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After sitting awhile, with the snow drifting down on the airplane, we start thinking if we stay put here much longer, we will need to get the airplane de-iced. You have to be careful when you pull a warm airplane out of a heated hangar and park it out in the snow, as the snow can melt on the warm wing surface, then re-freeze, often being hard to see. Although there is a de-ice truck parked nearby, we would rather not use it as it is very expensive, probably between $750 and $1,000. It would also leave a messy film of deicing fluid all over our nicely polished “new” airplane. While we are debating our options in this regard, our passenger shows up, helps himself to coffee and settles in one of the very comfortable leather passenger seats.
Tim and l look at each other trying to figure out who will be the lucky one to exit the aircraft and inspect for ice. Un- fortunately, I have a hat and he doesn’t, which becomes the determining factor. I climb back out in the blowing snow, do a careful walk around and not finding any worrisome ice, I jump back in and quickly close the door.
With the APU running, the engine starters each promptly light up in spite of the fact the intakes are not facing into the prevailing wind as you would normally want them to be. Once everything is run- ning, we shut down the APU, get our IFR clearance and notify ground control we would like to minimize any ground delay due to potential ice accumulation. She seems to be well versed with this issue and immediately clears us to Runway 35 via the nearby Alpha taxiway. We roll down the taxiway working our way through the pre-takeoff checklist, find- ing that some switches are not where we expect them to be. It also turns out that the FMS in this particular airplane will not automatically calculate take-off speeds, which sends us scrambling into the f light manual behind the seat.
While we are doing this, the helpful controller in the tower calls while we are still on the ground control frequency and clears us for takeoff, but adds that there is inbound airline traffic some five miles out – her polite way of saying “hurry it up.” Yikes, professional pilots as a mat- ter of training and habit avoid situations
where they feel rushed, but that is how we are starting to feel. Luckily, with two people in the front, we get the numbers out of the book and complete the “line up” checklist just as we pull the airplane onto the runway. We stop there for five seconds making sure we have completed everything then add power.
With the airplane light, the conditions cold and the wind blowing straight down the runway at 25 knots, acceleration through V1 and Vr is almost immediate. Following our departure clearance, we make a 50-degree turn heading 300 and are in the clouds and snow climbing through 10,000 feet at more than 4,000 fpm when we are switched to the center frequency. In reply to our first call, the center controller immediately clears us to FL410 and direct to KBVS – some 1,300 nm to the west. When we activate the NAV switch on the autopilot/FMS control panel, the airplane makes a 3-degree turn to the right to compensate for winds that are slightly from the north then heads straight for home. What a pleas- ant surprise, weather factors aside, that there are some real advantages to flying
Specialized Aero
Arizona Type Rating
34 • TWIN & TURBINE
March 2019