Leg 12 - Joplin (JLN) to Hays, Kansas (HYS) - started great, but that soon changed

 At some point I must have really pissed off the aviation weather gods. I'm not sure how or when, but this trip clearly shows it to be true.

I had such hope as I launched out of Joplin around 9:30 this morning. It was already warm under the bubble canopy as I climbed into a fairly calm and cloudless sky.

Clear skies climbing out of Joplin

 The forecast along the route was mostly clear skies and mild winds. However, there were a few intermediate airports reporting scattered clouds at 2200 feet. I initially leveled off at 4500 feet but it was too warm so I climbed up to cooler air at 6500. 

The air was calm, the cockpit comfortable, and the visibility was good. The ADSB (which allows most aircraft to see me on their gps) was fired up and I decided to pass on flight following and listen to a book on tape.

I started a Jack Reacher novel and relaxed back in my seat. Now THIS was the kind of flying I had in mind! Only minor corrections on the stick, lots of landing options below, and no traffic or clouds to worry about. I was finally in pilot-heaven and life was good. Three hours of this and I would have an short day of flying and the afternoon to relax. 

But, of course, the aviation weather gods were just screwing with me. Somewhere up above a big, fat, bloated, sentient being was gleefully planning to wreak havoc on my sunny day. 

He did not wait long. Soon an unforecast band of broken clouds began to drift in my direction. They were only a few hundred feet thick with bases around 3500 feet. No problem, I'll just stay up high and keep a sharp watch that they don't close up on me and trap me on top. Well, now I was a little less relaxed.

Only a few minutes later and I realized the broken layer was filling in to a solid overcast. Crap! There was a hole to my left so I pulled power and set the nose into a steep dive in order to get through it before it closed up. Almost too late I realized the airspeed was approaching redline! I quickly pulled back power, and increased the pitch slightly, to slow the damn thing down. 

As I dove below the cloud deck I was dismayed to see how the visibility had dropped significantly. The moisture trapped below the clouds created a heavy haze in the air. And of course it was turbulent. 

"Here we go again, dammit!", I thought. 

So much for my relaxed flight. Once again, no part of the rest of this flight was going to be enjoyable. This kind of flying is stressful, unpleasant, and just sucks.

Crappy, bumpy, poor visibility under the cloud deck

Somehow I need to appease the aviation weather gods. I'm thinking of sacrificing a goat under a full moon while standing naked on a mountain top...

Part of my pre-flight planning had identified some very tall towers along my route of flight for today. They reached up to 2500 feet. Now I was trapped under a 3500 foot cloud base, dipping up and down in the turbulence. I now had to worry about slamming into a tower! Did I mention this was not fun?

I tried to calm myself by focusing on altitude control, and avoiding the towers shown on the GPS. It as only another 45 minutes to my destination and then this ordeal would be over. 

Well, not really. The worst was yet to come. And I swear I am not making any of this up, or even exaggerating.

At 35 miles from Hays Airport I punched in the Automated Surface Observation System frequency to get the wind and altimeter setting for the airport.

"Hays airport automated weather, wind 340 at 24 knots gusting to 30 knots...," that's all I heard. WTF? In thirty years of flying I have never landed in a 30 knot wind. And the wind was not aligned with the runway. "F word, F word, F word".

I may need to sacrifice two goats, and a couple of chickens....

I decided I was going to make this a straight-in approach. Normally this is considered rather poor form, and inconsiderate to other pilots. I didn't care. I wanted the long straight-in to get a feel for the wind and how my tiny plane was going to react and respond to this extreme wind. 

To be clear, a 30 knot wind (about 35 mph) is not extreme for a larger plane, but in my light-weight, light sport, aircraft it's a very big deal. This is especially true for me because I've never flown in these conditions. 

As I flew down the final approach a downdraft slammed my head into the canopy. It didn't hurt but it surprised the hell out of me. As I get closer to the runway I try to side-slip to adjust for the right crosswind while using the rudder to keep the nose aligned with the runway. It sort of worked and I managed to plant the airplane on the runway under some kind of control. I'm not sure if I was flying the plane or just holding on for dear life.

A line guy came out and directed me to park next to a very cool jet. 

It took both of us holding the canopy, to keep it from flying away, as I climbed out.

Safely on the ground at Hays airport

Anyone know where I can buy a couple of goats and some chickens?