163_fogged_in

The morning we were supposed to leave, the field was fogged it. And of course we didn't get an IFR departure reservation.

164_ready

We were all ready to leave, but had to wait a couple of hours for the field to go VMC.

165_lined_up

As soon as the ATIS reported visibilities better than 3 miles, it seems like every plane there started up. I suggested to Greg that we should wait for the crowds to die down, but Greg wanted to join the line.

166_nearly_off

After an hour in line up (and one fouled plug which I detected thanks to the GEM), we were ready to go. Unfortunately, because of the delay, our IFR clearance that we were supposed to pick up a GAYLE had timed out. But there was a huge line of thunderst

167_t28_fog_1

We stopped at Muskegeon to have a look at the weather radar. It turned out to be just as bad as it had looked in the air, and rapidly getting worse. I decided to stay overnight. Greg had an important meeting Monday morning, so he rented a car and left.

168_t28_fog_2

Fortunately I didn't need an IFR slot reservation to leave Muskegeon. So all I had to do was wait for the visibility to reach ILS approach minimums and off I went.

169_foggy_morning

Still waiting for good visibility. It only took a little while after this.

170_clouds_1

Mostly the first part of the trip was over foggy airfields (but I could see good VMC to the south) and Flint had planes holding over it, but there were these large build ups around London. I asked for 7,000 feet and easily topped them. Much better than

171_clouds_2

More build ups.