Monday in Montana: Mostly Across the Divide

We all got out of Walla Walla and have landed safely in Missoula. We've now passed over the highest of the mountains we will cover on this trip, though we have some more to go.

We decided to launch based on best available information, and to continue based on en route Flight Service weather and some local views. We had filed for S95 - Lewiston - Missoula -- Helena, with the general intention of stopping at Missoula at least to consider whether or not to go further.

Just after departure We did indeed thread through scattered clouds around 5500 that cleared up as we moved eastward. For a while, it was smooth air and really lovely flying. Bob had been prepared to call it quits at Lewiston, but things were looking good at that point, and quite clear over Orofino. The river upstream of the dam was dramatically carved into the landscape - see the picture below. Two of three planes stayed at 7500 feet as a caution against the layer below us closing up. Dick spent some time at 9500 in smooth air above a higher layer of scattered before coming down as that higher layer began to close in. En route, we checked the weather after we passed Lewiston. Flight Service didn't tell us anything terribly worrisome til we got to Missoula, but gave us a forecast of VFR absolutely no go after that -- mountain obscuration, icing, showers, maybe thunderstorms, on toward Helena. We became increasingly grateful for every mile.

Mountain tops began to look snow-covered, and there were fewer and fewer options for any emergency landing should one have been required. Bill observed ski tracks on some of the slopes. Judy recalls trying very hard not to think about that, and being mildly distracted by looking at the rock faces and thinking about how interesting they would be to climb (one of her other sports) before remembering that that was LAST month's sport, and could she please concentrate on THIS month's?

The broken layer started coming down, probably to no more than 8500 feet, sometimes less. Bob radioed that the 172's tail was closer than he'd prefer to the deck. That was leaving us with uncomfortably dwindling terrain clearance. Turbulence was no big deal -- for the two bigger planes. Judy and Bill in the Cherokee were out front, weathering the winds just fine. Judy was more concerned about a little very light precip on the windscreen, watched carefully to see if it was looking like ice, saw gratefully that the wings remained clean, looked at the Outside Air Temperature, and just really implored the weather gods to be on our side. The 172 picked up the rear in weather that was deteriorating as they went along. Janice recounted that when she watched the RPM and the OAT both dropping, she had a feeling it was worth checking the 172 for carb icing. Sure enough, that instinct qualified her for the title of Dragon of the Day . With the carb heat on, the engine ran more roughly for a few seconds that seemed MUCH longer, and BA lost about 500 precious feet of altitude but the remaining 2400 RPM managed to keep them aloft, clear of terrain, and eventually recover that altitude. When Bob and Janice advised the two leading aircraft of the carb icing, they both checked but found none. "You guys were just far enough ahead of us that the clouds and temperatures were higher where you were," observed Janice afterward.

We went no further today -- VFR was totally not recommended beyond Missoula and we were losing tops as we went along.

After we landed, quite candidly, several of us did some sober thinking. Emotions were running high right after we landed. Opinions voiced ran the gamut from, "You got away with it but you are pushing the edge of the envelope, taking too much risk!" Or "The guy we heard en route on the radio said today's forecast is typical for the Missoula area and people fly in this stuff all the time."

Maybe so. But Missoula on the ground is not the same as what it's like on the way. At least one of us cannot dismiss feeling scared over the mountains with a deck coming down and no place to land except a field 30 miles east with four more ridges to go.

The 172 gets tossed around a lot more than the Cardinal, which outweighs it by 800 pounds, and the Cherokee, which flies steady like a brick.

Once we landed, the FBO at Minuteman Aviation kindly arranged accommodation for us at the Ruby's Inn and CONVENTION CENTER (who knew?) which was hosting the final day of a long-weekend science fiction and fantasy convention. Most of the people with pointy ears and capes had departed; a half dozen folks were fencing alongside the creek out back, and the people selling dragon paraphernalia were an hour or so from closing up shop by the time we checked in. Bucky acquired a new friend. Judy picked up some free trash fiction abandoned on a convention's rummage table and actually bought a dragon of her own along with a CD of parody tunes and one of folk music with the irresistible title, "Never Set The Cat On Fire."

Bill and Dick hit the Mickey D's for lunch, Bob hit the hay, and Dick later noticed a fellow traveler who was toting some familiar looking charts. Turns out this guy and his wife were flying a Mooney from North Carolina coast to coast and back. "We left May 1st," the fellow recounted. We kinda hoped to catch up with him later to compare notes. It's been a heck of a ride.

Ruth researched some local attractions before looking for Judy and Janice, who had stopped short of the IHOP and picked a different place for lunch. Judy discovered that when the pool temperature is 82 degrees and the air is 69, it's actually VERY easy to get into the pool fast. She swam 150 laps, cheered on briefly by fellow pilots headed out for dinner, and promptly compensated for that. The idea of a dessert named Two Mile High anything seemed entirely appropriate given that it was an altitude we'd have really appreciated if we could have gotten there.

Over dinner, we had some candid conversation and recalled both highlights and lowlights. Ruth cheerfully pointed out all the things that had gone right: Bob got up early and reasonably docile; Bill, Dick and Bob prepped the flight plans, we were all breakfasted and checking out of the motel (so fast that several of us still have our motel room keys) by 7 am and at the airport by 8 am. "We checked with (airport manager and longtime area pilot) David Cheney, who gave us good advice: he said 'I always go north from Martin Airport, and if I don't like the weather much, I follow Snake River east." That was helpful advice.

"And we were all encouraged after we passed Lewiston when we heard that pilot on the advisory frequency who had been listening to us who said 8000 foot ceilings were normal around here," said Dick. "I was far less concerned about this leg of the flight than I was about flying the Columbia River Gorge. You could see forever under the cloud deck today."

Right. So long as there was any room between the deck and the peaks, sure you could.

"The briefer did NOT say 'VFR flight not recommended," said Bill Hughes. "And we only had about 20-30 minutes of light turbulence ..." apparently a far cry from the battering the group experienced between Tucumcari and Santa Fe. "I would do it again."

"I don't need this %%$#," I teach 2-3 days a week and I get enough excitement from my students," proclaimed Bob Hawkins. "But I would do it again -- the C2C, that is."

"I would do it again," said Dick Strock -- meaning both the day's trip AND the C2C.

"With the same people?" asked Janice.

"Weeeeell....." chorused the boys.

"I'd have the early crew and the late crew," suggested Dick.

"The next time, I wouldn't volunteer to fly the 172," said Bob, but then he relented. "I would take the 172 if I had a secret ballot where I got to pick my partner....and I wouldn't want it to be Bill or Dick. But it would be a student. I love teaching!"

Judy is mulling the day. She wanted to do this trip to get more experience with decision-making and weather. Would she have made this "go" decision if she had been flying on her own?

She asked Bob, sotto voce over dinner, "If we turned the clock back to this morning, and you didn't know what you do now, would you have launched?"

"No," he replied. "I wasn't happy. And I was prepared to turn around -- I knew we had enough gas to get back to Lewiston -- if things got much worse."

"So if I had said 'No go', you would have stayed put?" Judy probed.

"Yes."

Judy's still thinking hard about that.

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