Initially, there was some talk that I would be flying someone around this weekend, but I never heard back about it. By the time Saturday came and I saw how nice it was outside, the thought that I should have been flying resurfaced. Not being able to suppress the thought, I called Phil to see if he would want to be a safety pilot for a few hours.
My initial thought was a quick trip out to Grant County (W99), because it has an interesting approach, and would be an easy flight out and back. Phil brought up the idea of State College (UNV) again, from the times we've debated doing it in the past, adding that it would be a good spot for dinner. Unfortunately, the dinner idea didn't work out as well as we had expected, as the restaurant we wanted to go to would have been closed by the time we got there. Adding to that issue was that the wind at airports to the north and east weren't exactly the best. While we both noted that I had previously put a plane down on a tiny runway with a gusty crosswind (note that the link refers to plans to go to UNV, as well), I really didn't want to deal with it. We also looked at a few other airports, but as you've heard several times before, I knew there would be a car and a restaurant in Charlottesville (CHO), and the airport had an instrument approach along with favorable wind.
Phil and I preflighted and set up the equipment while waiting for fuel and oil. For some reason, it seems that the new FBO, ProJet Aviation, is a little slow with fuel requests. They were also the reason for our late departure on my last flight down to Raleigh (RDU). Given that they're new, I'll give them time to adjust, but it's still somewhat irksome when seemingly nothing else is going on.
[Video got lost when Contour closed down for a while.]
Taxiing down to the runway, the bald spot the tire that we noted on the preflight was causing quite a rumble (you can see the camera shake in the takeoff video above). It wasn't bad enough to have to take the plane back, but it was definitely obvious. After departing, we headed west to get out of the SFRA, and then south towards CHO. In that process, I was able to throw the blinders on and log some time. Getting closer to CHO, I called Potomac Approach for flight following and a practice ILS approach to Runway 3. After being vectored around a bit for spacing from other traffic, I was turned inbound for the approach.
For some reason, I managed to park in front of the wrong hangar, despite having flown there too many times to make that mistake. After moving the plane, we found the crew car gone (the people using it had kept it over the two hour limit), and the attendant unable to let us borrow the van "just in case he needed it." The curiosity, however, was that he was also unable to drop us off because he needed to remain at the airport. So, what exactly would you need to keep the van for when you're unable to leave the airport? Even more of a curiosity was the fact that he dropped us off at the terminal to get a cab, which is arguably just about the same amount of time as driving us to Timberwood Grill.
The cabbie we got from the terminal partially ignored us and was on his phone most of the time during the ride, to the point where I had to interrupt him a few times to point him in the right direction. A 1.5 mile journey for his minimum fee of $25. Luckily the food was good and the cab ride back was much better. It was cheaper and the cabbie was hilarious.
Heading back, there was a little bit of an issue with the comms that we somehow sorted out by the hold short point for Runway 3. Shortly after departing the tower closed (as a normal, nightly thing - not because of the impending tower closures) and I picked up flight following back to Leesburg (JYO). After a handoff to another controller, I isolated my comms (cutting Phil off from hearing me and ATC) and asked if I could get a touch and go at Dulles (IAD). The controller initially declined the request, saying "they don't do that anymore," but later came back with "expect an operation at Dulles - proceed direct to Dulles." I was given Runway 1L, which for anyone else flying into IAD is a punishment (because of the absurdly long taxi to the terminal), but was welcomed by myself as it meant I wasn't getting in anyone's way. Checking in with the tower controller, I was met with "say request," which caught me by surprise, as it should have already been communicated that I would be doing a touch and go. I responded that I would be doing a touch and go on Runway 1L, which was met with a slightly perturbed "and then what?" After letting her know I'd be going to JYO, we landed, took off, and headed off in that direction.
[Video got lost when Contour closed down for a while.]
Phil got the landing at JYO. For not having landed a plane since we last flew together back in January, it wasn't too bad. In the end, I got 1.6 hours of simulated instrument time towards the 40 that I need for the rating. Looks like I need to cut down on the joyrides and force myself to work harder at it, but at the same time, all of the joyrides are contributing to the total hours that I'll need later for the commercial rating and beyond.
