If you asked me how often I’m able to complete a planned flight in the Cirrus, I would say “almost never”. It seems that low IMC or icing or horrible turbulence or baking heat interferes. Today, however, we managed to get four people up to Portland, Maine and back almost as quickly and easily as if we had driven. The turbulence wasn’t too bad. The visibility was superb. Both BED and PWM had cleaned up after the big snow storm and hadn’t yet been hit with tomorrow’s freezing rain and snow storm. My friend Adam was kind enough to swing by the hangar yesterday and plug the airplane’s heater in so we were able to start it in the 20-degree cold without damaging the engine (about $40,000 to replace).
We started with a sightseeing tour over downtown Boston and then up the shoreline to Cape Ann. We continued up the beach and landed with a 15-knot wind straight down runway 36 at Portland, turning off into the FBO. They handed us the keys to an SUV, which we drove to the Duck Fat sandwich/fries/beignet shop. After that, we visited the art museum (report over on photo.net) and then returned to the airport for a night flight back to BED.
Upon pulling up to the hangar and wondering how I was ever going to get the plane uphill and over a little snowbank, my friend Joris appeared with a car and a snow shovel.
One passenger had never been in a small plane before. After landing, she said “That was one of the coolest things that I’ve ever done.”