I don't know why, but for some crazy reason, I decided that I needed to take a flight on a Wednesday. What other reason might one need? Any excuse to fly can be a good one.
I'd been told for quite some time that I needed to go to the airport in Lancaster (LNS) to try out the restaurant there, but never ended up going for various reasons. Tonight would be the night that I would do just that, though.
Validation for the "back in my day" speech...
As soon as I got to the plane, I noticed that my night would be made somewhat more difficult by the GPS being inoperative. Never being one to pass up a challenge, I just pulled out my paper maps, stuffed them in the side pocket, and made sure my iPad was readily accessible. The planes that I flew when I first started out had nothing more than VOR or NDB navigation, so the lack of GPS felt somewhat like a homecoming of sorts. As I've mentioned before, the lack of of movable map to show the airspace is somewhat bothersome, but having flown in and out of Leesburg (JYO) for just over 12 years now, I'm familiar enough with the landmarks that the feeling of apprehension is manageable.
After departing, I made my way up toward Frederick (FDK), carefully keeping below the Dulles (IAD) Class B airspace above me, while also making sure to be above the tower airspace at FDK. To navigate up there, I used mostly ground references - cities and towns - in addition to the VORs at FDK and LNS.
Once up at LNS, I landed on Runway 31 and brought the plane over to the ramp near the restaurant. If you haven't been to Fiorentino's, it's worth a stop. Since it's predominantly Italian food, it's a welcomed change to the typically all-American style of most other airport restaurants that I've been to. Some of those others are really good at that fare, but it's pretty standard for most small airports: burgers, sandwiches, chips and fries. If you're good at it, you're good at it, but it's also nice to be able to go somewhere to get something different.
Sunsets: Always better from the air
The flight home was a good one, without too much wind or turbulence. As the sun set and ground references were lost to the darkness, I transitioned mostly VOR navigation. The last moments of the lightness on the horizon had a spectacular orange glow, made more dynamic with the grey of the clouds and darker blue sky showing through them. I snapped a photo, but it truly does not do it justice.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 2.1 - 124.4 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 28.8 (of 40) Dual Complex: 0.0 - 5.0 (of 10) Total Time in Aircraft: 2.1 - 193.1 (of 250)
Earlier this morning I'd gotten a message about a local flight school needing an aircraft moved from Warrenton (HWY) to Leesburg (JYO). I immediately jumped on the opportunity, but soon thereafter I got some unfortunate news about a family member's health. In an effort to keep my earlier commitment while also being able to stop by and visit with said family member, I rented the trusty N172DR so that I could fly to Winchester (OKV) and spend time with family that would have otherwise been spent driving nearly two hours round trip. Granted, the flights together took up nearly 50 minutes, but that extra time made all the difference. Additionally not having to worry about the stresses of traffic, and the traffic lights on Route 7 was a lot better for my own sanity.
While it's good to remember to run the IMSAFE checklist to ensure you're fit to fly before any flight, it was even more important to do so today given the reason for the flight. A flight such as this one could put several pressures on a pilot, while the potential to be upset by the state of a family member could also serve as a major distraction. In my case, I kept in mind that I could always drive. JYO is conveniently on the way out to OKV for me, so continuing the drive if I felt out of sorts was not out of the question. The flight was not a matter of seeing family or not. It was simply a way of spending more time out there. Additionally, despite the unfortunate news, other than wanting to be with family as soon as I could be, there was no immediately time-sensitive concern as there would be if there had been a car accident or similar.
The flight itself was pretty standard. It was a little hazy and there were a few low clouds for the flight out, but nothing major. Now, off to take a C172M down to HWY.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0.0 - 107.0 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 22.9 (of 40)
My friend James and I have been talking about flying off and on for years. I actually met him when I lived out in Phoenix, which was partially the reason this blog came into existence (trip reports for my family/friends, as I'd intended to get my additional ratings out there back in 2008), and even though we worked at the same flight school, we had never flown together until today. Since we had been talking about flying and my last flight didn't go as planned, I figured we would try it again.
We flew up to Reedsville (RVL) through the use of VORs only. I'd planned on this, but we found that the GPS ended up being INOP when we got to the plane. As I was under the blinders for the flight, I was guided around a few cells all the way up to RVL, shot the LOC Runway 6 approach, flew the missed with one lap around the hold, and then flew the approach again for more practice. To get the cross country time, I touched the wheels down on the runway and then set off towards home.
Adding to this non-GPS challenge was some sort of issue (my guess is vacuum-related) that made my artificial horizon gauge unreliable. It's always an interesting situation when you've developed a good trust in your instruments, and then they start wandering on you. As I was flying the first LOC approach, I noticed that when the gauge shows wings level, I felt like we were turning, and the turn coordinator and directional gyro confirmed this. I never thought I'd get actual partial panel experience, but it was actually neat to see it in a controlled environment.
The route back was by VOR again, and finished with the ILS Runway 17 approach back into Leesburg (JYO). Another 2.7 hours of simulated instrument in the book, so I'll call that a success.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 3.0 - 107.0 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 2.7 - 22.9 (of 40)
As of today, I’m back in the air and can legally go off on my own, exercising the privileges of a private pilot. I went up this morning with Tim (the instructor who helped me get checked out in the DA40 back in March) to complete my BFR. We were supposed to go up last week, but scheduling got in the way of that flight.
Today’s flight was nice and simple. The wind was calm, and the clouds were pretty high. The only detractors were that I needed to spray the plane down with glycol (de-icing fluid), and add two quarts of oil (ruining my shirt in the process). After all of the ground items were taken care of, we were off.
I’m always surprised by how easily flying comes back to me after long breaks. After clearing the ridge and getting out to the practice area, Tim had me demonstrate slow flight. After that came the rest of the typical PPL maneuvers: power on stalls, power off stalls, steep turns, and engine out procedures. In my never-ending drive to get more instrument time, I also asked if I could throw the blinders on to fly the approach back into Leesburg (JYO). The approach went well, though the glideslope wasn’t providing us an indication. Luckily, the approach is an ILS/LOC approach using cross radials to identify the fixes, so I just put the Frederick VOR (FDK) in the NAV2 spot and identified step down fixes that way. Despite some hunting of the LOC, I ended up on altitude and centerline in the end, which was a nice way to end a flight after a four month absence.