As long as the weather behaves, the next flight should be at the end of next month down to Roanoke.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 2.3 - 82.0 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 1.6 - 12.1 (of 40)
One of the facts of life when it comes to flying is currency. Since I've been flying regularly since I had my biennial flight review (BFR), it hasn't been much of an issue. I haven't been flying much lately in order to save for a trip to Italy in two weeks. I needed to fly before the trip, though, in order to keep my currency with the flight school. If I didn't, my currency would've expired in the middle of the trip, requiring me to fly with a flight instructor the next time I went flying, to meet the flight school's requirements.
As I mentioned in my last post, I used this excuse to schedule a short flight out to Winchester (OKV), except this time the wind cooperated.
The preflight was one of the coldest excursions I've been on lately, but it was somewhat negated by new gloves I got for Christmas. As I got everything set up inside, I tried to set up the ContourROAM on the headband for my head lamp, but the band wasn't strong enough and it got in the way of my headset. I left it there and got some video from it, but nothing interesting came from it. I'm thinking of hooking it to my headset somehow for future flights. A daylight flight wouldn't hurt, either.
The departure was pretty standard, apart from me forgetting to check the carburetor heat initially. As I cleared the Class B airspace to the west, I noticed my groundspeed was about 80 knots, which was about 30 knots less than my indicated speed, meaning I had a significant headwind. If the wind is fast enough, you can drop your speed, put the flaps down and fly backwards. For those of you who can't comprehend that, the plane is still moving forward, but the Cessna 172 can still remain airborne down to about 40 knots. If the wind is faster than 40 knots opposite the direction you're travelling, you're actually moving backwards over the ground. Unfortunately the wind wasn't strong enough, so I only got the plane down to about 18 knots across the ground, but it looked like I was sitting still at 5000'.
I ended my experiment when I realized I was at 5000' only 15 miles away from OKV. Closer in, I lined up with the runway and brought it in. You can actually see a glow around the approach lights because they're reflecting off of some snow that had melted and frozen earlier in the day. Later on, as I was in the middle of my flare, I apparently had a subconscious thought to get the nosewheel up, which you can see in the video. That caused me to float, which I luckily salvaged by adding a little throttle. I have to say, I'm actually kinda proud that I got the nose up.
[Video was here until Contour closed down for a bit, and they went missing.]
After fully stopping - the FAA requires three full stop landings at night, after all - I went around for another landing. The second landing wasn't nearly as good as the first. If you watch the video, make sure to have the sound on so that you can hear a sound an airplane shouldn't make. As I cross the threshold, some wind kicked the plane around a little. I didn't think much of it after that because it hadn't been gusty, but as I was in my flare and settled on the runway, another gust pushed me to the right some, sideloading the right tire. It wasn't a pleasant noise.
[Video was here until Contour closed down for a bit, and they went missing.]
The flight back home was amazingly quick, mostly due to the wind that was now at my back. I hooked in from the northwest to land on Runway 35 and call it a night. This one was much better than the second landing. I touched down on the aiming points, and vacated at the first available exit. I'm not sure why I chose to jump off so quickly, but I did.
[Video was here until Contour closed down for a bit, and they went missing.]
Luckily the planes on the row behind the spot for N96178 weren't there, so I was able to just pull the plane through. In the end, the flight was only 0.9 hours, which surprised me. The Hobbs meter's last hours digits were 64 when I left, and when I landed it was still 64. I thought the Hobbs didn't even record the hours until I realized that I'd gotten back within an hour, having left at 64.0 and gotten back at 64.9.
So, now I have my my night currency, flight school currency, and sanity back. We'll see what 2013 brings.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0.0 - 74.2 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 9.6 (of 40)
Right after graduating from Virginia Tech, I took a job at Dulles Airport (IAD) working the ramp for the summer. While I was there, I met a few other pilots working the ramp along with me. One of them was a guy named Woody, and through the wonderful invention called Facebook, we've managed to stay in touch over the years. Since we're both trying to build time, we've mentioned flying a few times, but never actually followed through. This time, though, it worked out.
The plan was to sit right seat and log PIC time while Woody got some simulated instrument time on a cross country flight around central Virginia. The original plan was to fly from Potomac Airfield (VKX) to Louisa County (LKU), Lake Anna (7W4), Chesterfield (FCI), Williamsburg (JGG), and then back to VKX. The last renters left the plane at Maryland Airport (2W5) the night before, though, so the departure point had to change. Luckily, that airport is outside the Flight Restricted Zone (FRZ), so we didn't have to deal with that nonsense. Once we got to the airport, Woody changed the plan to 2W5, Gordonsville (GVE), LKU, 7W4, Newport News (PHF), and then back to 2W5. I had no objections, so I jumped in, set the ContourGPS in the mount, the Garmin GLO up on the glareshield, and the iPad in my lap.
