So the morning came early (which is ’cause we were in Eastern, not Central time….I get up with the sun most of the time, so for me it was early.

Got cleaned up, did the morning routines, we ate breakfast, checked out, put the bags in the car,  I did a briefing (1-800 WXBrief) and off to the airport.

We tried to turn the Beemer in at the car rental lot, but they didn’t want it as they had no way to get us back to the FBO where the plane was, so they inspected the car, and told us to leave it at the FBO, just leave the keys at the FBO desk.

So we arrived back at the FBO where this whole odyssey began, met the maintenance manager, talked about the plane and the repair, he pulled it out of the hangar and we loaded the bags. Went back inside, filed a flight plan through ForeFlight (IFR ’cause we were gonna be above 17,999 ft) and got the flight plan acknowledged via Email.

Oddly, I got “As Filed” which is unusual , but hey, it happens)

I did a really thorough preflight inspection (the plane had been out of my control for days, and one never knows,  so best to check), checked the fuel levels, checked the oil, sumped the fuel, pulled the chocks and hung them up.

Got in, closed the door, turned on the battery, started the right engine, turned on the alternator, then let it charge and then started the left engine (Cold procedure: mags off, throttle 1/2, turn 6 blades, then throttle full, mixtures rich, prime for 20 sec or ’til the fuel flow shows 20 GPH, set throttles to 1/3,  mags on, start, pull throttle to idle, check oil pressure,  and other guages, then alternator on)

Turned on the avionics buss,  let the radios boot, listened to the ATIS, called Clearance and got my CRAFT then called Ground: “Ready to taxi”. Got my taxi instructions.

Taxiied to the line and did a runup, then called Tower: “Ready for departure”.

Waited for a landing 172 (student pilot, but he did a decent job) and then a jet that had taxiied behind me, but was gonna do an intersection takeoff (He wanted out first and Tower accommodated him even though I was technically first in line…smart move, he’s faster and was gone and out of my way before I had pulled onto the runway

Got the call “Cleared for takeoff, fly runway heading” and pushed up the throttles. Engine instruments good, fuel flows good, making full power, airspeed and a bit of right rudder to stay on centerline. Airspeed alive in three places, all agreeing, 85 knots and it got light on the wheels, rotate at 90, positive rate, gear up, gear in motion light and then all the gear lights go out. Pitch for blue line and climb at about a thousand feet per minute, pull the prop rpm back to 2500 (from 2600) and do the After Takeoff check (gear, flaps, lights, etc), pitch for 140knots for cruise climb.

Tower says “contact Departure” and Departure immediately told me to turn on course (we were not yet 1000FT AGL! ) Climb instructions were “Climb and maintain 5000ft  on course”  we passed through a layer of bumpy clouds (I reported the cloud tops and they said “thank you”) and then “Climb and maintain 10,000 ft” and then 20K and then my filed altitude of 22K. Did the Climb checklist along the way, and then settled into our cruise altitude, and did the Cruise Checklist…and set the props for 2350 RPM and a fuel flow of 17 GPH which gave us 214-ish knots true at that altitude.

The winds were NOT as forecast. Different direction (a near headwind) and much stronger….near 70 knots instead of 30,  at altitude which had an adverse effect on groundspeed. We were indicating 224 knots airspeed (true)  at 22K but only 160 knots ground speed. I called ATC (Cleveland Center) and asked for lower, and explained why…she said that it was actually worse lower for a while, but that it would fade as we moved west….

She was right, but then it was a direct crosswind at the same speed, enough that the autopilot couldn’t adjust, and I hand to hand fly for most of an hour…

Soon enough though, we were over Lake Erie,

Photo by MC 

and then we crossed into Canadian airspace and then just south of Aaron (just north of the Detroit airport ) It was in and out of IFR, but smooth as silk at cruise. The best part of this airplane is that there is seldom anyone at our altitude….Jets are much higher, and small, unpressurised general aviation is much lower.  Only us and some turboprops fly at that altitude, so it is uncrowded. We did pass some jets climbing or descending, but the ATC folks did a great job of keeping us far enough away from each other.

photo by MC

3 hours later we were descending to home. Down though clouds after clouds, but it was pretty and smooth.

photo by MC

ATC did a really nice job on the descents, never making me level off, just a perfect straight in descent right down to the GPS approach, one turn to the Final Approach Fix and we were landing. I did the GPS just for practice, could have done it visual though

All told it was an expensive odyssey. but that’s sometimes the fun of General Aviation. Shit happens in life: be an adult and just step over it and keep walking. Could have been worse, had it happened at the tiny airport I dropped the kids off at it would have been worse, no service, no car rental, nothing. Nearest mechanic 2 hours drive away, and I have no idea where I might have ended up.

As it was, I treated it as an adventure, and MC had the same attitude, so it became fun.