Given the nature of the flight I didn’t end up recording it, or even snapping a picture (got distracted with the glycol and oil before the flight), so this post is atypically light on visuals. The next flight should have more of that. Speaking of the next flight, I need to get my passenger currency back for a flight later this month, so expect another post sooner rather than later.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0.0 - 86.5 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.3 - 14.0 (of 40)
While the hiatus continues, I've been anything but relaxing. For those of you who don't know me personally (and even some who do), I've actually been staying pretty close to aviation during my break. A few weeks before my last flight, I got an invitation to be a beta tester for a company called Precision Manuals Development Group. The company specializes in creating realistic, study-level simulations of various aircraft for use in Microsoft's Flight Simulator. In my case, I helped test their latest offering: the 777-200LR/F. While I clearly have no time in the type, I was brought on as someone to stab around for bugs. I also ended up taking a few writing tasks. Testing will continue for the next few months, too, as they add the 777-300ER and -200ER to the product line.
I also ended up creating a few YouTube videos, showcasing the aircraft and explaining how to operate it. Interestingly enough, my YouTube channel, which had about 1,000 views up until that point, is now standing at 43,500 views. That's about 30,000 more than this blog at the moment. Given my success there, I'm thinking of branching the content into two different categories: flying (as exhibited here), and simulated flying. The sim side of things has always been a passion of mine mostly because it helps me survive the times when I'm not out flying in a real aircraft. There it is. I admitted to it.
The secret is out, people: I'm a giant nerd, too.
Then again, to some of you reading this, that's not at all surprising...
So, for those of you who are still not sure, I will now prove it to you:
As I mentioned, the simulator is my way of surviving the times I'm not out flying in a real aircraft. Given the right tools, too, it can be an incredibly strong asset to real flights as well. Granted, the sim I'm using is not certified by the FAA for logging time, but the concepts learned in the sim have saved, and will continue to save me valuable (read "expensive") time in training.
As you all know, The Doctor (N172DR) is one of the aircraft I fly most often. It's a simple plane, it's relatively cheap to rent (especially now that N96178 is gone), and for some reason, it tends to be available when I want to go flying. In the sim realm, another company known for high-quality simulations of aircraft is A2A Simulations, who just released a C172R. Of course, since I have so many hours in one, I figured it would be a good way to survive this hiatus and keep relatively sharp. I couldn't just go burning holes in the sky in just any aircraft, though. I fired up Photoshop and "painted" it up like The Doctor to the best of my ability.
It's not perfect, but I think I did a decent job at capturing most of its grandeur.
Judge away, but this is helping me stave off the flying cravings until I'm allowing myself off of this hiatus. I'm imagining I'll evaluate my various options for the long IR cross country flight using it, as well. I have a few other ideas, too, but I'll go into more detail in another post.
There's a ton to catch up on in the world of aviation and related technology, so expect me to get back on writing more often in the near future. Of note: some unfortunate news about Contour, updates in ForeFlight and CloudAhoy, and some new ideas for my online presence - both here on the blog and over on YouTube.
As somewhat of a last minute thing, a coworker of mine asked if I wanted to go flying so he could get his night currency back. I almost declined, having just gone last weekend, but since Eric is a CFI and I need to continue chipping away at the instrument requirements, I figured it was a good opportunity.
Since I didn't get my Grant County (W99) flight in last weekend, I figured I would fly the approach there, stop through Winchester (OKV), and then head back to Leesburg (JYO). That would give him three takeoffs and landings, and it would get me a decent amount of simulated instrument time.
Departing to the west, I put the blinders on and picked up the Linden (LDN) VOR, which is the initial approach fix for the LDA/DME-B approach to W99. Since LDN is pretty far away from W99, it gave Eric plenty of time to ask general flying questions before we concentrated on the actual approach. Unfortunately, in order to keep the localizer in the NAV1 spot, I had to put LDN in the NAV2 spot which was unlit. You can see the oscillations in the track as I wasn't as on top of it as I should've been (first going southwest towards LDN, and then I turned too early to the west, away from LDN). In any case, I made it onto the localizer in the end, which put me right on top of the field.
As you can see on the chart, the airport is surrounded by terrain, so much so that a straight-in approach cannot be made with the necessary safety margins required by the FAA. For this reason, the LOC is offset 25 degrees from the actual runway heading. Moreover, this is also why it is a localizer-type directional aid (LDA) approach instead of being a localizer (LOC) approach.
For those who aren't pilots, localizers are normally placed at the far end of a runway and provide lateral guidance to it. In this case, the localizer has been placed to the left of the runway, on the near side, because of terrain. Being on the near side means that it is more sensitive, and therefore slightly more difficult to track, when compared to a normal LOC approach at similar distances from the field. Additionally, because of the offset and the terrain, the minimum altitude you can descend to on the approach is 1540 feet above the elevation of the airport. Because you're so high, so close in, it is designed as a circling approach, where you wouldn't normally immediately line up with the runway to land (note that the chart only lists "circling" at the bottom, with no "S" - or "straight-in" - minimums); rather, you would spot the airport closer in, circle around the airport to lose altitude, and then to land. You can see this in the CloudAhoy track below (the knot at the far left of the blue line). While the concepts of the various approaches are similar, approaches like this offer somewhat of a challenge, when compared to those offering straight-in procedures (which is what you experience on 99% of commercial flights if the weather is poor).
I ended up overflying the field, and passing the controls to Eric so that he could make his landing. After a quick full stop landing with a taxi back, we departed to the north to avoid terrain. If you look back at the approach chart, you'll see that there is a valley north of the field to follow until you clear the mountains. Once above the terrain, I took the controls again with the blinders on to log more instrument time towards OKV. After Eric had OKV in sight, I passed the controls back to him for a lap around the pattern and a full stop landing. Since the weather was nicer, a few others were taking advantage of it for night currency as well, so I called traffic with the blinders off while we were in the pattern.
