A Cold Wintery Night

December 5, 2006

Winter arrives on December 21st, or so says the calendar. Actually, winter is more like a state of mind then a chronological date. When it's cold then it's winter. The mind says so. The body says so. Who's to argue?

Thursday evening's flight begins with a bone chilling airplane pre-flight. Amazingly, the task is accomplished smoothly and no problems detected. A clear night brings the question of frost. You know this from your car windows when you get in a cold car. There's frost on it. A blast of windshield wash will clear it, or the application of heated coils on the rear window. How does this apply to an airplane? It doesn't. It's cold and the mind stops with the analogy.

A check of the wing surfaces confirms they are clear. No de-icing needed tonight! The preflight is complete and the weight and loading sheet partially accomplished. The remaining weight information awaits inside the cargo terminal and heated surroundings. This motivates a fast walk. Entering the doors brings the reward: the end of biting cold dense air. It's winter.

Completing the load and weight sheet takes just a few minutes. The outbound load is at 80% and some 1,500 pounds. Holiday traffic accounts for an increase in loads. That, plus this is the first of the two airplane departures. My co-worker will deal with the remaining and last minute shipments.

Returning to the loaded airplane, the doors are now closed and locked, a final walk around completed, and then climbing the ladder into the cockpit. A slam of the door brings the end of the outdoor exposure. Darn but it's cold.

Starting the engine seems normal but in this cold weather I imagine it to be a near miracle. Turbine's require substantial electric power to turn the starting system and compressor. A plane's 24 volt battery normally is enough and this is again true tonight. Starting the engine has sequences to follow. First engage the starter. Next verify engine rotation and oil pressure. Some pilots have a mental call-out for oil pressure. If you do it with a West Virginia, Chuck Yeager-style drawl, then so much the better. After the oil pressure is verified, note that engine compressor rotation achieves 13%. Next, raise the fuel lever and note fuel flow on the instrument. Now comes the critical part, the part that tests the entire procedure. Does the engine start?

An instrument that measures internal turbine temperature is consulted and watched carefully. A normal start will result in a temperature rise towards maximum limits of 805 degrees C, and then fall back. If the temperature spikes, then an immediate engine shutdown and motoring of the starter is required. Pilots carefully monitor turbine temperature during the start and tonight is one of them. The temperature needle rises and follows a normal pattern. The starter cuts out at 42% and the engine becomes self-sustaining. This allows the pilot to select the starter to off, and the starter motor now becomes an electric generator, supplying ship's power. Engine start sequence completes and the after-start checklist is accomplished.

One benefit of a turbine engine is that there is a lot of heat. This is very good for cold pilots in cold cockpits because the cabin can be quickly heated. Pulling the vent knobs and turning on the bleed air valve begins the process of cabin warming. "It can't happen too soon.", I muse. The first streams of heated air begin to displace the frigid cold surrounding the enclosed cockpit. Ah, warmth and life at last.

A takeoff and climb to altitude is uneventful. Another benefit of cold weather flying is that the air is denser, resulting in better airplane performance. Tonight's winds are strong and out of the northwest. This is a perfect opportunity to test the tailwind benefit. Adjusting the global navigation receiver to the Calculator mode, a wind readout confirms the suspicions. A wholloping 50 knot tail wind pushes the plane across the ground, making for an amazing speed of 193 knots at 8,000 feet. Clear skies adorn the landscape and a chilling outside air temperature of -13 degrees C is indicated.

Landing at Indianapolis is made on the northwest runway 32. A short taxi and the plane is brought to a stop. This concludes the flight and brings the next phase: tie down and post flight. This also means another trip outdoors. So it goes. The plane is secured and a postflight completed. A warm van shuttles its way to the feeder building, carrying a crew of two pilots and two mechanics. There is a moment for conversation. "It's cold!", I declare. This seems to say it all. It's too cold to talk and too cold to think of much else.

Returning to the plane three hours later, the loading process begins. From inside the cockpit I notice my breath streaming from nostrils when exhaling. The de-ice crew arrives shortly and wants to know if the plane needs deicing. I amble out of the cockpit and declare, "It's cold". The two crew of Eric and his coworker Scott reply in a chuckle. "Look, I'm a bull!" I exclaim, raising my head and snorting out blasts of air through a pair of nostrils, then raising my hands into the air in a theatrical display of horns. This brings another round of laughter. It's free entertainment and you take it where you can get it.

The conversation returns to the deicing and some frost is noted on the top of the wings. This can happen on cold nights and the plane sits outside for hours. A scheduled deicing of Type-1 hot heated fluid to 180 degrees is scheduled for just prior to departure. Eric and Scott bid a farewell and a promise to return soon. I dash back into the warmth of the cockpit.

The load is soon completed and deicing accomplished. An engine start is made and the taxi to runway 32 again. Taking off and climbing to 3,000 feet occurs in a few minutes. The return home Is started and it is welcome, Heat replaces cockpit cold. Stars guide the return home and a clear morning reveals the surrounding city lights for over 50 miles.

Selecting a low cruise altitude brings the benefit of not challenging the previous headwinds. A check of the global navigation system shows a crosswind from the west at 20 knots, but just light head wind of 1 knot. "I'll take it.", I mentally state, and return to the flight.

Few radio transmissions are heard at this early hour going northbound. The lower altitude brings an unexpected challenge of not having good radio reception with the assigned enroute center frequency. Several attempts are made after the 30 mile handoff from the Indianapolis controller. No reply is received. Returning to the previous frequency, the radio plight is discussed. "Try again for 10 miles. If no answer then return to this frequency and I'll get you another", comes the reply from Indianapolis. "Very well.", I think and continue on.

After several attempts at the low 3,000 foot altitude, a transmission is received from the center. The controller says, "if you can here me, Ident.". This means to press the button on the radio transponder. That displays an additional blip and the airplane's radar beacon code on a controller’s radar screen. Pressing the button brings the reply, "Ident observed. If not on my frequency, change to 121.05." I change to the new frequency, make the radio call, and wait. Will this change the silence that has followed me for ten miles?

"Mountain Air 8852, receiving you loud and clear.". comes the reply. Problem over.

A landing at South Bend comes at 5:10. A taxi and shutdown is completed a few minutes later. The young woman greets me and already has the tail stand out of the cargo storage and waiting to hand it to me. This is a rectangular pole that is inserted at the tail of the plane to keep the tail from dropping to the ground during cargo loading.

I take the tail stand, raise it like a flag and declare to the ramp worker, "I declare to claim this land in the name of Queen Isabella!". It is a line taken from Stan Freeburg's recording, "Columbus Discovers America". She makes little reply. I wonder if the joke escapes her?

A call to the company to close out the flight concludes the journey. One minor maintenance item is reported. It is a light for the copilot's vertical speed indicator. This will be easily service during the day.

I ease out of the cockpit, stroll the 60 yards to the cargo terminal, enter in, then out to the parking lot, start the car and head for home. Another day complete. I welcome the rest that awaits.