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Monday, September 13, 2010

Fog to Start the Week

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.

-- Macbeth, Act 1, Scene i
That may be a bit harsh. But there seemed something of the heath in the fog at KVKX when I arrived this morning. The airport is nestled in a valley and the occasional dense fog is the price we pay for the protection afforded by the surrounding higher terrain.

That's N631S in the distance, at left, waiting in front of the hangar for the fog to lift enough to make an IFR departure sensible. The photo was taken at 0745 local time, about when I'd normally be departing. As it was, I had another half hour to wait.

After departure, most of the trip to Connecticut was on top in clear conditions. The cloud layer that we flew over was, however, widespread and quite low. Ceilings at many stations were under 1,000 feet.

The METAR for conditions at KBDR on arrival had this to say:


KBDR 131352Z 36004KT 5SM BR BKN006 OVC023 16/14 A3001 
RMK AO2 RAB12E43 SLP161 P0000 T01610144

Just a breath of a breeze from the north, five miles visibility in mist, and broken clouds at 600 feet, overcast above at 2,300. The ILS approach to Runway 6 was on offer.

In the event, N631S and I broke out of the cloud bases at about 450 feet, a mile and a half from the runway threshold. Below, the track for the trip from the nice folks at FlightAware.com.

3 comments:

Dave Starr said...

I'm a charter member of Flightaware (or so they tell me when I sign in) ... wow five years flows by quickly, doesn't it?

But I very seldom have any actual live tracking needs. Last night I was closing up shop on my various on-line endeavors a little late in the day (I'm in GMT +8, twelve hours ahead of EDT)(RPLC would be my home-drome if I were actively avaiating right now), when I realized it was time for your weekly commute. I 'tuned in' and ... nada. Went off to eat dinner, blaming it all on the Internet when, instead it was the weather.

As an American in a foreign country I'm quite used to being 'watched' all the time. Now, thanks to Flight Aware, you can know that slightly strange experience too.

Have a good week, "see" you on Friday.

Frank Van Haste said...

Dave:

Well...that goes far to explain the hits noted by Statcounter from the Philippines. Thanks for visiting, "Big Brother".

As a serious user of the IFR system, it pleases me no end that all of the nice folks of ATC are constantly looking over my shoulder as I progress down the airway. You're welcome to join the crowd; the more the merrier!

I'll look west and wave on Friday.

Regards,

Frank

Stephanie Belser said...

It's been foggy here for the last two mornings.