I tried something slightly new this time since I had both cameras. Yes, both. You haven't been formally introduced to the new one, but if you were paying attention to my post about my new pilot bag, I briefly mentioned it. I used the ContourGPS for the time lapse portions, and the new ContourROAM for videos of takeoff and landing. Thinking back on it, I should've reversed that, but you know what they say about hindsight...
First Leg: 2W5-GVE - 0.8 hours
Say what you want about the random music. I figured something needed to be done for the completely silent cruise portion.
As I was mainly along for the ride as a safety pilot, Woody was at the controls for the departure. I only briefly took the controls so that he could put the blinders on. For not having flown under the hood in what he said was a while, he did a good job, especially with a directional gyro that precessed terribly. For the non-pilots, the directional gyro is like a compass, but without some of the errors present in magnetic compasses. The problem of the gyro is that over time it precesses, which essentially means it drifts away from the real heading, so you have to update it by comparing it to the magnetic compass. It's really not as complicated as it sounds, but it's something we have to pay attention to. As we got closer to GVE, I "vectored" Woody towards the runway. After he took off the blinders, he set the plane down on GVE's short, less-than-level runway. Arriving at the ramp, he shut the plane down and we jumped out to get our Virginia Aviation Passports stamped (the same type of passport used as an excuse for a flight down to Richmond in February). The stamps for smaller fields like GVE are normally kept in a mailbox, but in searching for said mailbox we ran across an airport building halfway through a renovation, and a giant garden spider (the black and yellow ones that make webs with zig-zags in them...you know...those).
After getting the stamp, we jumped back in the plane to head to LKU, which is close to Lake Anna.
Second Leg: GVE-LKU - 0.3 hours
The flight over to LKU was slightly more eventful. As anyone who reads the blog regularly knows, I end up doing at least one short-field takeoff on most flights. Half of it is because I find them to be fun, and the other half is that you never know when you'll need to do one. Well, today we needed one. GVE's runway is only 2300 feet long, it dips in the middle with trees close to the ends, and we were in a P model with two heavier guys in it. I've taken off from shorter, but not with that combination of issues. It wasn't my best short field takeoff, but I'll blame it on having to fly from the right seat, which I've done before, but I don't do it often.
The fun didn't end there, though. After takeoff Woody put the blinders on, took the controls, and put us on course to LKU. As we were climbing, I noticed a Piper opposite direction, about 500 feet above us (01:45 in the video - the wide angle lens on the camera makes it seem farther away than it was). It caught me a little by surprise, so I reached forward and put pressure on the yoke to halt the climb temporarily. As soon as they passed, Woody continued the climb. Closer to LKU, Woody brought us around the pattern and set down. We parked by the main airport building, which had an attached hangar with a Civil Air Patrol glider in it. After walking inside, I spotted the passport stamp sitting on a counter, so I grabbed my stamp, walked back out to the plane, and grabbed a picture.
Next up was 7W4.
Third Leg: LKU-7W4 - 0.3 hours
The departure from LKU was relatively simple compared to GVE. The runway is nearly twice as long and two and a half times as wide, so it was nice and easy. Just like the last leg, though, it was pretty short, time-wise. Still, Woody was able to pick up some time with the blinders. Things got interesting as we got closer to 7W4, however. Because the ramp is at the east end of the runway, pilots like to save time by departing to the west, and arriving to the east. As I switched the radio to the airport frequency, I heard a pilot call and say he was departing Runway 26. So, just like the approach to LKU, we would make our way around the pattern to land west. What I didn't hear, however, was a second plane make a call to indicate he was taking off behind the first plane. It wasn't an issue, but it surprised me when I saw two bright yellow crop dusters rise off the runway and turn north. The landing was uneventful, but it wouldn't be the last time we saw those crop dusters, or the last time they would surprise us. Woody rolled out to the end of the runway, where we turned around and taxied back to the east end to shut down and search for the stamp. While he made a call ahead to Atlantic Aviation at PHF to reserve a crew car, I found the mailbox and stamped both of our passports.
