Speed Bumps

Flying in Maine in February is really more like running the Iditarod than a quick jaunt to the airport to pull the plane out, preflight and go. Such was the flight I had set up with a friend of mine last week as we were to fly from Augusta to Bar Harbor in a Beech single. The weather looked good, the engine heater had been plugged in, but wait, when did they decide to install speed bumps in front of the hangers?!

Let me back up…did I mention that Maine (and much of northern New England) is in one of the top 10 snowiest winters in history? And on those occasionally rare days, where the temperature creeps above 32 F, the snow turns to water and then, you got it, back to ice in front of the hanger door whose roof it just fell from minutes ago. Hence, the speed bumps.

We were comparatively lucky however. The hanger we were in faces south, and therefore the H2O stayed in its liquid form longer and therefore had more of a chance to make it to the drains before freezing again. Those with northern facing hangers had bumps that looked more like K2 than speed bumps. However, ice is slick and no matter how much or little there is of it, when it’s perfectly formed in front of your hanger, and you don’t have on your cleats, it’s very hard to get enough traction to pull your fully fueled plane over the one inch ice mound. Thank goodness for cell phones- this allowed us a simple call to the FBO to have the tug come over to pull us out. (After it’s rough start from a cold and likely overused battery).

Once over the mound we thanked the tug operator and finished the preflight and started without a problem. The good news about cold clear air is that airplanes really perform as more of those closely packed molecules mean more lift, and we were off the runway before the first taxiway climbing at over 1000 fpm with 30 miles of unrestricted visibility.

Yes, winter flying can take more effort, time and patience, but really… who cares. Isn’t the fun of getting out and above our earth worth the extra effort? Life puts plenty of speed bumps in our way, but those smaller ones which can be easily overcome with a call for help make the ongoing journey well worth the wait. Pass the hot chocolate please; I think that’s Bar Harbor off the nose.