Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Artic Blast

Ok, I live in Minnesota and I've been hardened against cold weather. But December and January have been so cold as to test my ability to tolerate it. Nothing works right at -20°F. Motor oil is like grape jelly. Garage door openers fail. The dog can barely take care of his "business" before his feet start to freeze. And nobody in their right mind flies a small airplane unless...nope, they just don't.

The relentless cold subsided a bit on the weeked of January 17 and I decided to do a little pattern work to keep the rust away. I did 5 approaches, with one go-around due to a "technical" runway incursion, and 4 landings.

My brother came along again and took photos and videos. The video is from my nifty new Zi8 HD video camera, and I think the video came out really clear.

The weather was calm with high ceilings but visibility was low at 4 statute miles. The visibility improved while we were flying and ended up at 6-7 statute miles.

Here are some photos my brother took during the flight:


Folks icefishing right next to the airport.



Downtown Minneapolis peeking through the haze.



A view of Flying Cloud Airport from the pattern.



Final approach!



Certificated Aeronaut.



Brother Joe the flight photographer / videographer.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Good times...

Robo said...

I think in your case it should be spelled "AeroNut". Which is better than my case, which is spelled "AeroNot".

Keith K. said...

Come on rob, there's always time!!

Shambhu Kumar said...

ooo really all photos are nice and very interesting.

Steve said...

Lookin good, Keith! Glad to see the Zi8's working out for you. The video was a little jerky due to my connection here but the quality looks pretty nice.

Newyorka said...

Well, here in Poland the winter is also too cold and too long... :D I want Spring time!!!

Nice pictures!