ADVERTORIAL
5000 PLACES The allure of aviation is the freedom it affords those who take to the sky. With over 5000 airports dotting the American countryside, I have learned that adventure is just a short flight away. But adventure has morphed over the years as my age, and by default my grey hair, has granted me wisdom lest seat of your pants adventure. My wisdom has led me to understand that to truly enjoy the adventure that flying is, I must protect my aircraft. An aircraft allows one to see parts of the country that are remote and unseen by the majority of the population. Early morning flights over the great lakes with only inky black below and the hazy break of dawn dimming the stars, or low flights over the crevices that scar the southwestern countryside, these are images that General Aviation pilots are privy to. But without the knowledge that your aircraft was maintained and protected at each destination an adventure could be cut short or simply not happen. In December of 1978 I headed to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Ironwood, for a ski vacation with my family. I was fortunate to have a father who flew and taught me to fly. He and a friend had dropped the family Bonanza (1956 G) in Madison so that I could join them after classes Friday and take my then girlfriend with me for the weekend. The plan was to be reversed after the weekend as I was to take the plane back to Madison on Sunday. This is the plane I had grown
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up with and earned my instrument ticket with; I thought I knew this airplane. Friday afternoon we took off and stopped in Stevens Point to pick up my sister, then on to Ironwood. In my early years as a pilot I didn’t have the wherewithal to park a borrowed plane in a hangar to avoid the winter wind and blowing snow. The Bonanza was always hangared at the home base in Waukesha. Instead, on this trip, I left it tied down on the ramp for two days while I enjoyed skiing. Late Sunday afternoon we returned to the airport for the flight back again. The weather had deteriorated and snow was flying. The plane was iced over from the wet weather of the previous few days. To our best efforts, we could not get the plane to start and had we been able to, de-icing was a major concern to get our Bonanza in the sky. The local FBO had a Piper Warrior that I was able to rent, but even that plane was not under cover and only slightly more protected from the weather. In, now lightly, snowing conditions
