N172DR - C172R - 1.9 hours
Since I was still pretty excited to be back in the air, I called my friends to see if they'd like to join in a quick flight down to Charlottesville (CHO). After coordinating schedules, we met up at the airport and headed south to CHO. On the ride down, my friend Matt sat up front and picked out landmarks as we flew over, while my other good friend Christina sat in the back, laughing at our commentary and providing some of her own. As we got closer to CHO, I listened in to the weather, and checked in with the tower. Tower cleared me straight in to land on runway 21. After taxiing off, I parked the plane at Landmark Aviation and got out so that we could make a quick trip into town for dinner.
As Christina and Matt were getting out, and I was making sure the plane was all situated (didn't leave the battery on and so on), a Citation Excel rolled up and out stepped a tall guy with some small instrument case.
"Is that Dave Matthews?"
 |
| The Crew Car |
From afar, I'm not sure what exactly made us think it was him, but it definitely looked like him. Sitting at the airport in Charlottesville, which is apparently where he lives, it would fit. After we got over the initial questioning back and forth, we walked inside to pick up the crew car. Sure enough, Dave Matthews was standing there at the counter, waiting for a car of his own. Oddly - or at least 'oddly' to those not expecting it - he struck up a little conversation about flying. To him, flying with the airlines isn't as fun as flying the smaller stuff, though he'd never been in something
that small (
that being a reference to our little 172), but it looks like fun. I debated offering to take him up sometime, but I chickened out (so, Dave, if you read this, post a comment and we'll figure it out - haha). After he headed out, we grabbed the crew car and were off for burgers at a place called Timberwood Grill.
Put simply, the burger there was one of the best I've had.
After the dinner, we made our way back to the airport, checked the car back in, filed a flight plan back into the SFRA, and were off. The flight back was pretty uneventful. Christina took command of the front this time, while Matt had to sit back. At some point, Matt pointed out Montpelier, where he worked for at least part of college, but little else other than highways provided landmarks along the route. All in all, a good flight.
Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 1.9 - 18.2 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0 - 3.5 (of 40)