Fourth Leg: 7W4-PHF - 0.9 hours
As I mentioned earlier, that wouldn't be the last time we'd see, or be surprised by those crop dusters. This time, the surprise made the Piper incident earlier pale in comparison. As Woody was running preflight checks, I monitored the airport frequency. When we were ready, I called to announce the westbound departure, which was what the flow of traffic was: the two crop dusters departed to the west, and we landed to the west. After the call, however, one of the dusters called and said they'd remain clear and circle away from the airport, because they wanted to land to the east (to save time, as mentioned earlier). I took his word for it, though I did check the pattern legs quickly to be sure. While we were rolling down the runway, I spotted one of them crossing our departure path, north to south, rolling to make a knife-edge pass and turn westbound. I called the traffic out to Woody, who turned north to avoid turning towards him. Since I remembered the duster had a buddy who wasn't making radio calls, I searched ahead of our turn and spotted him at the same altitude (both of them had been down on the treeline) to the east of the field. You can just barely make them out in the video. As I mentioned with the Piper, the wide-angle lens makes them appear farther away. If you can't see them, use full screen and 1080p. The annotations help to mark where they appear a few seconds ahead of time.
Once we were clear of that mess, I switched to Potomac Approach to coordinate getting over to PHF. In order to take the most direct route, we would fly through Richmond's Class C airspace, so we were required to be in contact with them. We passed the cruise time by discussing the ATC hiring process, and the overall poor quality of the pilots that Potomac had to deal with. A couple pilots either weren't paying attention or just had a poor grasp of English, which we found entertaining. The controller, not so much.
Closer to PHF, we passed over Busch Gardens on the way to land on Runway 20. Since we couldn't spot the Lear landing on the crossing runway, tower had to ask us to do just about everything possible to delay our arrival, to include entering on a 6 mile final, s-turns, and a tight 360 turn on short final. You'll see all of it in the video. What you can't see, however, are the training aircraft that were on the ramp for ATAC, which is a firm that provides training for military pilots by flying aggressor or foreign aircraft to show the pilots the capability of their potential enemies.
We parked at Atlantic as an AirTran 737-700 prepared to depart. Woody grabbed the car, and we sped off to get burgers at Red Robin. As we were sitting at lunch waiting for our food, we pulled up the weather to see if anything had changed. Of course, more storms were going to be passing through as part of another frontal system, similar to the ones last night. The mutual debate continued when we got back to Atlantic. After a call to a flight briefer, we decided it would be best to at least move in the direction of home, and if necessary, land to avoid an approaching storm. This being the strategy, we identified both West Point (FYJ) and Tappahannock (XSA) as bailout points. If you look at the image to the right, you'll see that the band of storms to the south would have arrived much later, while the storms to the north would pass through much sooner. Had we waited for the northern storms to pass, we would have had to try to beat the southern storms out. By departing earlier and stopping in XSA, we cut the wait time for the northern storms and avoided having to try to beat the southern storms out. I point that out mostly to clarify that there was a definite plan to the idea, and not simply "let's see how far we can get before the storms get here."
Getting ready to head home
Fifth Leg: PHF-XSA - 0.8 hours
Tower sent us out right behind another aircraft that would remain in the pattern. By this point, Woody was getting slightly tired of flying, so he passed the controls over to me after turning crosswind. In an effort to continue to let us both log time, I put the blinders on. Woody called Potomac for route guidance, and limited weather info since the storms were clearly visible to the north. As we flew over FYJ, we heard "Cessna 64181, do you have weather radar on board?" The controller's tone conveyed both concern and surprise that a small plane would be out braving the weather. We took the hint and turned northwest bound to skirt the back end of a storm and land at XSA. I didn't mess with the camera as I was flying, which is why you have a time lapse approach and landing. There are a few cool shots of the weather as we passed by it, though.
It took us a minute to find XSA, as there weren't many identifiable landmarks around it, which you can see in the video, but we made it in the end. The red-roofed terminal building made it easy to spot once we got closer. After landing, I brought the plane back to the ramp, parked it, and we both tied it down in preparation for the storms. Inside, one of the airport attendants and a local Virginia State Trooper kept us company while we reviewed the weather and developed a new plan of attack. Luckily, some of the storms had dissipated, and the storm that was supposed to pass over XSA passed well north. Because of that, we were able to leave slightly earlier than we had thought.
I grabbed a drink, and we set off for 2W5 after Woody filed an SFRA flight plan.
