Solo to the West

N5294W - C172R - 1.6 hours

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)