As sometime occurs with my flights the intentions are to go one place, but in the end you go where the weather takes you. Oddly enough, the reason I'm trying to fly so much recently is to work towards a rating that would help me avoid the weather issue. In any case, despite a nice forecast, the weather this morning was pretty low and hazy. Every weather station in the area, and those as far away as Charlottesville (CHO), Baltimore (BWI) and Martinsburg (MRB), reported low clouds that would just about prevent me from flying.
To a certain degree, it was somewhat of a sendoff, as my boss Jason (of the Bridgewater trip fame), and his wife Vanessa will be moving out of the country at the end of the week. The original plan was to try to pull off what I did on my last flight, but fly into BWI this time. BWI has a smaller runway that's really only used for smaller planes so I wouldn't be too much of a pest trying to fly in. Unfortunately, I don't exactly have connections there like I do at Dulles, so the ramp and landing fee would've been around $80. Added to that was the fact that the ceiling (lowest broken or overcast cloud level to the ground) this morning was at 900 feet. Needless to say, I quickly tossed that idea out.
Martinsburg's weather showed the most hope with a high ceiling and some low spotty clouds, and the terminal aerodrome forecast (TAF) supported that, with that weather eventually heading towards Dulles. That in mind, Jason and I looked west for a few spots just so we could go flying before he leaves. In the end, we decided on Winchester (OKV) and Front Royal (FRR). Winchester is an airport I'm familiar with, so if the weather didn't improve, finding it wouldn't be as bad as finding an airport I hadn't been to before, and it's relatively clear of mountains (at least more so than the other airports I fly to). I added FRR to keep it interesting, since I'd never been there before, and it was still pretty close to home if the weather didn't live up to expectations.
It seemed as if everyone saw that the weather was improving and jumped at the chance to get up and out, so we joined a line of aircraft ready to depart. Luckily, we were number two in a line of four or five. As usual for a Runway 17 departure, we turned west as soon as possible in order to avoid busting the corner of the SFRA, but this time we just headed directly to OKV. The Class B airspace kept us low initially, but the clouds ended up keeping us low in the end. As we crossed over Blue Mountain, I brought up the old joke that IFR really stood for "I Follow Roads," as we were essentially following Route 7 all the way. Getting closer to OKV, I attempted to call in a position report, but had forgotten I was still listening in to the MANNE sector of Potomac Approach. Since that was the active comm frequency, I ended up transmitting my location and intention to Potomac, who was slightly caught off guard by the remark. Being me, I apologized, took a jab at myself, and ended with "hey, April Fools, right?" Humoring me, the controller responded "yeah you got me good there," and off I went.
The landing wasn't too bad, but I'll let the video speak for me.
If you turn the volume up on the video, you can probably hear me ask Jason if we were going to stop in Winchester to do anything, or if we were just going to head back out. Because we all had plans after the flying, we opted to just continue on to FRR and then home so we weren't rushed. After taxiing back we departed Runway 32, climbed over Interstate 81, and then headed southeast to FRR. Since it's a short flight, I switched directly from OKV's common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) to FRR's CTAF. As soon as I tuned it in, I could hear a glider pilot coordinating with a tow plane which wasn't too comforting. I don't have anything against gliders, but they're higher in the pecking order, so I have to stay out of their way. They're also frequently white, which doesn't contrast too well with clouds. We ended up spotting the glider circling well above pattern altitude when we were a few miles out so it wasn't too much of an issue in the end.
I entered on a right 45 for Runway 28, turned in slightly early and ended up high on the approach. Despite the runway's shorter length compared to the runways at most of the airports I fly to, the high approach didn't cause any trouble. The landing actually turned out pretty nice, though it was my signature flat landing. You can hear it in the video as all three wheels make contact at about the same time. You can also see the approach path alignment panels (APAP) to the left of the runway, which you may remember I talked about in one of my posts about Luray (W45). I laugh at them every time, but they're effective enough. In all, the flight took 12 minutes.
Whenever I fly, I make it a point to avoid doing anything that would scare passengers, or make them even more uneasy than they already are. I try to make turns shallower, transition from level to climbs and descents more gradually, and so on. One of the first things to go is the short field takeoff that I occasionally do, just to keep things interesting. I didn't it at JYO because it was the first time Vanessa flew with me, and I didn't want that to start things off on the wrong foot. At OKV I didn't do it because it wasn't necessary. At FRR, however, it wasn't entirely necessary, but it wouldn't hurt, so off we went. For the record, yes, I know I drag out the ground effect acceleration longer than I need to, compared to the 'proper' procedure. If I was really pressed for space, I'd climb out at the proper speed, but in this case I wasn't too pressed for space.
After departing, Jason flew the last leg back into JYO with a little guidance from me on how to get there. The clouds kept us low again, but it wasn't a big issue. As we were getting closer I attempted to call JYO's CTAF, but I was still on Potomac's frequency again, having just sent them a pilot report (PIREP) about the weather for a flight going into Martinsburg (MRB). For the second time in an hour, I called Potomac like it was a CTAF. I shook my head a bit, as I'm sure the controller did a little as well, and switched over to JYO CTAF to let them know I'd be arriving in the pattern shortly. Closer in, I took over the controls and maneuvered north of the field, entered the left 45 for Runway 17, landed and taxied in.
Despite my frequency issue, it was a great flight. While I didn't make any progress towards my instrument rating, it was still nice to be able to go flying with a pilot friend (and company) who won't be able to fly for a while.
Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0 - 50.4 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0 - 4.9 (of 40)
