Windy Morning

Don't let the passengers see now...

The wind is howling at 25 gusting 30 knots as we hold short of the runway waiting on our clearance from Saskatoon radio. It's dark outside still at 0625 and the ground is hardly visible from the blowing snow. Our clearance is given to us with a cancellation time of 1231, that gives us about 3 minutes to be airborne which won't be a problem. As we take position on the runway and pause to run through the take off checks, we are given the illusion of rolling forward from the layer of snow moving steadily down the runway. A quick glance at the motionless runway lights and a little more pressure on the brakes is our only confirmation that we aren't on the move. As we push the power up for take off the strong winds quickly bring out air speed up to 100 knots. We leap off the runway and climb quickly above the blowing snow. The bright lights of the airport and city are below us now. The vis hazard from the windy conditions does not look so bad at this angle.

We are now 150 miles from our destination where we'll be sitting for 8 hours as our customers tend to their duties. We've got a room and bed booked for the day, I'm looking forward to it after the early morning.

Warmth and Dumbo

15 minutes ago on the ground in Saskatoon we had picked up the ATIS (automated terminal information system) to get the latest weather for the airport. One of the things that came off the monotone male voice was the temperature, a balmy -10 degrees Celsius. What a nice break from the cold -30 degree snap that been punishing us for the last two weeks. I'm wanting to pull out the ol' BBQ and sandals it feels so good.

Now though the OAT (outside air temp) is back down to -25 as we soar upwards through 15'000 feet for our cruising altitude of FL190 (19,000 ft). Our rate of climb is already down to 600' feet/minute, thanks to the full load of 8 passengers and 160 pounds of cargo. The sky is starting to brighten in the East as we climb above the last layer of broken clouds. I can see a brightly lit town through a hole, it passes by slowly, looking sleepy and quiet. This reminds me of the old movie Dumbo the Flying Elephant when he is being carried across the night sky in a blanket by the kind pelican. Now that's an old memory...

A Bright Star

9.8 Million Miles Away

We're level at 17'000 feet above a platform of brilliant white clouds. The Earth's closest star is shining brightly though the 1/2 thick windshield. The visor is down, sunglasses on, but still it's bright enough to warrant a couple of maps to be hung in the windows.

Using a formula I read about just the other day in an aviation weather book I attempt to figure out the sun's angle (e) above the earth from my location. The formula is e = 90 - (L - Lp) where Lp is the latitude where the sun is directly over head at noon, ei: Summer time the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer or 23.5 degree latitude North. L is the latitude of where you are.

I figure since we are roughly 47 days passed the winter equinox and there is about 91 days in between each equinox, the sun would be pretty near right in between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Equator or about 11.5 (Lp) degrees South. ( When using south latitudes I use a negative number.) And right now I'm flying over the 54.5 (L) degree latitude North. Put the numbers together and I get a sun angle of...

e = 90 - (54.5 - (-11.5))

e = 90 - (54.5 + 11.5)

e = 90 - 66

e = 23 degrees, huh, the sun looks a lot higher to me than that, but then I am nearly 3 miles above the earth. Anyways, back to flying...

Calgary is now 250 NM in front of us, the weather there is going to let me shoot an approach down to about 600'. That's good, cause after a week off from flying, my hands and feet can get a little rusty...