The Chronicles of a /\/\4d Pi70t! Vol. 1
The Chronicles of a /\/\4d Pi70t! Vol. 1: An Icy Delware!
Filed(Planned) Route 1: KDBQ to V100 to KRFD to V171 to KJOT
Filed(Planned) Route 2: KJOT to V8 to CGT to KGSH to V55 to KFWA to V38 to KFDY
Filed(Planned) Route 3: KFDY to V38 to APE to KVTA to KZZV to V144 to KMGW to V44 to KMRB to WOOLY to KFME
Actual Route 1: KDBQ to V100 to KRFD to V171 to KJOT
Actual Route 2: KJOT direct to EON then direct to KFWA (landed due to ice buildup, low fuel, and food)
Acutal Route 3: KFWA direct to KDLZ (diverted due to icing emergancy)
Actual Route 4: KDLZ to KVTA to KZZV to V144 to KMGW to v44 to KMRB to EMI direct to KFME
Hello and greetings all! What you've just read was my flight log from my base airport and school, Dubuque Regional Airport (KDBQ) to the airport just outside of my home, Tipton/Fort Meade Airport (KFME). This flight was to take about 8 hours flying time and go well over 600 miles! However, the best laid plans of mice and men.....
We originally were to lift off at Dubuque around 7am local time, however, due to low levels of clouds and and even lower freezing level, we didn't actually launch until 1pm local time. Now, for those non-pilots, clouds above the freezing level, or and precipation above the freezing level, we develop ice on the leading edges of the aircraft, and ice is one of a pilot's worst dangers. So we put off our departure until the cloud layers climbed back up. So once we got underway, we found ourselves skirtting under the cloud layers at 3000ft and life was okay. We made it to Joliet Regional Airport, and then went underway. After a change of route for traffic purposes, we found ourselves icing up towards Fort Wayne, Indiania. So we landed their at Fort Wayne, saw an F-16 squarden on the ramp, ate a good dinner, and spent 30 minutes on the line waiting for a flight briefer, then spend 45 minutes trying to get a 5 minute weather briefing! For you pilots out there: They are shutting down all but 3 FSS, and everything is being routed through, and they are stuck in this transition period, if your planning to fly IFR, bring a book to the phone.
Once we were finally filed (BTW the jerkoff who wasted all that time, didn't even manged to file the damn flight plan, I had to refile out on the ramp!) We departed. Indiannaoplis (Indy) center radar vectored us to Findlay (KFDY) and then handed us over to a local approach controller. This is where it all came together. This controller seemed new/unexperienced, espically with bad weather/icing. And then, about 20 miles away from us, a Pilot report (Prep) was issued saying that they were inbetween layers at 7000 ft, with no ice. Now, we had been crusing at 3000 and only got trace, it was even factorable. But this controller thought it would be a good idea to get us inbetween layers, and at the time, it seemed to be a good idea. Well, at 7000, we were in an overcast layer and experiencing moderate icing (very dangerous to a 172). As soon as we recognized the situation, we radioed in to drop altitude to 5000 ft, which also, was in a layer of clouds and we experienced light icing. This only served to compound the already threating situation. Finally, we knew 5000 was dangerous, so we asked the new controller (we were handed off a few minutes after reaching 5000) to descend down to 3000, hoping to get out of the clouds, but to no avail. After about 5 minutes of being in the clouds at 3000 ft, my flight instructor Jesse Fremont made the call to declare an emergancy and get us on the ground. We landed at the nearest airport - Delware, OH (KDLZ)
Now, for any pilots who read this, please note: AVOID THIS AIRPORT AT ALL COSTS!!!!!! DO NOT LAND AT IT AFTER HOURS! YOU ARE BETTER IN THE ACCIDENT! While I am overdramatizing it, I am quite serious, avoid this airport, please. The airport was shut down and the no one lived near the field. On the FBO door, there was a passcode (many airports have these, but either the number is the UNICOM frequency or is marked near the door in case of emergancies, but not here) so we couldn't enter the FBO, and there was a note saying: "Call this number for manager support afterhours: $60 fee for manager coming out." Well, we left 3 messages on his machine, and no response at all. So we called a local hotel, which was about 10 miles north of the airport, they did not offer a shuttle service, no hotel in this town did. And the only cab company closed at midnight, we landed around 12:30 - 1am ish. We spent about a good two hours standing on the flight line in 0 degree weather (and getting colder) until the UUDECGS (the title my dad has given himself) managed to get ahold of the police, and had a police cruiser sent out to the airport to pick us up and take us to a hotel. And the thing is, not only was this most likely the highlight of his night, but it also made both me and my instructor think about it, because we never considered it, and the police are there to: Protect and Serve. So, we finally got a hotel, slept for a few good hours, went back to the airport. The manager gave us his BS reasons for not getting the message (come to think of it, he never really did explain it, just claimed "I never got it") We filed and got on our way, so basically other than entering the ADIZ (American Defense Identification Zone) surrounding 9/10s of Maryland, we landed without a hitch on our last leg.