HFD Takeoff in the Rain & Fog

Takeoff from our home airport at Hartford Brainard to begin our 3-day Sky Trip from Connecticut to Grand Cayman.

We flew from Hartford, CT to Charleston, SC on the first day, then from Charleston to Key West, FL on the second day, and Key West to Grand Cayman on the last day. The first day was by far the hardest... we had 50-55 knot headwinds and had to keep dodging a huge line of storms all the way down the coast. Ran into hard rain and turbulence 3 or 4 times and every landing had turbulence and wind shear. It was exciting!

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• airplane
• private
• pilot
• piper
• cherokee
• warrior
• takeoff
• hartford
• brainard
• HFD
• IFR
• rain
• fog
• instrument
• flight
• rules
• sky
• trip

[shooteraod]

There are times to go flying and there are times to stay on the ground...especially in a puddle-jumper

[lpetix]

@shooteraod True, but there are also times to appreciate that you have the training, experience, and equipment (satellite weather receiver) to handle flying through weather. Since this was the first leg of a 3-day journey from Hartford, CT to Grand Cayman, it was worth it, and once we got past the storm the rest of the trip was easy.

[shooteraod]

@lpetix I am a retired pilot with 32 years and 16,000+ hours...still current with an ATP and types, but I understand what you are saying. Its just that I would have never left in a rain storm like this in a single engine...trip or no trip. Remember the saying...there are Bold pilots and there are OLD pilots...but there are NO OLD BOLD pilots. Keep the wheels on the bottom and have safe trips.

[lpetix]

@shooteraod Thanks! I respect that and appreciate your comment.

[buffwhimp104]

ifr inside that cessna ... its 2 ft vis ..haha

[lpetix]

@buffwhimp104 It's a Piper Cherokee, but yeah. :-)

[1013fly]

That's not fog.. just need to turn the defroster on! LOL I guess in those conditions it doesn't really matter since your LOW IFR anyway. Nice video. KHFD is my base.

[mikepeavler]

I have to agree with Ipetix...If you current and comfortable flying IFR...and in an equiped airplane, I don't see the harm in Flying IFR. Stratus clouds and rain are really no big deal if you don't have to deal with Ice IMO. I would have tried to get the glass a bit cleaner b4 takeoff but, cameras can't show the true big picture.

[350tranZam]

awsome i just got back today from a vfr flight from 1b1 to hardford and then back. we had 10 mile vis and cruised at 6500

[cessnan121pp]

IFR day at Hartford. Wow. I wish I could do something like this...I fly at Hartford =)