I'm checking the weather and what I see scares me a bit. It's winter and I'm heading North for many legs. My general idea is to reach the Kuril Islands and cross them towards Kamchatka and Alaska. In December-January... difficult challenge. I could switch to IFR, but I give priority to VFR, so we will see.
By now, I accept a couple of cargo jobs, one to Mutsu, at the North of Honshu, and another to Hakodate, at the South of Hokkaido. I decided to fly both of them on the same leg, making a short stop at Mutsu to deliver the first cargo and refill fuel, then continuing to Hakodate.
However, the weather is becoming worse as I move North. And predictions are not good. If I fly over the clouds, let's say at FL175 or 195, I'll face crosswinds of up to 90 kt, plus I might lost the contact with the ground. If I fly below the clouds, under FL100, winds will be softer but humidity too high and temperature too low, plus it's raining and snowing in some areas.
So, after thinking carefully, I decided to take off, since on the following days the weather will be even worse, but I'll follow a longer route along the East coast instead of following a more direct route. By doing this I plan to avoid storms and heavy snow. We'll see.
I take off very early in the morning, since it will be a long flight. Initially I head North, towards Lake Inawashiro, keeping an altitud right below the pressure limit of 10,000 ft.
At this point I decide to turn towards the coast. Clouds are still a bit far, but I want to visit Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant, that suffered the disaster of the Tsunami in 2011.
From here, I followed the coast constantly, modifying my heading and altitude to avoid clouds. After Sendai, another famous city that became seriously damaged during the Tsunami, weather became much worse and I had to focus carefully on how to deal with it. Icing was a huge issue during this flight, in which I had to set the anti-ice systems for much longer than usual. OAT was -20 ºC, so keeping the plane warm was a bit challenging. There were also rain storms nearby that I was tracking with the radar and carefully avoiding.
And things would become more interesting at Hachinohe, where the ground started to be covered by snow and the ceiling of clouds setting very low. The landscape was awesome, making a great approach to land at Mutsu.
After delivering the cargo and refueling, I took off fast, in case weather became worst. However, this area was much better and I flew towards Hakodate, leaving behind Honshu and stopping for the first time at Hokkaido island.
What a leg, long and tricky because of the weather. I really want to reach the Kuril islands soon, since predictions are not good for the next weeks. Let's see if I find decent jobs over Hokkaido, otherwise I'll fly directly to the last nippon airport of the Tour.
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KORIYAMA FUKUSHIMA-DAIICHI SENDAI COAST HACHINOHE RJSO OMAZAKI SHIOKUBIMISAKI
RJAH 281500Z 04001KT 9999 FEW020 M01/M01 Q1020
RJCH 281000Z 01003KT 9999 FEW030 BKN170 M01/M05 Q1021
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