We blasted off VFR from Chatham International at 1:00 pm in our Cessna 172 Heavy. On board was PC Millard Capitaine, MK Millard, First Officer, two cool Montegue full size folding bikes and in excess of 200 lbs. of luggage and food. First stop was Sandusky OH to clear customs.
Flight over the lake was generally uneventful except for the scattered showshowers that occasionally reduced viz to marginal VFR (or worse) conditiions. Fortunately, they didn't last longer than a couple of minutes and Sandusky was clear as a bell when we arrived--on time!
A quick review of the weather in Sandusky confirmed my original concern. Snowshowers all over Ohio and West Virginia. Not a big deal, but there were also AIRMET's out for IFR conditions (in snow) and more importantly mountain obscuration along the entire range of the Allegenies. Pilot reports had the tops at 7-8000 and some ice in the climb. And the freezing level was 2000 to the ground all along the route!
We elected to file IFR and climb on top. If that didn't work, we would descend and go VFR under the clouds as far as we could go. The latter was not the best choice for Kath because of the bumps down low. We got our clearance on the ground at Sandusky and climbed out, radar vectors for a few minutes and then we turned on course and cleared to 7000.
Initially the climb was fine, but approaching 6000 we started picking up some rime ice. The tops turned out to not be at 7000 and we asked for and got cleared to 8000. We broke out at 7500 into bright sunshine. What a relief. We had picked up about 1/4" of rime. Not a big deal but not pleasant, particularly during the last 500 feet of the climb when the ice audibly splattered the windshield and the uncertainty of where the tops were added to the pucker factor.
Overhead Zanesville, OH at 9000 feet and 120 knots groundspeed. (Ya gotta love a nice push!).
By the time we got to the mountains, the clouds started to thin out a bit and although we were in snow (which was falling from a high overcast), things went well from there. We decended into Lynchburg (it seemed to take forever from 11 thousand) and landed uneventfully.
Great trip!
We elected to file IFR and climb on top. If that didn't work, we would descend and go VFR under the clouds as far as we could go. The latter was not the best choice for Kath because of the bumps down low. We got our clearance on the ground at Sandusky and climbed out, radar vectors for a few minutes and then we turned on course and cleared to 7000.
Initially the climb was fine, but approaching 6000 we started picking up some rime ice. The tops turned out to not be at 7000 and we asked for and got cleared to 8000. We broke out at 7500 into bright sunshine. What a relief. We had picked up about 1/4" of rime. Not a big deal but not pleasant, particularly during the last 500 feet of the climb when the ice audibly splattered the windshield and the uncertainty of where the tops were added to the pucker factor.
Overhead Zanesville, OH at 9000 feet and 120 knots groundspeed. (Ya gotta love a nice push!).
By the time we got to the mountains, the clouds started to thin out a bit and although we were in snow (which was falling from a high overcast), things went well from there. We decended into Lynchburg (it seemed to take forever from 11 thousand) and landed uneventfully.
Great trip!
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