Winter Flying over the Appalachians

It had been almost two months since I had last been flying. Things have been busy at work, and at home, and the weather has settled into that low Great Lakes scud that blows across Ohio for most of the winter. Yesterday was a welcome change - low humidity, high pressure and great visibility from Lake Erie to Florida. It was a perfect opportunity to fly south for some long-overdue business. I was also excited about the beautiful weather for another reason - Christmas came a little early for Dan this year! That's right, I am the proud owner of a slightly-used Nikon D70 digital SLR with an 18-70mm zoom lens, purchased for $418 on eBay. Now, I can finally take the pictures that I have been longing to take!

Tuesday morning came cold and clear. It was only 19°F on my drive to the airport, and even though the plane had been hangared and the Tanis heater was plugged in, the oil temperature was only 53°F before engine start. The KAP140 autopilot was just not going to cooperate, and didn't want to power-up until we had been running the cabin heater in flight for about 1hr. It finally came on over Charleston, WV. After take-off, we got VERY healthy climb rates of 1500ft/min....that's what nice cold, dense air will do for you! The winds were light at 6500ft - about a 20kt cross-wind from the west, and we made it to our destination in the usual time - about 2.7hrs from Coshocton, OH to Rock Hill, SC.

The visibility was truly breathtaking - probably the most clear air that I have seen over the Appalachian mountains. I always love watching the morning mists clear over the hills and the mountains. I got Dad to fly the leg down so that I could take lots of pictures. There was something very magical about flying over this barren winter wasteland.

Smoke and mist from a powerplant down on the Muskingum River

Look closely! There are ice floes on the Muskingum River!

Jackson County, WV (I18) - Watch out for the smokestack while on left downwind for 4!

Simply Beautiful! Mist rising off the Kanawah River south of Charleston, looking east.

Frosty treetops on a typical West Virginia river bend. I love this zoom lens!

One of the things that I've really been frustrated with when taking photos with my Sony point-n-shoot is the field of view. The DA40 has such an open canopy, and you really feel like you're sitting out in the open, on a bench 8000ft up in the sky when you're flying, and you just can't communicate that with a narrow lens. Hopefully the next few photos will give you a feeling of what the view is like from the DA40 cockpit!

Mountain ridges along the Virgina border - I calculated that we were seeing peaks about 75-80NM away!

Delicate cirrus brushstrokes across a deep blue sky - amazing!

Here we are turning left final for runway 2 at Rock Hill. You can see the nuke power plant on Lake Wylie, and just check out that wrap-around view. This is what I love about flying patterns in the DA40 - the runway is always in sight through the turns. Rock Hill was pleasant as usual, but not much warmer than Ohio. Weather was about 40-45°F during the day. After our meetings, we packed up the airplane and headed off into the sunset - it was a beautiful finish to a beautiful day.