Sixth Leg: XSA-2W5 - 0.6 hours
I ended up flying the whole leg to 2W5 from XSA, getting more time under the blinders. Unfortunately, the camera died on the way there, despite my efforts to charge it at PHF and XSA. What you see for the landing video was shot from the ContourROAM up in the mount. I cut the base turn a little early so I ended up high and fast down final. I salvaged it by I bleeding speed over the runway. The landing was flat, but it wasn't too bad in my book. After the taxi back, I parked the plane at the grass tie downs and helped prepare the plane for its overnight stay.
In the end, we both logged about 3.7 hours, each getting a good amount of time under the blinders. I got 0.8 hours of simulated instrument time, which definitely helps towards the instrument rating. This trip also gave new meanings to the term safety pilot, as this was the first time I ever flew safety for someone and actually had to call traffic to avoid a collision. Later on, we both learned the importance of a safety pilot for weather avoidance as well. Despite the traffic issues and the added stress of the weather, I really enjoyed the challenge of the whole trip.
When you're required to have a safety pilot, always make sure you have one, and a helpful one at that. A safety pilot isn't there to be a conversationalist to help pass the time, either. He or she is there to keep you out of trouble. I'm not saying the flight should occur in complete silence unless there's a conflict, but don't bring along your pilot buddy who can't keep their eyes out, or one who shows poor decision making skills.
Beyond that, always remember your tolerances. In ground school, you always hear people say "personal minimums," but I like the term tolerance. How much risk are you willing or capable of tolerating? To some people, the radar image shown above would have kept them on the ground, and I wouldn't blame them. Given the information I had, and the additional safe spots for landing, my risk tolerance was slightly higher because I knew I had options in case the risk became too great.
Every time you put the aircraft in the air, you're accepting risk. How much risk you tolerate is up to you. If you are willing to fly with a higher tolerance, just make sure you cover as many bases as possible to remain safe when that tolerance is reached. Flying VFR doesn't mean you shouldn't have alternates, both in the form of airports, and in the general form of other options.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 3.7 - 70.5 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.8 - 8.3 (of 40)
I was supposed to go flying on the 4th, but for various reasons that didn't end up happening. Since then, it's been a little rough between my personal life and work, so I figured I'd take myself flying to clear my head. Before I go any further, I just want to point out that I did consciously wait until a point in the week that my head was clear enough to actually fly safely. I just wanted to put that out there before someone decided to call me out on the S in the IMSAFE checklist.
Ground life aside, I figured I'd head out west to try a new destination on my own. The flight back would be at night, too, which would count towards hours I'll need in my next rating (commercial rating: 61.129(a)(4)(ii) Solo VFR Night). I debated a few destinations, to include Altoona (AOO), Somerset County (2G9) and Garrett County (2G4). I ended up settling on 2G4 primarily because one of my ideas for my long IR XC includes approaches at AOO and 2G9, so I figured I might as well go somewhere I won't go on that flight. My friend Phil flew out there a while ago and he seemed to enjoy the flight, which factored into the decision. Finally, of all of the airports I've flown in and out of, it would be the highest in terms of altitude above sea level, at 2933'. Before tonight, that spot was held by Blacksburg (BCB) at 2132'.
CBE In the distance
The flight out was slightly hazy looking west, but as the daylight waned, the haze became less of a problem. I passed just north of Winchester (OKV) and south of Cumberland Regional (CBE), where I flew back in December. The original track would've had me a lot further south of CBE, but I changed my track to go direct to the Grantsville (GRV) VOR so I could fly the VOR RWY 27 approach into 2G4. I was able to spot GRV in the middle of a field as I flew overhead, which made timing my turn for the approach pretty easy. Obviously, the practice approach was simply to get used to working the radios and flying approaches on my own. Not having a safety pilot to look out for me, I couldn't wear the blinders and log the approach, but I still think it was worth it to get used to the idea of flying approaches. If nothing else, I was able to see what the approach looks like out the window.
I reported my position inbound to land on Runway 9 as soon as I passed over GRV, and made the standard calls from then on. Luckily, the approach off of GRV puts you on the downwind for Runway 9 if you fly it long enough. The wind was pretty light, but 2G4 is around a lot of changes in terrain. It's perched near the top of the hill, so there are all kinds of weird wind issues as the wind carries up and downhill. Adding to that, the crest of the hill is slightly north of the field and is 20-40 feet higher, which changes that dynamic as well. All of that together makes even light wind somewhat of a battle all the way down final and into ground effect. I pulled off the runway after landing and taxied back to kill some time to let it get darker. When I got back to the end of the runway, I noticed a ski resort south of the field. Google Maps says that it's Wisp (it's just out of the frame to the left in the picture), so if anyone needs a flight this winter, let me know.
