A Day of Flying

N571DS - DA40 - 0.6 hours || N677JA - C172S - 1.8 hours

After the wind foiled a couple of attempts to get back up in the air - a typical late winter issue in the DC Area - I finally met up with an instructor to get my insurance ride out of the way. For those unfamiliar with aviation, the main entities to keep satisfied are the FAA and the insurance company. The FAA only requires me to fly with an instructor every two years, while the insurance company requires that I fly with an instructor if I go two months without flying. I've been enjoying the DA40 since initially getting checked out in it, so I decided to use it for my ride with said instructor. The original plan was to use it again in the evening to fly some friends around. Unfortunately, someone beat me to the later reservation, but I at least took the DA40 around the pattern for a few laps to get reacquainted. The later flight would have to be in one of the 172s.

After taking the plane around the pattern five times, I brought it back to its spot, tied it down, and ran off to get lunch. With food in hand I began to plan the next flight, which I'd be flying some friends. The original plan was OXB, but we ended up heading down to CHO to watch a UVA basketball game in Historic Downtown with another group of friends.

While I've been to CHO more times than I can count, I hadn't flown with my friends Saba and Kristin before, so I was excited to be able to share the experience. We departed into one of the best sunsets I've ever seen - on the ground or in the air. Pictures, as always, don't do it justice, but Kristin and Saba both took a bunch of great shots. I often brag about how much better flying is than just about anything else, and this was certainly something to be added to the list of experiences in support of that.

The flight was short, made slightly shorter by the straight in landing on Runway 21. The landing was one of my better ones, and I'm pretty sure I caught it on one of the cameras. I'll have to take a look and add it later (I have a lot of catching up to do with the video, as Contour's temporary disappearance ended up deleting all of the videos I had uploaded there). After letting Landmark know our fuel order, we went inside to catch a cab to Historic Downtown to meet up with some friends at Citizen Burger. The food was great. The company was even greater. To cap it all off, the Cavaliers managed to win as well. While I'm no avid UVA fan (go Hokies), it was nice to see an in-state school win against a basketball powerhouse like Louisville.

After the game, we got a ride back to the airport, paid for fuel, and set off back to JYO. The flight back was a little more bumpy, but not terribly so. The highlight of the flight back was when Potomac Approach pointed our airplane out to a Dash 8 who was on approach to CHO. While I wasn't in contact with Potomac, I was listening in, I chimed in after the controller and the pilot of the Dash had finished their exchange to let them know that it was likely me that was being referenced. The controller checked and verified that it was my aircraft that he'd seen on the scope, and then gave both of us pilots an update on what each plane would be doing. While neither of us were at all close to each other, it's an anecdote supporting the use of flight following, or at least paying attention to the air traffic frequency for the area, if it's known.

The rest of the flight was very normal, and actually pretty quiet. I set the plane down on Runway 35. It definitely wasn't one of my best landings. As usual, I caught the nosewheel before settling down on the mains. Typical. It wasn't too bad, though. After putting the plane back in its spot, we braved the cold back to our cars and set off to warmer beds. We were all pretty worn out.

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 1.8 - 90.0 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 14.7 (of 40)