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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Jun 14, 2010
Description:
Shortly before the water balloon drop, Carol phoned to say that a surprise line of thunderstorms had popped up to the west and was moving eastward fast. (Matt tried to warn us too, but couldn't get through.) If we didn't hurry we'd be cut off from KFCI. No problem, we said. We'd just head a bit east, passing over two airports on the way to Tommy's place on the James River, and then if the sky looked good enough we'd turn northwest and fly up the river to home and then the last 20 miles back to KFCI.
Well. No problem getting to Tommy's. No problem getting to the house. But the sky was VERY dark in the direction of FCI. We decided to give it a try.
Flying in the clear and toward the afternoon sun, we couldn't see anything in the shadow of the storm. It was completely black there until we got into the shadow ourselves, and then we could see the field clearly.
At about 8 miles out we hit the wind from the storm and got bounced around more than Chris had been bounced since he was a baby on his father's knee. He said he and a camera and a few other things floated up, and he understood then what I had meant by 'Get your seatbelt really tight.'
Past the turbulence the air smoothed out somewhat. We could see rain on three sides of the airport, but the field itself was in a bright spot, almost as if a spotlight were shining on it.
At 3.5 miles the AWOS said 'Wind 280 at 21, peak gusts 29.' That was a bit ominous because the only runway is 15-33.
Just as I was mulling over the possibilities, three bolts of lightning struck the field simultaneously. No more mulling. I did a 180 and we headed back to the house.
We landed on the water well out from land, where the wind was a bit more steady and step-taxied toward the house, lowered the wheels, and powered up onto the beach.
It took us a while to get the tail turned in toward the bank because it was high tide and the dry sand was soft. Just as we began tying thawing down, the wind and rain arrived.
We dashed up to the house for dry clothes and Carol's hot stew.
(Yes, those are deer tracks in the sand.)
Date Taken:
Jun 14, 2010
Place Taken:
Jordan Point, James River, VA
Owner:
Don Maxwell
File Name:
IMG_0485.jpg - Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZQF20000h">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZQF20000m">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZQF20000s">
Category:
23, Max Pix
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Read what others had to say:
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Don Maxwell - Jun 14,2010
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Odd. The wing in this shot looks like it's twisted clockwise. It wasn't in reality, though.
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Don Maxwell - Jun 14,2010
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[Sorry, Scott. I had to delete the photo you replied to because it was out of order, and there's no way to replace a photo with another in the Photos section.]<br /><br />Scott Peters - Jun 14, 2010   Edit | Delete | Viewers | Reply to this item<br />   <br />That wind was strong.   I was in the truck on Route 10 and got blown around, I couldn't imagine what it did to you two.   The weather alert said it was moving at 60 mph.   Glad you made it home safely.<br />
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