HGR Maintenance Run

N242AV - C172L - 0.8 hours

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)

Fighting Weather

N329ME - C172S - 2.6 hours

As I've been in an endless struggle to accumulate more simulated instrument hours, I plotted out a couple flights that would help me to that end. Given the weather we've been having lately - lower clouds with rain - I figured a route to the south and a route to the north would give me the best chances. The mountains to the west could get dicey if the clouds got too low, the airspace to the east is relatively foreboding, and the north/south option gives me an option to use the opposite direction if we departed and found the weather to be less than desirable in the initial direction (it's summer, and storms are regular).

Of course, that plan of having a backup worked in our favor, as a storm began to develop over Warrenton (HWY), which is where we were headed. Phil pointed this fact out to me since I couldn't see it under the blinders, so I turned back to the north to pick up the Martinsburg VOR (MRB) and continue in that direction to Reedsville (RVL). Unfortunately, weather developed in that direction, too, and cut us off from the airport as we began the instrument approach to the field.

Nope...

After turning back around to head home, I decided to pick up an ILS approach into Hagerstown (HGR) to get a break and use the facilities, and then head back to fly the ILS into Leesburg (JYO).

Despite not accomplishing the goal of flying the approach into RVL, I still picked up 2.4 hours of simulated instrument, so I'm now over half way there.

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 2.6 - 104.0 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 2.4 - 20.2 (of 40)

OC Day Trip

N571DS - DA40 - 3.9 hours

Today's trip was a change from the original plan of flying to Lynchburg (LYH) on somewhat of a mission, to a trip to the beach. Since there aren't any pictures and nothing truly interesting happened, I'll keep it brief:

• The wind in the morning was ridiculous: 31015G21KT at Hagerstown (HGR), and similar at Leesburg (JYO) and Ocean City (OXB)
• The route of flight was JYO-HGR-OXB-HGR-JYO
• I finally met the guy I've been renting cars from each time I've flown over to OXB after hours
• Potomac TRACON's (PCT) radio coverage between BWI and Salisbury (SBY) - a new sector for them, taken from Washington Center (ZDC) - is weak to the point where I had to relay radio messages from a military helicopter conducting low altitude operations to PCT. Hopefully that brings good pilot karma for later.
• I also learned that P-40 has a cap of 5000 feet as long as it isn't "supersized."
• The Shark on the Harbor is as good as I'd remembered it.

Oddly enough, this flight was longer than some of my other flights recently, and it's probably one of the shorter posts. Still, the in-depth play-by-play gets old to write, and it's probably tiring to read, so I had to shake it up a bit and just hit the highlights. I'll save detail for the more interesting and technical flying.

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 2.9 - 101.4 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 17.1 (of 40)

Dinner and an Approach

N5165M - C172R - 1.1 hours

Today was primarily a last minute decision to take advantage of nicer weather and fly. This time, the plan was to fly up to get dinner at a restaurant in Hagerstown (HGR) that the DC-3 crew frequents with Phil and his friend Brittany. The flight up to HGR is pretty simple as you don't really have to even turn much if you're departing Runway 35. There is a tower there, though, so there is a little extra radio work. The flight up and back was barely 1.1 hours total, and part of that time was added by flying an approach to Runway 17 at Leesburg (JYO).

Phil, in keeping with his constant challenges (makes him a great safety pilot), "failed" my GPS and had me keep the blinders on until right above minimums. Despite chasing the needles some when I got closer to the airport, I ended up settling on the localizer and glideslope nicely and removed the blinders with the field right ahead. Can't argue with that.

Short flight - short post.

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0.0 - 98.5 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.5 - 17.1 (of 40)