Greetings from the Arctic.

It should be no surprise that the weather is very poor in Michigan this time of year. I spent four winters in Lafayette, Indiana which is not that far south compared to here, but the difference in temperature and precipitation is significant. Almost everyday this past week we have had some snowfall. A major storm hit on Friday dumping 11 inches or more around the area. This was on top of several inches that were already on the ground. This storm provided a rare cancellation of class at SMAT. While I don't mind missing a day or two of class I was looking forward to a special presentation that had to be cancelled. A new Cirrus composite aircraft was flying in for us to take a look at. It has an advanced next generation flight deck that I find interesting. We should be able to reschedule in the future.

We had a brief reprieve on Saturday from the weather. This gave everyone the opportunity to come to the SMAT Christmas party. It was held in our hanger in Ionia, and good times were had all around.

True to form, the weather made a sharp turn for the worse again today. Here is the weather report for the local area:

Now
Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 10am Monday... Recent trends from the latest Doppler radar imagery indicates the snowfall intensity has decreased somewhat over the last several hours. Light to moderate snow showers can be expected through 2pm...with 1 to 2 inches possible. However...even with lighter snow showers falling...wind gusts in the 30 to 40 mph range with even higher gusts will be blowing and drifting the newly fallen snow around and creating very hazardous conditions on the roads. Visibilities may be reduced to a quarter mile or less at times... with brief whiteout conditions possible. These winds will also be producing very low wind chills in the 10 to 20 below zero range. Needless to say...traveling should be avoided today and venturing outdoors is not advised.

So I guess I am not going anywhere today. The only destination I had today was to go to Church but even that was cancelled as several more inches of snow fell today. It is 10 degrees outside now and the forecast high tomorrow is 13 degrees. The good news is that I am heading home for Christmas in just a few days where it should be a little warmer and maybe I can get some flying done. Here are a few shots out my window today.

Turkey/Snow Bowl

The first semi-annual SMAT Turkey/Snow Bowl was held just before Thanksgiving between students here at the Ionia airport. Teams of 8 met on the designated field for the showdown of the year. What would have otherwise been a mundane day of class erupted into a fierce challenge against each other and the elements. Indeed the elements would prove to be a worthy opponent. It was 35F on this Michigan afternoon, with a stiff 30 MPH north northwest wind that swept across the snow covered playing field. From the photos below you can see that the entire field was covered in a wet snowy slushy mess. It was unbelievably slick and the ability to maneuver quickly was non existent. Nevertheless, the players met on the field, ready of battle.


As rain and sleet fell from the sky the ball was kicked off and the mayhem began. Our team proved to have an able defense, and we repeatedly prevented the opposing team from reaching the goal line. However, quality offensive plays eluded us. Despite the cold and wind no one went inside early. The sight of 16+ grown men using an empty snow covered field to become dirty and hurt on a Tuesday afternoon right in the middle of town attracted some attention from motorists and onlookers. Some of the international students had their first run in with "American Football", and they proved to be fast learners.

The difficult elements, and an untimely interception, gave the other team the advantage at the end of play. Nevertheless, everyone had a good time. Extracurricular activities like this help to develop team building and networking skills which are big reasons why we all came to SMAT. What began as a Turkey bowl turned into a Snow bowl and now everyone is looking forward to the next big showdown on the grass here in Ionia county.

Players prepare for action.

An overly enthusatic player.

Ionia county has never seen talent like this before.

Here in Michigan we have been snowed in for over two weeks. The temperature has not been above freezing since Thanksgiving. This weekend holds some hope of widespread temperatures in the 40's and a general melting of most of the snow and ice on the ground.


The Saturday before Thanksgiving the weather was pretty nice. After flying with a student in the morning I decided to keep up my practice flying tailwheel aircraft. The School has a Cessna 152 that is a tailwheel aircraft. After flying and obtaining my tailwheel endorsement over the summer I have been looking for more opportunities to build tailwheel aircraft time. I will include a photo of a similar Cessna 152 to the one I was flying below. My goal was to practice landings in this frequently tricky to land aircraft on the grass adjacent to the paved runway at the Ionia airport.


After almost an hour of landing practice I was on final approach at about 60 knots airspeed and all was well. I let the aircraft down gently on the main landing gear and held the tail of the aircraft off the ground for a second or two. At this point the Cessna was rolling over the grass at about 40 knots and rapidly slowing to a stop. This is a critical point in the landing process because a tailwheel aircraft is particularly susceptible to a phenomenon known as a ground loop at this speed. A ground loop is an uncontrolled spin on the ground. It is similar to an accidental donut in your car, however, in an aircraft they frequently result in expensive damage.