One of the pilots who landed before us decided to stop right next to the taxiway for some reason, but we managed to get by. After the departure, I put the blinders back on and took us back to JYO. Once again, Eric called the field in sight, I passed him the controls for the landing, and that was that. By the way, if anyone wants to see the perfect example of a full stall landing, see this guy.
From all of the questions throughout the flight, it seems I need to dig back through the books to brush up on some of the items I've forgotten over the years. It was a great flight, though. He has his night currency back, and I have 1.6 more hours of the instrument requirement (not to mention 1.6 more instrument dual).
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 2.1 - 84.1 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 1.6 - 13.7 (of 40)
I normally embed my flight videos right into my posts, but that's because I upload the raw video to Contour or YouTube as I'm writing. Since I edited video from three cameras together into one for the Dizzy Yet? flight, I uploaded it well after publishing the flight narrative. For now, I'll probably post the flight narrative with a couple videos, and then follow that up with the edited video in another post, as with the case here.
I know some of you probably saw the Facebook or Twitter links to it, but for those of you who haven't seen the finished product, here it is (make sure to switch it up to 720p HD):
I learned a lot making this video, so the videos in the future should be better.
I was supposed to go on a flight with my friends Matt and Mike this past weekend, but weather got in the way of that twice. Saturday afternoon was cancelled because of low clouds and rain, and Sunday was cancelled because of wind and turbulence. Of course, having just received my new mounts and camera, I was itching to go play with the new toys.
As I've mentioned a few times in previous posts, the commercial pilot license requires a certain amount of solo night flight experience, and a part of that is 10 takeoffs and landings at a towered field. I've passively thought of my options since learning of the requirement, and my general conclusion was that none of them were particularly good. Charlottesville (CHO) requires about 45 minutes just to get there, though the tower stays open all night. Martinsburg (MRB) is closer, but the tower closes earlier than I'd need it to. Dulles (IAD) would be great, but the A/FD says "no flight training after 2200 local," and you'd be nuts to try to request pattern work there. After some thought, though, I remembered that Frederick (FDK) now has a tower, and it stays open long enough to fit in 10 landings after dark.
At first, I figured I'd wait and just take care of the flight later, but between the days getting longer and the potential for controllers to be furloughed in the near future, I thought the best time would be now. I booked a plane, packed my stuff, and set off towards Leesburg (JYO).
Before preflighting, I set up the three cameras so that I could get some video of it from multiple angles. The video that came from them wasn't the best, but the angles worked out pretty well for the flight itself. They'll all look better with a day flight, too. You know, being able to actually see things makes video that much better.
Here's the ContourGPS shot over the nose:
[Video got lost when Contour closed down for a while.]
I imagine that the ContourGPS will always be up somewhere on the windscreen so that it can get a clear shot up to the GPS satellites, so you'll always have that typical angle to look forward to. The next angle, shot from the ContourROAM is out the right window, which caught some pretty cool reflections off of the right wing. You can see the sunset reflected, and the moon as I turn north.
[Video got lost when Contour closed down for a while.]
The final angle I got with the new ContourROAM2 was of the panel, which included my back. Phil shoots from this angle with his GoPro, and the end result is pretty cool looking. I'll try it out the next time I fly during the day. Unfortunately, I didn't bother getting a larger SD card for the new camera, so it cut out just before I landed back at JYO.
[Video got lost when Contour closed down for a while.]
I also managed to get myself a copy of Adobe Premiere Elements 11, so the video edits in the future should be a heck of a lot cooler. Don't get me wrong, Windows Live Movie Maker is a decent starting point (not to mention, it's free), but it can't pull off what I'd like it to. We'll see what I can put together as I learn more about the program.
The flight up to FDK was nice and quick, and I was worked into the pattern behind another aircraft to begin what I saw as my own version of the Daytona 500. In order to pass the time, I made each lap a game of judging how well I got the nose up in the flare. After three times around, I told the controller taking over for the last controller that I was going to be doing seven more laps so that he knew what the plan was. He worked me in between a couple others who showed up for pattern work, and another couple of IFR arrivals. The last few trips around the pattern were under the guidance of the first controller. Getting closer to the 10 landings mark, I actually lost count, despite making tick marks on the scratchpad of ForeFlight. After an insurance lap, just in case I had double counted a lap, I let the controller know on the upwind that I was done bothering her for the night and was heading back to JYO. As she and I exchanged salutations, another pilot in the pattern checked to make sure I was spacially-oriented well enough to get home with "you dizzy yet?"
With the assistance of ForeFlight, I kept myself below the Class Bravo airspace as I got closer to JYO. The landing, which would make 12 for the night, was a simple straight in approach to Runway 17.
[Video got lost when Contour closed down for a while.]
I'm off to mess around with Premiere Elements 11 to see what I can to do these videos. So far, I haven't found a feature to correct my bonehead error of not properly leveling the ContourGPS, so I'll try to make sure it's level next time.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0.0 - 76.2 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 10.5 (of 40)
Phil and I have had plans to go flying for a while now. Originally, it was a flight back in May, but that got cancelled so I flew out west on my own. I'm pretty sure there were a few plans in between, but more recently we were thinking of helping a friend get home to Upstate New York. Those plans also got cancelled as well, so like the flight back in May, we thought we'd head up to State College, PA. Yesterday, we decided that flight would be a little longer than we would've liked, so we cancelled those plans as well and opted for a challenge instead.
To be honest, that last paragraph reminds me a little of this:
Back in February of 2010, I went for a flight out of Harford County Airport (0W3), right after one of the Snowpocalypse storms. If the 2000' x 40' runway wasn't enough of a challenge, some of the snow plowed off of the runway was piled at the ends. It wouldn't be enough to force pilots to hit a 2000' x 40' target, though. Why not add in a 24' telephone line 500' from the runway, and some giant trees just beyond that? This is also not mentioning that I hadn't flown since August of 2008 prior to that. Despite it being a challenge, I really enjoyed it. I think that was the reason I enjoyed it, actually. It's a challenge.
