At first, my old college roommate and I were supposed to head up to State College (UNV) on Wednesday so I could head out to a new place and get some hood time. That ended up getting scrapped because the weather was less than ideal. Then, on Friday, I was supposed to head out with Ashley on a flight similar to our flight a month ago, but her job got in the way. Life and weather both happen, so you work the hand you were dealt. The tease of flying got under my skin though, so I was going flying with or without someone else in the right seat.
Similar to my last flight, I had a couple destinations in mind. To the west, I picked out Grant County (W99) because it's a quick trip and it's surrounded by mountains. To the east, I picked out Bay Bridge (W29) because it's through the VFR Corridor, which is a challenge, and it's right out on the Chesapeake Bay. In the end I picked W99 because I really didn't want to bother with a flight plan, or the SFRA.
Note the odd trend of laziness when I don't have people to fly with. Oh well. As long as I'm doing what I need to do to stay safe, I'm allowed to pick destinations based on how little effort they require if it's only for myself.
What haze?
I had left my sun glasses in the plane last flight. Thanks to the staff they were sitting in the book when I grabbed it out of the lock box. Nothing at all interesting happened on the way out. The weather, however, wasn't the most optimal, with a little haze when facing the sun. After passing north of Upperville (2VG2), I called Potomac Approach for flight following, which continued with Washington Center all the way out to W99.
Similar to Bedford County (HMZ), W99 is buried in the mountains. Unlike HMZ though, it doesn't have any mountains on short final. According to the Airport/Facility Directory (A/FD), there's a fly-in campground on the field somewhere, but I didn't see it. Sounds like it could be a fun outing if I ever figure it out. After taxiing back, I made a short and soft field takeoff to keep it interesting, as usual.
On the way back, I let Washington Center deal with its business without having to look after me since the frequency sounded busier. I monitored the frequency all the way back to Strasburg to listen in for traffic, however. Strasburg is where the grandparents live, so as I passed over, I descended to about 1000' above ground level (AGL), circled once, and then climbed back up and continued on to JYO.
Closer in to JYO, I set myself up for an approach to Runway 17, landed, taxied off and shut down. Hopefully next time will be more exciting. W99 is a cool airport, but it's less interesting to me when there's nobody to share it with.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 1.6 - 56.3 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 5.6 (of 40)
Looking back at my logbook, I noticed that in the time between getting my license in 2007 and now, I have flown 55.1 hours. Of that time, I've only flown 1.1 hours as what the FAA calls 'solo,' which is when a pilot flies as the sole occupant in the aircraft. It's not a bad thing that I haven't flown more solo, it's just an interesting stat. To me, it just means I've been sharing the experience with people. Still, there's something to be said for putting yourself up in the air alone. It's really peaceful.
Knowing that, in addition to the weather taunting me with its clear skies and calm wind, I caved and booked some time. I didn't know where I'd go, and spent a few minutes at work plotting various places I could go, but still hadn't fully decided. Once at the airport, I asked one of the instructors for his suggestion, but his suggestion involved a longer trip and a tower. Despite my normal enjoyment in flying with ATC, today just seemed like a day to set out on my own. In the end, I settled on Bedford County (HMZ).
Bedford County Airport is just north of the town of Bedford, Pennsylvania. It's only 75nm from JYO, which makes it a shorter trip, but it's also an airport I haven't been to, out in the mountains. For some reason, the challenges of airports around mountains have always drawn me to them. That draw generally dies somewhat when I'm flying in the clouds (with a rated pilot, of course), but it's still fun provided you follow the approach correctly.
The preflight, taxi out and departure were all the normal boring stuff, with the exception of the Waco (a modern bi-plane) that came in. On the way out, I ended up flying over my grandparents' old place outside of Purcellville again, and made my way towards MRB and then HMZ. The flight was uneventful, and I talked to Washington Center (ZDC) for a few minutes until I began my descent into HMZ.
The approach into HMZ is somewhat of a challenge when landing to the northwest as there's a narrow pass to slip through that's not exactly in line with the runway. It's not extreme or difficult, but it's definitely not the standard approach. You can see it better in the video at the end of the post.
On the way back, I talked to ZDC again, along with Potomac Approach (both MULLR and ASPER), and requested the ILS 17 into JYO. Since I was flying solo, I obviously didn't put on the hood or log it, but I thought it would be a good way to get familiar with the approach and working it all on my own. I also got a chance to use ForeFlight on my iPad. It was pretty cool for the plates, but I haven't actually bought it yet, so it was slightly limited (in addition to not having an external GPS receiver).
The controller working ASPER somehow managed and agreed to work me in on the approach despite being busy, which was awesome of her. From there you know the rest. It was definitely nice to get out there on my own. Apparently, there's a requirement for the next rating I'll be going for (commercial), that requires some solo pilot in command (solo PIC) night flight, and I just knocked 0.8 of that out.
The video is in portrait because I never checked to see if I returned the camera's setting to landscape after a cross country drive I took a few weeks ago. I'm beginning to think I need to add in several checklist items so I stop screwing up the videos of my flight. At least I'm making sure to fly properly.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 1.5 - 54.7 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 5.6 (of 40)
At first, my old college roommate and I were supposed to head up to State College (UNV) on Wednesday so I could head out to a new place and get some hood time. That ended up getting scrapped because the weather was less than ideal. Then, on Friday, I was supposed to head out with Ashley on a flight similar to our flight a month ago, but her job got in the way. Life and weather both happen, so you work the hand you were dealt. The tease of flying got under my skin though, so I was going flying with or without someone else in the right seat.
