Surprise Jet Trip, Part Two

The controllers started stepping us down as we got closer to Boston, and we started to dip down into the cloud layers.

Goodbye, blue sky!

There were quite a few layers as we descended...

...even as they vectored us onto the final for the ILS for runway 22L.

A few miles out on the ILS. The airport is definitely out there...we just can't see it yet!

We came down out of the last of the clouds just a little bit above the ground...

...and were greeted with an awesome view of the airport and the city skyline.

Frank landed just fine on 22L, then started to taxi to the ramp. The tower rattled off a bunch of taxi instructions...

...but it was a piece of cake to follow them, thanks to the taxi diagram that pops up on the cockpit display.

The FBO sent a 'Follow Me' pickup truck to get us, and we followed them in to our spot on the ramp. We helped the passengers get unloaded, said goodbye, then headed in to the hang out in the FBO while they refueled us for the trip home.

I spent my free time eating the free warm chocolate chip cookies they had out on the counter.   :)

Frank settled up with the FBO, then it was time to head back home. The airplanes behind us might be bigger, but I think we look better!   :)

We started by calling up clearance delivery to pick up our clearance back to HWY. Frank loaded everything in the GPS...

...then it was time to taxi out for departure.

It was eventually our turn to Line Up And Wait on runway 22R. We sat there and watched as the Southwest 737 that departed just before us disappeared into the clouds, then began our own takeoff roll.

There was a pretty sweet view out my side of the plane on departure.   :)

Goodbye, Boston...it was nice to experience the airport from the other side of things! (Normally when I'm flying in here, it's commercially as a passenger, Mark and I are connecting somewhere international, and we're sprinting through the crappily designed terminals desperately trying to make our next flight. And yes, we actually missed one once!)

 It didn't take long for the clouds to fill in below us.

The controllers climbed us to 14,000 and left us there for a while, which wouldn't have been bad at all if that yellow stuff we were flying through wasn't full of continuous moderate turbulence. It was a pretty bumpy ride for a while, but they eventually let us climb higher and it smoothed out.

A few minutes later, we were above most of the clouds, and had a little bit of ice to show for it! It was crazy to watch that little streak of ice form down the windshield as we climbed.

Thankfully, the ride was really nice once we got above the weather. We settled in for the ride back down to VA.

Ahh, I could have stayed up here all day!

After a little while, the controllers started stepping us back down as we got closer to VA. A little bit north of the PA/MD state line, Frank asked if I'd like to fly for a bit. Of course I would!! He turned off the autopilot and I took the plane, throttles and all. After how all over the sky I was when he let me fly on the last trip, I was determined to do better, and I did. I even got some actual IFR as we descended down through the clouds!   :)

Frank let me fly it until we were pretty close to HWY, then he took the plane back to get set up for the approach. By then, we were below the clouds. The weather was a lot better than it had been when we left!

You could even see the mountains off in the distance.

Final for runway 15 at HWY.

Ta da - back in the hangar! It had been a really fun trip, and was really cool to see some actual weather, too. I'm really grateful that I got to go!