We started the day early in weather that could only be described as "severe clear." Clear weather, however, makes no mention of temperature or wind. While it wasn't too incredibly cold, it was cold enough to put frost on the wings. The wind only added to the chill at a steady 6 knots. Phil preflighted the plane while I de-iced the wings of our plane, and several other aircraft on the way to put the de-ice bottle back inside. Back outside, I got the interior all set up with Phil. In the last flight narrative, I made fun of myself for the amount of technology I bring with me, but we essentially doubled it this time. Phil had his GoPro, iPad, Dual XGPS150, and the audio setup. I had my Contour, iPad, Garmin GLO, and audio setup as well. Why not?
After starting and heading down to the end of Runway 35, I called Potomac to get my SFRA flight plan activated. Apparently they didn't get it, though, so instead of bothering with Flight Service, Phil and I gave up the plan of a shortcut through the SFRA and just departed north, up and around it. On climb out, my iPad was not agreeing with the Garmin GLO for whatever reason. Phil ended up getting it sorted through cycling the power on both. Once that was all sorted, I threw the blinders on so that we could both log time (and I could continue to chip away at the 40 hour instrument time requirement).
Because we didn't get an SFRA clearance, we flew a route that would hug the outside: DINUW LINSE TAFFI 0W3. In order to log another approach, I flew the RNAV (GPS)-B off of TAFFI.
One of the issues with flying GPS approaches is that you never know whether or not the GPS database in the aircraft is up to date when it comes to renting from flight schools. It all depends on the school, really, but the one I rent from tends to be pretty good about keeping the aircraft up to date. The ever-so-trusty N172DR has a KLN-89B, and looking at the unit, it seems pretty simplistic. If you're a flyer of an aircraft with a simpler-looking GPS, don't discount it too much as a lot of them have some pretty neat features buried in them. Unfortunately, most of the CFIs don't know a lot of the features and normally only show you how to use the Direct-To feature. That's nothing against them, really, as some fleets have different equipment in just about every plane, but it's tough to utilize the tools in front of you if you've never been shown how. If you're not going to be shown the neat features, you might as well go learn them on your own. The KLN-89B actually has a free simulator that's out there on the internet. Unfortunately, I can't find a link from the manufacturer, but I did find a link through Software Informer. If you fly with a different unit, there's probably a free simulator out there somewhere as well. To be honest, the only reason I knew the KLN-89B had a moving map and an approach database was through the simulator in the link.
So, all that to say I was able to load the GPS approach after TAFFI through a little homework. Since the GPS was only going to give me lateral navigation, I flew the approach with step downs. Looking at the track in CloudAhoy, I didn't do too poorly. At the far left, you can see a very subtle bend in the track, which is my turn over TAFFI. After that, the more obvious turn in the middle is SNAZI, where you can see I turned a little more than necessary, and had to adjust closer to the field in order to land on Runway 10. I'll review CloudAhoy in another post, but check out the screen capture in Debrief Mode.
When I began the approach, I checked BWI's ATIS as noted on the approach plate, as there's no weather station on the field. It noted the wind was 040 at 9, meaning a nice crosswind for the approach, but nothing too unmanageable. After the little sidestep at the end of the approach, I brought the plane in for what I thought would be a nice showing of my landing skills. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans. The 9 knot wind wasn't so much of a 9 knot wind as much as it was a gusty 9 knot wind. It wasn't until I landed and checked the weather that I found out how gusty exactly.
In any case, here's the video of me fighting the crosswind down to the runway. Closer in, you can hear Phil say "nosewheel," anticipating me hitting nose first as I bring it in typically flat. I think I managed to hit the mains first, but wound up airborne again. I couldn't get it to settle and the end was coming up quickly, so I went around. Note the telephone line and giant trees at the end that I mentioned earlier, too.
[Video was here until Contour closed down for a bit, and all was lost.]
After going around, I wrapped the pattern back around to try the approach to Runway 28. In the video, you can see that the wind sock shows the wind somewhat favored Runway 10, but the last time I flew here I used Runway 28, so I figured I'd try that.
The second approach wasn't any better than the first, so I went around. The third attempt, however, was good enough to set down. I won't say it looked pretty because it really didn't, but I at least made it down to the ground, despite a gust picking the right wing up slightly, causing me to drag the right wheel while trying to brake. Thankfully, I had Phil to dump the lift by raising the flaps when I called it.
The video picks up on final, and you can definitely see how close you come to the trees and the telephone lines this time around. Contour changed the style of the videos as well. I'm not so much of a fan of the new overlay, but it is what it is. Just make sure not to pay attention to the speed display. It's not very accurate, which you can see as it still displays 70 mph when I'm pulling off the runway.
[Video was here until Contour closed down for a bit, and all was lost.]
As I exit, you can barely hear me coordinating with the aircraft holding short of the runway, who I later joked with about the luxuries of longer runways. Because I don't have any specific audio editing software, or audio hosting for that matter, I made it into a short YouTube clip:
After that departure, we headed back to JYO and I put the hood back on. Closer to Frederick (FDK), I remembered that they now have a tower and that I would need to avoid their airspace, or call them up. I opted for the former by climbing above it. The controller seemed to have his hands full with a couple pilots still adjusting to the relatively new tower, and I didn't feel like adding to his workload. After turning south, I handed the controls over to Phil so he could get in a landing. Compared to my landings, his was nice and smooth.
Here's the evidence:
[Video was here until Contour closed down for a bit, and all was lost.]
After I got home and checked the weather, it turns out that BWI's weather information updated right after I flew the approach. This report matches more of what I felt:
For the non-pilots among us, this is saying that the weather at BWI (KBWI) today, at 1454 UTC (171454Z), had wind from the northeast at 12 knots gusting to 21 knots (04012G21). The rest is sky conditions, temperature and pressure.