It was at this critical, vulnerable moment when the otherwise graceful aircraft is quite awkward on the ground that something caught my eye just to my left out the window. A DEER was running right at my airplane! It would have hit my aircraft and could have sent me skidding out of control but at the last second the Deer made a sharp turn and began running WITH my airplane at about 40 M.P.H. I was shocked. The Ionia airport is very close to a dense residential and commercial area, but deer sightings were not infrequent around the airport. However, one had never run right up to my airplane before. Across the country deer vs. plane events are rare but often result in catastrophic damage.


The animal edged closer. It was underneath my wing. Its head was inches from contacting the lower corner of my flap which was down for landing. Its feet were almost rubbing against my landing gear. In a flash I pushed forward on the yoke to keep the tail heavy aircraft from settling on the ground and having the flap hit the deer. In the same second I pushed the throttle all the way forward in a desperate bid for more airspeed and control. I yanked back on the control yoke at a speed that was probably a little too low for normal lift off but I needed altitude no matter what. The laws of physics were on my side. Ground Effect reduces drag for an aircraft very low to the surface of the earth. By very low I mean only about within 10 feet of the surface. I took advantage of this and popped the aircraft up a few feet off the ground. It is not recommend by Cessna to take off with full flaps. They are only used for landing. However, I had no time to reach for the flap handle in my haste to avoid a crash. Full flaps add a great deal of lift at a low airspeed but they also increase drag significantly. Ground Effect helps to minimize this problem briefly but I had to be careful not to over rotate and have a takeoff stall which would led to an even worse crash.


By the Grace of God the Deer slid right under my landing gear. I could almost swear that my left tire brushed to top of the deer’s back or head as it ran on. That animal is capable of great bursts of speed. After squeezing past me, the deer headed straight for some corn a few dozen yards away. My heart was in the throat. My stomach had dropped out. Adrenaline and kicked into high gear. I still had to fly the airplane. After a normal traffic pattern, a warning over the local radio frequency, and a very carefully final approach I landed with out incident. Not to have my confidence shaken I made a few more trips around the airport, always looking for any animals making an unauthorized runway incursion. This entire deer event only took about 5 seconds but it seemed much longer than that.


Should I have slammed on my brakes? I think not. The distance between my propeller and the ground is not much and a slam on the brakes is a good way to have a propeller strike in a tailwheel aircraft. The brakes are not anti-locking and braking action is average at best on grass. Perhaps most importantly, if I had stopped the aircraft suddenly the Deer may have kept on running a head of where it was parallel to the cockpit and into the propeller. The mess that would have created would have been beyond description.


I try to teach the people I fly with to turn the carburetor heat control to off or cold shortly before landing. Many people don't do this out of habit but with carburetor heat applied engine performance is robbed especially in an emergency go around situation as outlined above. You want as much climb ability as you can have if you have to do a sudden go around and inches matter.


Finally, I am writing a letter to the officials in charge of the Ionia County Airport requesting that something be done about the deer over population around the airport. We will see what, if any, action this brings. Below you will find my highly technical and detailed drawing I created of the incident. Don't laugh it took weeks in Windows Paint.


JMG

Greetings from Michigan!

Today is the first of December and I have several interesting stories and projects to share. Recently I was able to purchase a new tool box to hold my small but growing collection of hand tools. It is nothing amazing but I will include a photo below.

Through school work we have been making a number of tools ourselves. A spark plug box which offered riveting experience. A beading tool which helps bend a non-flexible line in fluid lines and fittings class. We machined a tap holder to help put threads in a project. One of the most functional items we have put together is a multimeter for our electric projects. Volts, amps and ohms of resistance can all be measured with this common yet useful tool. The multi-meter was particularly helpful during our group electric projects. We put together an electrical board which included a functional radio and "surround sound" speakers. We had to assemble and mount a long list of items which included a starter magneto, volt meter, a rheostat, circuit breakers, a push-to-test light and navigation lights. It took about two weeks of daily work to bring all this to a functional conclusion from random spare parts. Photos below.

Welding and fabric are our current major projects, and I am finding both require skills I do not yet posses. Despite the difficulty in making a quality weld or a respectable looking fabric job it is a great learning process.

My tool box.

Our electrical board.




Busy in the lab.


Look for updates regarding my deer near miss (maybe the story of the year) and the annual SMAT Turkey/Snow bowl football game in the near future. Stay posted.