A Solid Plan Gone Awry

Almost Succumbing to “get-there-itis”

- Steven R. Deignan-Schmidt

Flying is the only magazine I subscribe to. I always make a point of reading each issue front to back, although sometimes out of order, and I’m always eager to read the stories in the I Learned about Flying from That column. Now I have my own story to tell of a recent adventure — or rather, misadventure — that involved flying a Piper Cherokee 140 to Brunswick, Maine, on business from my home airport in Groton, Connecticut. I learned many lessons on this flight.

The first was never to take a two-day forecast at face value. I had decided two days in advance against a morning departure for my trip because the forecast was bad. I noticed midmorning the day of my trip that the weather was great and would have permitted a morning departure if only I’d left earlier. I had succumbed to tunnel vision. As a result, I was stuck with my original plan of departing in the evening after an approaching cold front cleared the area.

I was feeling antsy when I departed Groton at around 5:30 p.m. I had planned for a handful of alternates in the days leading up to my flight. In the event I couldn’t make it to my destination of Brunswick Executive Airport (KBXM), which I knew had taxi service available until 1 a.m., I could land in Portland, Maine, and take a bus, cab or train (or rent a car). Another option would be to land in Auburn, Maine, and take a cab. I felt as though I was giving myself plenty of options.