On the way home, I listened to Cleveland and Washington Center sequence traffic into Dulles, National and BWI to pass the time on an otherwise quiet flight home. As I got closer to OKV, I circled around the city in order to log a little more time at night. In the end, I came out with 1.1 hours more hours of solo VFR night. Unfortunately, my long time buddy N96178 has a fully front lit panel, and not the nice back lit panel of the newer R models I've been flying. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, turn down the dash lights in your car, shine a red flashlight on the speedometer, and try to drive like that. It made for an interesting approach, since I couldn't see the airspeed indicator as well as I would've liked, but the landing wasn't half bad. You know the rest.
Proof that sunsets from the air are thousands of times better than on the ground
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 2.0 - 63.4 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 6.6 (of 40)
My cousin got engaged about a month ago, which is, of course, a reason for celebration. Because my cousin's now fiancée grew up in Roanoke, and that's where they currently live, said celebration would be down there. I decided to save myself the hassle of driving and fly down. Excuses, right?
Sitting right seat was my buddy Aaron (from one of the several CHO flights), who was along to enjoy the flight and share some time at the controls.
In order to cut costs slightly, I booked a C172P, which is an older model than I normally fly. As an interesting aside (okay, it might be slightly more interesting to me than it would be to you), the only C172P left at Av-Ed (JYO) is N96178, which is the plane I soloed in 9 years ago. Since then, it's gotten a few avionics upgrades, to include a Garmin 530. If you're wondering where the post's title came from, it's an allusion to the plane.
EMB-120 that arrived during the delay
The day didn't start off too well as Landmark Aviation JYO had apparently forgotten to order fuel prior to today, so they were out by this morning. Because of that, the local planes were having to fuel up in Winchester (OKV), which is some 20-30 minutes away by air. In the end, we got the plane an hour after we were supposed to depart with it. Despite the delay, I've read enough horror stories in past issues of AOPA's magazines and other books to remind myself to always be thorough, even when in a rush. After my normal preflight, we jumped in and took to the sky.
Of course, the clouds had dropped slightly lower, which cut us off from my over-the-mountain direct plan, so we had to fly south past Charlottesville (CHO), follow the I-64 mountain pass, and then continue down I-81 to Roanoke (ROA). This, of course, added more time. I can't really argue, though. Aaron is working towards his private pilot license (PPL), so I let him take the controls for a good portion of the flight. We definitely got to see some cool scenery, though. The weather being nicer, people were all over the rivers and lakes, too.
After calling Roanoke Approach up, they vectored me inbound for an approach on Runway 6. If you watch the video, you an see that the flight path follows I-81 for a while (prior to and after ROA's vectors). From there, we flew west of Tinker Mountain (the twin-peaked mountain in the picture at left), then over Carvins Cove Reservoir, and onto the downwind. Approach turned me over to tower, who cleared me to land midfield on the downwind. In an effort to get in a little quicker, I turned base way too close to the runway and ended up having to slip to kill altitude all the way down final. The approach was salvaged, I landed pretty well all considering, and made my intended taxiway, so all wasn't lost. Tower sent me to ground, ground got me pointed towards Landmark ROA, and after parking we set off towards family and food.
The way back also had clouds in the way of my intended more direct route, but this time larger breaks allowed a slightly more direct route than the way down. After departing ROA, I asked for flight following and in the 1.6 hours that followed we had a few traffic calls, mostly as we got closer to Dulles (IAD). Nothing too incredibly interesting happened otherwise. Sorry for the relatively boring narrative for the way back, but sometimes, things are just simple and that's all you can say.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 3.2 - 61.4 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 6.6 (of 40)
Taxiing down to the runway, the bald spot the tire that we noted on the preflight was causing quite a rumble (you can see the camera shake in the takeoff video above). It wasn't bad enough to have to take the plane back, but it was definitely obvious. After departing, we headed west to get out of the SFRA, and then south towards CHO. In that process, I was able to throw the blinders on and log some time. Getting closer to CHO, I called Potomac Approach for flight following and a practice ILS approach to Runway 3. After being vectored around a bit for spacing from other traffic, I was turned inbound for the approach.