Definitely an airport I would return to - wind or not. I loved the challenge.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 1.8 - 74.2 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 1.3 - 9.6 (of 40)
I'd have to say that autumn is my favorite season of all of them. It's not too hot, it's not too cold, and although it's a little rainy around where I live, the leaves changing colors is pretty cool. When I woke up this morning, I didn't think I'd go flying, but I did note how awesome one of the trees in my neighborhood looked. When someone I met at work mentioned going flying, I knew exactly where we would be going.
No, not Charlottesville.
One of the better places to go around here, if you're looking to check out the fall colors, is Skyline Drive. To the west of the ridge line that Skyline Drive follows is the Luray Valley, which is part of the Shenandoah Valley. If you've ever been on Skyline Drive and thought it looked cool, you should see it by air.
Because Marcy and I wanted to actually see the colors, we were presented with a little time issue. Meeting up at Leesburg (JYO) would've meant losing daylight after work, so I agreed to fly down to Manassas (HEF) to pick her up, and then continue to Luray (LUA). This, of course, presented me with a little airspace issue.
The direct path would really get me in hot water with Dulles Tower, as you can see in the picture on the left. Another option was to head out of the SFRA (the blue hatched arc with a white background in the picture) to the west and remain outside almost all the way until HEF. That option would take more time, but it gave me more room to work with. The final option is somewhat less obvious, unless you're really looking, and you're really comfortable with ATC and airspace. The four blue lines near the center of the picture are the runways at Dulles (IAD). The thick blue circle surrounding it is the airspace that starts at the ground and continues up to 10,000'. The next ring out is airspace that starts at 1,500', which you can see over JYO. As long as I stay under that 1,500' shelf of airspace, west of the floor airspace, and talk to Potomac Approach for clearance into the SFRA, I'm golden.
If you look closely, I even have a good landmark to keep me out of the floor airspace (aviation term for airspace that starts at the ground): Route 15. What you can't really see are the Bull Run Mountains, which I've talked about before in past posts because they're tall enough that you can't fly over them with legal clearance, yet remain below the Class B airspace. So, if I stay at 1,300', west of Route 15, and east of the Bull Run Mountains, I'm set. It really isn't the most ideal route - I don't really like being kept that low to the ground, and being close to airspace always makes me a little nervous - but it shaves enough time to make it worth it. I definitely wouldn't try it at night.
I took my time with the preflight, since I was slightly ahead of schedule, but still managed to get out ahead of a couple inbound aircraft. Once airborne, I coordinated my departure path with one of those inbound aircraft as flying the standard pattern would have meant cutting him off. I've noticed I've gotten a lot better at spotting traffic, for reasons I'm sure you already know if you've been following the blog for any amount of time. After I was clear of the traffic, I called Potomac up and got cleared into the SFRA. From there, I turned southbound to follow Route 15 down to Haymarket.
IFR really means "I Follow Roads" right?
(Route 15 runs right up the middle of the image)
Closer to HEF, Potomac passed me over to tower, who set me up on a left downwind for Runway 34R. If the pilot or ATC-side of you thought that last sentence was odd, mine did too. In the world of ATC, however, never forget two words: operational advantage. While putting me on the left downwind for runway 34R made me cross the final of 34L, it kept me away from two helicopters using 34R.
After landing over a construction team still working on extending the runway, I taxied off to the main terminal. Unfortunately, the main terminal doesn't have any parking spots painted on the ramp, so I asked the ground controller if she knew anything about the parking situation. She said she didn't, but offered a frequency for one of the FBOs next to me. The person who answered the call at APP Jetcenter was the GM, as I found out later. He gave me instructions on where to park, and even came out to marshal me into a spot as all of the other rampers were busy with other aircraft. I was pretty impressed, especially having been a ramp agent and supervisor myself.
I decided to try something new with the videos. I've always wanted to be able to add the voice communication to the recordings I take, but everything gets drowned out by the sound of the engine. I actually bought a cable to work with my voice recorder a while ago, but just got it (story and review of that will come at some point). With it, I'm now able to record the audio and then overlay it using the same program I use to create the time-lapse videos. This is the result:
It gives it an interesting new feel, and now I don't have to try to explain the things I find funny on frequency.
The rest of the flight was pretty simple. After taking off, tower kept me on runway heading for departure traffic on Runway 34L. Once that traffic turned southbound, I got my turn on course and frequency change to Potomac. Despite listening in to the frequency for a few seconds and calling when it was clear, the controller snapped back with "all VFR traffic standby!" As I've mentioned before, controllers often work combined frequencies, so you can't always hear the other traffic on the frequency. While the tone did seem a little unnecessary, I shrugged it off. In any case, I continued on my way to LUA, climbing under the Class B airspace. After crossing the mountain ridge, I descended into the valley to get a closer look at the colors and continued inbound to the airport.
After landing on Runway 4, I parked the plane on the North Ramp and got a ride into town from Kenny for dinner at Uncle Buck's. If you haven't flown in during the week, you probably haven't run into Kenny, but he's a great guy, just like John. They have a good crew down there.
The flight home was pretty quiet, and the landing at JYO was uninterrupted as there aren't many people who fly later in the day on weekdays. After landing on Runway 17 and parking the plane back in its spot, it took a while to get all of my technology out. It hadn't occurred to me until just now how much I have in there: the Contour, the iPad, the Garmin GLO, and a voice recorder. That's all on top of the other normal items.
No idea where the next trip will take me, but I'm not going unless I can get some simulated instrument time. Yes, that's an invitation to my other pilot friends.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 1.9 - 72.4 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 8.3 (of 40)
Looking back at my logbook, I noticed that in the time between getting my license in 2007 and now, I have flown 55.1 hours. Of that time, I've only flown 1.1 hours as what the FAA calls 'solo,' which is when a pilot flies as the sole occupant in the aircraft. It's not a bad thing that I haven't flown more solo, it's just an interesting stat. To me, it just means I've been sharing the experience with people. Still, there's something to be said for putting yourself up in the air alone. It's really peaceful.
