Hak's TWC PIREP
N° 10


Relocation from CYOD to Grist Lake, Sunday 9 February 2003

It was one of these days... Victoria had already packed our stuff and we were all set to relocate from the noisy COYD area (too many jets screaming over our heads, in my humble opinion) towards the relaxing, peacefull Grist Lake district.

Shortly after 16:00, the Waterpipe us two were ready to lift off. We had a frosty -13°C with light winds (up to 8 kts), overcast and light snow. Not exactly my preferred METAR... but we definitely wanted to take the time of at Grist Lake, and we had to go now - before duty calls at Red Lake.

So, we took off into the grey sky... always looking around us in fear of being run over by one of these hot rods with their flying tin cans...



After approx. 16 minutes of smooth flight (I always wonder how much the Waterpipe's engine noise can be reduced in cruise settings), I called Grist Lake approach and got a "clear to land, approach at your choice" - only we couldn't see any trace of Grist lake yet. I always get a bit nervous on visual approaches when I can's see the runway at least 10 miles ahead of the final approach point... but finally, around 8 nm away from Grist Lake, we saw the blue waters popping up in the windshield, and we prepared to land.




Powering up the engine, dropping gear and setting flaps, we prepared for the final visual approach. At that moment, we both were too busy to notice anything beyond the runway...




The landing itself was safe and ok for the given weather conditions, but I was utterly surprised by the icy runway. I thought gravel runways never get that slippery... so I found myself pulling and pushing the stick like a horse, just to keep the Waterpipe on the runway until we slowed down enough to leave it.
Finally, I parked the Waterpipe near the hangar, when we were surrounded by a crowd that looked pretty excited and agitated... read on more in the mission briefings at the crew scheduler, Campaign "Black Threat"

Clear sky!
Hak