Posted by
The INFORMER (Cokie907@yahoo.com) on Sunday, October 25, 2009 5:01:32 PM
You wouldn't guess it by my intolerance for cold weather but there was a time when this "flyboy turned blogger" loved lake effect snow and cold temperatures. Early in this flying "career", my job with a contractor for Key Bank would take me to remote places most people probably never heard of like Watertown and Plattsburgh. This was back when the AFB was just being shut-down and the monstrous tower at Forestport still blinked away in the early morning sky. I would take off each morning at 0400 from Albany County (ALB) bound for Watertown (ART), a 50 minute flight in the venerable C-310(R).
Once I passed Gloversville, it got real lonely except for that "garden weed" blinking in the distance. After I passed Forestport, I knew I was more than halfway and so long as the icing didn't get too bad on my wings, I could make it across the Tug Hill Plateau, all the way to Watertown. A final check of the weather with Flight Service would tell me if an immediate divert was necessary to Oneida County off my left wing-tip. The weather was always the same, overcast, 1/2 mile visibility in blowing snow with a stiff northwesterly wind of 20 knots or so. "Who would ever live in a place like this..." I thought to myself as I told Boston Center that I had the weather.
I'd pass the prison to the southeast, glowing like a beacon beneath me and radio Brouty Air Service "Here comes Cokie, let the couriers know guys" and announce on the Unicom frequency "How's that runway looking down there? You plow it yet? I'm 10 out." Center would vector me for another "routine" ILS approach to runway 7 as the ice began to sling off of my props. Sounding like "little trolls" on the outside of my aircraft, each tap of their hammer reminded me to check my propeller de-icing and let just enough ice build up on my wings before "blowing the boots". Soon I was on final approach as I gave the "plow guys" one last reminder, "Cokie947 is on final, get clear of the runways, here I come!" Every approach and landing was a challenge at Watertown and it says something about this region.
Extreme Upstate NY is no place for sissys. It's a place for rugged individuals who get going when the going gets tough. I met plenty of people from the area during my flights not only to Watertown but to Potsdam, Ogdensburg and Plattsburgh. I even got to know one Clinton County resident really good. The former AFB commander and an FB-111 pilot, we used to share a drink or two at the hotel bar (with plenty of time bottle to throttle, mind you) and swap stories. This guy was one tough ole codger I tell you and we'd oftentimes talk about my favorite subject: Politics.
I'd like to think that Col. Ross McLean (USAF-ret.) and his downhome brethren would be supporting the conservative candidate Doug Hoffman in the special election for the U.S. House of Representatives this November 3rd. Hoffman epitomizes the ruggedness I spoke of earlier. The folks in the Tug Hill Plateau and beyond don't look to Washington for "bailouts" like the one Dede Scozzafava supported last January and rest assured, Hoffman won't be voting for ANY of them.
Hoffman knows what a regular, downhome "flyboy in the Smokies" knows. That the time for stopping the insanity in our Nation's Capital is NOW! The debt is massive, the Federal Government has pushed way past its Constitutional limitations and the rest of the world is now watching to see whether voters have the gumption to ACT. You can vote for more bail-outs, more socialism and more spending but that won't help your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. All it will do is make the eventual collapse of our country and its currency an inevitable outcome. Please pass this message along to someone in the 23rd district of NY and if you see Col. McLean, tell him one of his fellow "freight dogs" was talking about him. All good, of course.