Knowing that, in addition to the weather taunting me with its clear skies and calm wind, I caved and booked some time. I didn't know where I'd go, and spent a few minutes at work plotting various places I could go, but still hadn't fully decided. Once at the airport, I asked one of the instructors for his suggestion, but his suggestion involved a longer trip and a tower. Despite my normal enjoyment in flying with ATC, today just seemed like a day to set out on my own. In the end, I settled on Bedford County (HMZ).
Bedford County Airport is just north of the town of Bedford, Pennsylvania. It's only 75nm from JYO, which makes it a shorter trip, but it's also an airport I haven't been to, out in the mountains. For some reason, the challenges of airports around mountains have always drawn me to them. That draw generally dies somewhat when I'm flying in the clouds (with a rated pilot, of course), but it's still fun provided you follow the approach correctly.
The preflight, taxi out and departure were all the normal boring stuff, with the exception of the Waco (a modern bi-plane) that came in. On the way out, I ended up flying over my grandparents' old place outside of Purcellville again, and made my way towards MRB and then HMZ. The flight was uneventful, and I talked to Washington Center (ZDC) for a few minutes until I began my descent into HMZ.
The approach into HMZ is somewhat of a challenge when landing to the northwest as there's a narrow pass to slip through that's not exactly in line with the runway. It's not extreme or difficult, but it's definitely not the standard approach. You can see it better in the video at the end of the post.
On the way back, I talked to ZDC again, along with Potomac Approach (both MULLR and ASPER), and requested the ILS 17 into JYO. Since I was flying solo, I obviously didn't put on the hood or log it, but I thought it would be a good way to get familiar with the approach and working it all on my own. I also got a chance to use ForeFlight on my iPad. It was pretty cool for the plates, but I haven't actually bought it yet, so it was slightly limited (in addition to not having an external GPS receiver).
The controller working ASPER somehow managed and agreed to work me in on the approach despite being busy, which was awesome of her. From there you know the rest. It was definitely nice to get out there on my own. Apparently, there's a requirement for the next rating I'll be going for (commercial), that requires some solo pilot in command (solo PIC) night flight, and I just knocked 0.8 of that out.
The video is in portrait because I never checked to see if I returned the camera's setting to landscape after a cross country drive I took a few weeks ago. I'm beginning to think I need to add in several checklist items so I stop screwing up the videos of my flight. At least I'm making sure to fly properly.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 1.5 - 54.7 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 5.6 (of 40)
First, I must point out why the title is what it is:
For the second time I've made a mistake with the video camera that has cost me some valuable footage. Today, I somehow managed to turn the camera off instead of on, so I captured absolutely nothing today. I missed two approaches, a whole bunch of pattern work, and a few other cool things that I guess I'll just try to convey via text. The new checklist item, however, is "camera on and recording."
I only think it's recording right now
Camera issues and related frustration aside, it was actually an awesome flight.
My friend Ashley asked me yesterday if I would like to go flying sometime soon, and after telling her when I had time, she said "tomorrow?" You all know I'm not one to turn down a flight, especially when it's with a fellow pilot I can split time with. She's been wanting to find a pattern to get a few landings in for a while, so I began flipping between the hassle of staying here (JYO) or going to Winchester (OKV).
On the drive out, I'd been thinking more of flying out to OKV for a relatively empty pattern and not having to worry about special procedures. When I got to the airport, I had time to kill, so I sat down and continued plotting. That plotting included throwing in an instrument approach so I could log some more simulated instrument time and chip away at the rest of the 35 hours I still had left, so I bought a current copy of the Virginia and Maryland approach charts.
I settled on the OKV idea, and the Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach to Runway 32 at Winchester. It was really convenient because it was in line with our route to the airport, and it put us out at an airport where we could run laps around the traffic pattern undisturbed. On the way out I called up Potomac TRACON, who accommodated the request via radar vectors. After a few heading changes, I was cleared direct to CLADD to shoot the approach. Nearing CLADD it seemed like the localizer (the part of the ILS that guides me laterally) was reverse sensing (it was showing me right of course, when I was left), but it seemed more normal as I got to CLADD and continued inbound. Ashley called out altitudes and watched for traffic while I had the horse blinders on, attempting to follow radio beams to the runway. For one of my first times flying an instrument approach, it wasn't bad. I was tracking the localizer well, but there was a mix up with the frequency set in the second nav radio, so I wasn't able to pick up the necessary cross radials off of Linden to determine my steps down in altitude before intercepting the glideslope (the part of the ILS that guides me vertically). That put me above the glideslope, but after checking how far I was from CLADD on the GPS, I found that I was near the point that I should be following the glideslope and descended to capture it and follow it all down to the runway. I took the blinders off just above the minimum descent altitude (MDA) for the approach and landed with a little bit of a gusty wind from the north.
After landing, we taxied back to Runway 32 to do some pattern work. Ashley took the first lap around and opted for a go-around after the wind tossed us around some on short final. On climbout, I was handed the controls again to give her a break from fighting the wind for a lap. My first trip around the pattern wasn't too bad, but the wind did distort it slightly. The strong wind from the north meant there was a decent crosswind, but it also meant that we had to turn to base and final closer in to keep the same descent angles. If you're not used to adjusting your pattern for wind, it can definitely throw you off.
Ashley took over again for a few more trips around the pattern with better results. For not having flown in a while, the landings were on point, and they only got better with each pass. I made a few more landings of my own, and I remember thinking that I was glad I had the camera to record some of them. Right... Taxiing back for the last departure, I pulled out the approach plates again to get set up for another instrument approach heading back into JYO.
