where I'm headed...
I call Stroudsburg for a radio check, get a "loud and clear", and as I pass over the field, I suddenly do not like the look of the sky. The overcast seems to be bloating measurably, growing dark and menacing. The clouds will not lower right away, I surmise, but it will soon start pouring out here...for the moment the rain is light and intermittent, but a trend is obviously developing.

"Gonna land at Stroudsburg?" asks the voice that answered my radio check.

"Negative." I've already nixed that idea.

"Just a flyby, huh?"

  "Yep."

"Yeah, it's gonna get nasty here real soon..."

I key the mic twice, then peel away to the east, actually eager now to get back. It's not the threat of rain so much as the oppressive mood of the sky: this early twilight has made the world gray and dead, and I'm actually not in the mood to fly now.

The leg back to N07 goes superbly, despite the fact that the rain, each time it spits a little, seems to increase in volume. I'm not worried; worry won't get me on that runway safe. I know where I'm going, and I know that the weather there, although worsening, is still better than from whence I've come. It's quite predictable around here, as far as I can tell.

By the time I'm in the pattern, the rain is now a steady light drizzle... maybe 1 drop per sq. ft. of windscreen. The vis. is still fair, and legal VMC.

As we glide down the final leg, I see that the runway is still quite dry- a little disappointing, almost.

During my drive home, some far-off cloud demon finally yanks the handle, and a mighty torrent crashes down onto the earth.

The downpour lasts through the night.