The river ice from an 80 foot altitude. (Hot food after a chilly flight, click on this photo to reveal and support a great downtown restaurant)

The ice again from 20 feet overhead.

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          After several days of temperatures well below freezing, the Mississippi River has frozen over in St.Cloud. Absent of snowcover, it was a great opportunity to photograph and study the pattern of freezing on the river. The water on the East side of this portion of the river is generally last to freeze and first to thaw. Due to the uneven and unpredictable pattern of freezing river water, it is considerably dangerous to wander onto the river ice, especially under snowcover. It is notable that the white areas are not snow, but artifacts of the crushing ice formation.

          These images were gathered for science and safety, so I was not concerned with the nose wheel that drops into camera view. This particular airplane is the only one I use which takes off directly from the ground. Recently fitted with wheels to do video flights, it was last flown with skis during the winter of early 2009 to document the construction of the Granite City Crossing bridge

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