After departing OKV, I turned north towards Martinsburg (MRB) to pick up the VOR (navigation radio) there as it's the initial approach fix (IAF) for the ILS Runway 17 approach into JYO. Potomac again got me situated on the approach, and provided traffic advisories. Over MRB, I was switched from 120.45 (MANNE) to 126.1 (MULRR), and then over to ASPER (125.05) as I got closer to getting established on the localizer. The controller saw that I was established on the approach and told me to switch over to JYO's CTAF so that I could let them know what I was doing. He also, however, told me to remain outside of the Class B airspace, which annoyed me to a certain degree. I understand the controller had a job to do that was a lot more important than VFR practice approaches, but it put me in a tough spot not knowing specifically that the approach in itself would keep me out of the Bravo airspace. I'll readily admit that I didn't cross-reference the approach chart with a sectional to see if the approach remained clear of the airspace, but finding that information out is not as simple as you'd think.
The approach chart clearly shows the SFRA, but nowhere does it show the overlying Bravo shelves (it wouldn't need to if you're IFR, anyway). The Sectional Chart also clearly shows the SFRA and the Bravo shelves, but not the instrument approach, or the fixes on the approach. You'd think the FAA would design approaches with things like that in mind, but that's not the case. There was a big issue a few years ago where one of the missed approach procedures at Frederick (FDK) placed you inside of the ADIZ (precursor to the SFRA). If you were flying VFR practice approaches and you ended up flying the missed approach, you would bust the airspace. Despite this, there was very little understanding from the FAA. The AOPA fought hard against it so the FAA, as a result, began depicting the ADIZ (and later the SFRA) on the charts for situational awareness, but the stance remains: bust the airspace, and we'll bust you.
In any case, my distraction with trying to remain under the Bravo, while also flying the approach took its toll and I ended up right of course. That all worked out in the end, though, as that put me in the right spot to enter the traffic pattern for Runway 35. As we arrived in the traffic pattern, though, a helicopter based at JYO called inbound for a non-standard entry into the pattern. Luckily, we spotted it pretty far out, and they called us in sight soon after. Even so, it was unnerving turning towards it on base, and even more so knowing it was also going to approach over the taxiway parallel to me. When I turned final, I attempted to just lock everything else out of my head except landing, and because of that, I pulled off one of my best landings ever, celebrating in my mind that I just caught it on camera. Again...right... I even managed to have the nose up (a rarity for me, as you know) and the stall warning as I touched.
As I taxied off, I got buzzed by the helicopter, which I wasn't so pleased with, but it's not like it was too close for comfort. It's just startling to have a large bright yellow thing pass just ahead of and above you. After parking, we put the plane back in its spot and set off for a much needed dinner.
For those of you who fly out of JYO and are wondering what I found out about the ILS Runway 17 approach, it does actually remain under the Bravo. I made the chart by superimposing the approach chart on top of a sectional and copying the Class B lines over. Obviously, it's for reference only, and don't come busting down my door if the FAA comes busting down yours. If you're still unsure, you can go to SkyVector.com and enter the approach fixes to see where they're depicted on the sectional and you can check the altitudes on your own.
Let's see if I can actually remember to turn the camera on next time.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0 - 50.4 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.7 - 5.6 (of 40)
As sometime occurs with my flights the intentions are to go one place, but in the end you go where the weather takes you. Oddly enough, the reason I'm trying to fly so much recently is to work towards a rating that would help me avoid the weather issue. In any case, despite a nice forecast, the weather this morning was pretty low and hazy. Every weather station in the area, and those as far away as Charlottesville (CHO), Baltimore (BWI) and Martinsburg (MRB), reported low clouds that would just about prevent me from flying.
To a certain degree, it was somewhat of a sendoff, as my boss Jason (of the Bridgewater trip fame), and his wife Vanessa will be moving out of the country at the end of the week. The original plan was to try to pull off what I did on my last flight, but fly into BWI this time. BWI has a smaller runway that's really only used for smaller planes so I wouldn't be too much of a pest trying to fly in. Unfortunately, I don't exactly have connections there like I do at Dulles, so the ramp and landing fee would've been around $80. Added to that was the fact that the ceiling (lowest broken or overcast cloud level to the ground) this morning was at 900 feet. Needless to say, I quickly tossed that idea out.
Martinsburg's weather showed the most hope with a high ceiling and some low spotty clouds, and the terminal aerodrome forecast (TAF) supported that, with that weather eventually heading towards Dulles. That in mind, Jason and I looked west for a few spots just so we could go flying before he leaves. In the end, we decided on Winchester (OKV) and Front Royal (FRR). Winchester is an airport I'm familiar with, so if the weather didn't improve, finding it wouldn't be as bad as finding an airport I hadn't been to before, and it's relatively clear of mountains (at least more so than the other airports I fly to). I added FRR to keep it interesting, since I'd never been there before, and it was still pretty close to home if the weather didn't live up to expectations.
It seemed as if everyone saw that the weather was improving and jumped at the chance to get up and out, so we joined a line of aircraft ready to depart. Luckily, we were number two in a line of four or five. As usual for a Runway 17 departure, we turned west as soon as possible in order to avoid busting the corner of the SFRA, but this time we just headed directly to OKV. The Class B airspace kept us low initially, but the clouds ended up keeping us low in the end. As we crossed over Blue Mountain, I brought up the old joke that IFR really stood for "I Follow Roads," as we were essentially following Route 7 all the way. Getting closer to OKV, I attempted to call in a position report, but had forgotten I was still listening in to the MANNE sector of Potomac Approach. Since that was the active comm frequency, I ended up transmitting my location and intention to Potomac, who was slightly caught off guard by the remark. Being me, I apologized, took a jab at myself, and ended with "hey, April Fools, right?" Humoring me, the controller responded "yeah you got me good there," and off I went.
The landing wasn't too bad, but I'll let the video speak for me.
