Ice over Altoona!

The forecast was for a clear day. But over Altoona, PA I was in the clouds and light rain at 5000 feet. I was watching my thermometer drop toward freezing, and before you knew it, I had accumulated a coating of rime ice. I called Pittsburgh approach & told them I was accumulating ice, I asked if I could climb out of the clouds. they gave me the ok and at 6500 I broke out. The ice did not sublimate until I reached Harrisburg, PA. I landed about 30 minutes later without any problems.

Our storage customers often run into unforecasted conditions with their storage hardware. Sometime it is because a new application takes up more storage then anticipated, sometimes it is a configuration issue. But when they call us for engineering help, our prime concern is to make certain that we can solve our customers problem quickly and then to stabilize their NetApp storage environment, and then we look at how to improve their storage to avoid the situation in the future.

Sometimes the forecast is wrong, but as long as you have an alternative solution, and a reliable ally you can make it through and land safely. This is true in computer storage and flying. This weekend the folks at the FAA’s Pittsburgh facility were able to help me through, and I sure appreciated their help!