Haven't done a Pilots-n-Paws rescue flight in a while. Been meaning to, but between Haiti & the commercial ticket, haven't had much free flying time. Got a call mid week asking if I could help transport 9 pups and their mom from somewhere in the Shenandoah Valley area up to Buffalo NY. How can you resist this?
The pups got transported up to VA on Sunday, and I was going to pick them up on Tuesday, but the weather wasn't cooperating. IMC all all along the route, with isolated thunderstorms predicted all along the route as well. Without in cockpit weather, dodging thunderstorms is not my idea of fun.
And, looking at the geography around Shenandoah Valley Regional (KSHD), I realize they aren't kidding when they say "valley".
Airport elevation is 1,200 feet, with 4,000 foot elevation to the east and west, and a 3,400 foot ridge directly in line with the runway to the northeast. Not geography I want to be messing with in IMC. The temporary foster in Shenandoah, Beverly, graciously agrees to house the dogs until Thursday.
Thursday turns out to be a pretty good flying day. Not too hot, some low ceilings around NY and some clouds along the route, but the weather forecast to get better through the early afternoon, before clouding up again. I plan to get an early start to try to get back in before the weather got too bad.
The plan was for wheels up at 9:30, but things never go that easily on an IFR flight plan out of Linden. Wheels up ends up being more like 10:15. Get vectored considerably north of Linden, before being allowed to proceed on course in the southwesterly direction. Filed for 8,000 feet. Entered the clouds at about 2,000 feet, and felt a moment of anxiety---it's been a while. Fighting the false sense that the plane is somehow banking left---my body messing with my mind---having to really focus to keep the climb nice and level. Break out at about 4,500 feet to glorious sunshine with a nice carpet of clouds below.
It's been a while flying the C172, and the airplane feels much lighter than the C182, the controls much more responsive. Enjoy hand flying for a good hour before engaging the autopilot.
The rest of the flight is entirely uneventful. And once into PA, the clouds start to thin, with the ground showing in between breaks in the clouds. Potomac approach informs me to expect a visual approach as I begin the decent. Somehow, descending through the clouds is much easier than climbing through them. No weird kinesthetic illusions this time. Once I break through the clouds, it takes a long moment to get my bearings back. Approach tells me that the airport should be dead ahead, but it takes me a while to pick it out through the haze. (I'm also conscious that there's another airport around here, and don't want to land at the wrong one.) The landing itself is a beauty---the wind is almost straight down 23, and the C172 touches down with a satisfying chirp---not too firm, but not too light, either.
The dogs have been waiting patiently outside the FBO. The local ABC affiliate has shown up to film the pups and I stand for a brief interview (thankfully I got edited out of the final news report). We load the pups into two separate crates, and the mom will ride in a harness. The pups are squirming and whimpering---they almost sound like kittens. The folks at the FBO at KSHD are wonderfully accommodating. I taxi the plane to the runway, with the pups whimpering the whole time. I hit a little bump, and that dislodges one of the crates a bit, and the door opens. Three pups spill out. I manage to contain one back in the crate, but the two others rolling around in the back seat having a ball. I park the plane in the run up area and spend 3 minutes corralling the errant pups back into the crate, this time being careful to position the crate with the door facing towards the seat back. (Good thing this happened while I was still on the ground.)
Flying out of KSHD, I make one final call to the CTAF frequency. The gal at the FBO comes on wishes me well and says, we can hear your passengers (yes they were still whimpering quite loudly). But in a few minutes they settle down. I call up Potomac Approach to pickup the IFR clearance to Buffalo-Lancaster Regional. I had filed a rather round about route following the low airways from KSHD to Buffalo. To my surprise, my clearance is "direct BUF direct" (i.e. fly direct to the BUF VOR, then direct to the destination airport). That was unexpected, but would shave a good bit of distance off the flight.
The flight is uneventful except for the fact that it takes longer than it should, battling headwinds all the way. I request altitude changes a few times to see if I can't do better, but nothing seems to help. And one of the pups decide to take a pooh, which stinks up the rather small cockpit.
When I get close to Buffalo, and Buffalo approach takes me a bit west to avoid traffic before turning me towards BQR. I am having trouble finding the airport, until the controller says "um, it should be right off your left wing." I look down, and there it is. (How embarrassing.) It's a tiny airport with the runway running parallel to a railroad, and I had mistook it for an warehouse or railroad siding.
The pups get dropped off, the crate gets washed out, the plane gets refueled, the pilot grabs some water and a candy bar, and we are back in the air. The flight back to LDJ is also uneventful. Though the forecast clouds are starting to gather and thickens the further east I fly. This was great IFR flying practice. It eased me into it---initially it would be a puffy cloud here and there along the route. But the further I went, the more consistent the clouds got, until I was fully "in the soup" by the time I was past Allentown. By then, I had regained my confidence flying in the clouds (and remembered how to properly scan the instruments). And I had the luxury of engaging the autopilot from time to time when I felt a bit tired.
The ceilings around LDJ are around 2,000 feet, but once I pop back out of the clouds, I'm greeted by the familiar sight of approaching Linden from the west. The New York skyline at twilight is rather nice landmark to fly towards. The NY approach controller informs me that since I am landing at Linden, they are holding planes at Newark until I cancel IFR. Must be using runway 22. (Me and my little Cessna holding up the big boys at KEWR.) Since I was clear of the clouds, I oblige and cancel IFR.
A long day, but well worth it. Got another bunch of dogs to a happier place. And got some good flying in with some nice IFR practice to boot. Can't ask for much more in a days worth of flying.
