For some reason, I've been pretty lucky on the draw when it comes to ferry flights, and this one was no exception. As I was wrapping up at work yesterday, I saw a message from one of the local flight schools requesting a pilot to sit right seat on a flight up to Hagerstown (HGR) to pick up a C172L and fly it back to Leesburg (JYO). Since I'm checked out by them in their carbureted 172s, I jumped on the message. They needed the aircraft back by 1000, so it would an early departure and pick up, but that also meant that the extra flight worked well with my flight in the Arrow in about an hour. Apart from the odd tachometer that I mentioned earlier, it was a normal flight down from HGR.
An Aside for Safety:
This morning was a very, very nice day, so a lot of what some pilots call (somewhat derisively on occasion) the "weekend warriors" came out to fly around. While I'm subject to glancing up at the sky and thinking "you know, today would be a perfect day to fly," the urge should be tamed by asking yourself if you are prepared to fly. Before even departing today, we had someone gesture at us mockingly for being at the "wrong end" of the runup area, but what he had not seen was that the other two aircraft previously ahead of us that forced us to take that spot had already moved on. It just seemed very odd to me, because if I see someone farther back in the runup area, it's a reasonable assumption that there were previously aircraft ahead of them.On the way back, I had a Bonanza depart the pattern opposite direction of the established direction of traffic in the pattern. Granted, he could've been IFR, and IFR is vastly easier off of 35, but it's always best to fit into the established flow of traffic where possible. In his defense, it did look like he waited appropriately for a gap in traffic, he made his radio calls clear, and he side-stepped the departure to avoid my approach form the north. Listening to the frequency when I was taxiing in, I also heard someone ask if he had room to depart in front of the other ferry pilot on short final. If you have to ask, I'd argue that you're better off sitting short of the runway. I know I don't usually fly that early, and I fly on days that usually aren't as perfect, so it might just be that I'm not used to that crowd, but all of those oddities in only a couple hours was pretty alarming to me.
I guess what I'm getting at is: use your brain. If you don't want to, stay at home.
Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0.0 - 107.0 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 23.3 (of 40)
