January 14, 2014
It's 9pm and I'm about to make my way to bed when my phone alerts me to a text. It reads, "we might have a charter to LaGuardia, you interested?" I'm already exhausted, as I've been up since 4:30am. Going to New York is a 12 hour trip, am I up for it? It's now 10:30 and I get the final confirmation that the trip is a go. I commit to being the co-pilot.
We takeoff from Lambert at midnight CST. We're taking a GoJet mechanic and about eight boxes to New York. We stop at the Allegheny airport in Pittsburgh for fuel. It's apparently the cheapest option on the east coast. An hour and a half later, we arrive in New York. The city is glowing with night lights, some of which reflect off the calm ocean waters. I'm completely awestruck. I thought it was cool to see St. Louis at night, but this is out of this world. I knew that I needed to take some quick pictures. We land around 5:15am CST.
After dropping off the mechanic and the parts, an airport employee picks us up in a shuttle bus and takes us to the FBO. I've been in many FBOs before, but this is the first time that I've seen one with not just one TSA officer, but three! That's when it really hit me... I'm in New York City.
We're brought back to our plane and wait our turn to taxi to the runway. It's now 6:15am CST and the sun is beginning to rise. I get to see New York City at sunrise... how cool is this?! We make our way out to the runway. There's five airliners in front of us and at least one behind us. I'm feeling pretty tiny right now, but hey, at least I'm in the pilot seat this time.
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| LaGuardia tower at sunrise |
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| Waiting our turn |
The radio is hopping with conversations between ATC and the pilots. Now I see why this airspace demands and extra ear. We takeoff. The city is coming to life and it's just as stunning as it was at night. Clouds over the ocean start to roll in and cover the city like a blanket. Again, I find myself constantly taking pictures. I don't want to leave.
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| Brooklyn Bridge on the left, Central Park on the right. Photo courtesy of my pilot, Mark C. |
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| The city is consumed by low lying clouds |
Now 8:40am CST, we're back in Pittsburgh for more fuel. At 9:20am we're back airborne. The skies are no longer clear and we run into some clouds. We're picking up light rime ice as well. For most of the trip it wasn't a problem, but eventually we skim the top layer of the clouds and the ice develops at a faster rate. I'm flying the plane home, and the other pilot has fallen asleep (we gotta catch a few ZZzzz's when we can!). I don't have a lot of experience with icing yet, but I have learned enough that when I see it developing quickly, even with anti-ice and de-icing equipment turned on, I know that I probably need to make some altitude changes. I radio ATC and climb up above the clouds. We're in the clear now. I apparently woke up the pilot in the process. Something about the word "icing" catches the attention of anyone flying a plane.
The rest of the trip is uneventful. I end up taking my 30 minute nap somewhere over Illinois. Landing back at our home airport went well. I think it's safe to safe I'm getting used to handling this complicated beast of a plane. She's slowing becoming one of my favorites to fly.
12 hours and 30 minutes after taking off from Lambert, we're finally back home, safe and sound. That was definitely one of the coolest flights ever. Not to mention, I logged my 300th flight hour!
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