[Video was here, and then Contour went bankrupt for a while, and it got lost]
If you turn the volume up on the video, you can probably hear me ask Jason if we were going to stop in Winchester to do anything, or if we were just going to head back out. Because we all had plans after the flying, we opted to just continue on to FRR and then home so we weren't rushed. After taxiing back we departed Runway 32, climbed over Interstate 81, and then headed southeast to FRR. Since it's a short flight, I switched directly from OKV's common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) to FRR's CTAF. As soon as I tuned it in, I could hear a glider pilot coordinating with a tow plane which wasn't too comforting. I don't have anything against gliders, but they're higher in the pecking order, so I have to stay out of their way. They're also frequently white, which doesn't contrast too well with clouds. We ended up spotting the glider circling well above pattern altitude when we were a few miles out so it wasn't too much of an issue in the end.
I entered on a right 45 for Runway 28, turned in slightly early and ended up high on the approach. Despite the runway's shorter length compared to the runways at most of the airports I fly to, the high approach didn't cause any trouble. The landing actually turned out pretty nice, though it was my signature flat landing. You can hear it in the video as all three wheels make contact at about the same time. You can also see the approach path alignment panels (APAP) to the left of the runway, which you may remember I talked about in one of my posts about Luray (W45). I laugh at them every time, but they're effective enough. In all, the flight took 12 minutes.
[Video was here, and then Contour went bankrupt for a while, and it got lost]
Whenever I fly, I make it a point to avoid doing anything that would scare passengers, or make them even more uneasy than they already are. I try to make turns shallower, transition from level to climbs and descents more gradually, and so on. One of the first things to go is the short field takeoff that I occasionally do, just to keep things interesting. I didn't it at JYO because it was the first time Vanessa flew with me, and I didn't want that to start things off on the wrong foot. At OKV I didn't do it because it wasn't necessary. At FRR, however, it wasn't entirely necessary, but it wouldn't hurt, so off we went. For the record, yes, I know I drag out the ground effect acceleration longer than I need to, compared to the 'proper' procedure. If I was really pressed for space, I'd climb out at the proper speed, but in this case I wasn't too pressed for space.
[Video was here, and then Contour went bankrupt for a while, and it got lost]
After departing, Jason flew the last leg back into JYO with a little guidance from me on how to get there. The clouds kept us low again, but it wasn't a big issue. As we were getting closer I attempted to call JYO's CTAF, but I was still on Potomac's frequency again, having just sent them a pilot report (PIREP) about the weather for a flight going into Martinsburg (MRB). For the second time in an hour, I called Potomac like it was a CTAF. I shook my head a bit, as I'm sure the controller did a little as well, and switched over to JYO CTAF to let them know I'd be arriving in the pattern shortly. Closer in, I took over the controls and maneuvered north of the field, entered the left 45 for Runway 17, landed and taxied in.
[Video was here, and then Contour went bankrupt for a while, and it got lost]
Despite my frequency issue, it was a great flight. While I didn't make any progress towards my instrument rating, it was still nice to be able to go flying with a pilot friend (and company) who won't be able to fly for a while.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0 - 50.4 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0 - 4.9 (of 40)
For those of you scratching your head, wondering what the heck the title is supposed to mean, it means "Instrument Rating Pilot in Command Cross Country Complete." Basically, in order to get the rating, the FAA wants you to have 50 hours of flight time to destinations more than 50nm (57.5 "regular" miles) away.
After the last flight, I was looking at the numbers and noticing that I was only 1.4 short of the 50 hour requirement, so I figured I might as well put that one out of the way. At first, I'd assumed that I'd leave a few hours in there for the long cross country, but I just wanted to get it all over with. That requirement is now out of the way, so all I have to do now is knock out a ton of sim time, along with a ton more time in the aircraft with horse blinders on, and then go take a checkride. Easy, right?
We'll see how it goes.
Melissa rode along with me again on this milestone trip, and since we were going to be flying later in the day, on a Sunday, we eventually settled on Charlottesville for the trip. It's shorter, it's easy, I know it, and it's safe. Originally, I'd planned on departing in time to see the sun set, but by the time we both got ready, got to the airport, and got the plane ready, the sun had dipped below the horizon. Even though it had disappeared, the sky was still a nice orange, so all was not lost. Melissa also set up the Contour on the glareshield as I was preflighting, too, so I got the full taxi out, run up, and departure. It's still in the testing phase, though, so it's still not perfect. For one, I took 3M Command Adhesive to stick it to the glareshield, so it's still not properly mounted (the mount should be here in a few days), and I haven't tuned the camera settings to my liking. In any case, there's a good bit of video captured prior to it getting too dark.
On the way down, I talked to the MANNE and CHOEA sectors of the Potomac TRACON, along with Charlottesville Tower of course. As soon as I checked in with CHOEA, I was given the ATIS info and the arrival runway, which was Runway 3. Once I was on tower's frequency, I was instructed to make right traffic, and flew over Route 29 to enter on the downwind. As I entered the pattern, the tower controller, who was working a combined tower and ground, was giving instructions to a Colgan SAAB 340. As usual, I don't like to be the little plane that gets in the way, I made a closer turn in to the runway, came in a little fast, and bled off the speed over the runway so that I could land, slow and exit the runway quickly. That all worked out pretty well as I exited right before they called ready for departure. Given the amount of wind, I'd say it was a pretty good landing.
The camera recorded nearly the whole flight, before it died on right base into Charlottesville. Oddly enough, it actually split it into two videos. I'm not sure if that was a file size limitation, or if it somehow got bumped in the turbulence, but it split the file. Oh well. Weird things always happen when adapting to new technology.
I took my normal taxi route to the Landmark ramp, which apparently somehow confused the tower controller, as he revised his earlier taxi instructions for Landmark. It was the same tower controller I always talk to and I was in my normal plane, but I guess he had never paid attention to what I'd done before. In any case, I made it in, parked and shut down. The ramp guy parked me right in front of the door to the building (I felt a little first class right about then, no lie), and as I opened the door I was greeted with "the crew car should be here - no fuel?" Even though our flight school worked out a deal to avoid the ramp fee at Landmark - CHO because the aircraft is based at a Landmark at JYO, I felt like I should give them something for letting me borrow their car all the time, so I had them put some fuel in it. When I walked inside, Keya met me with similar, in that I knew the drill for taking the car, and we were off.
I haven't yet decided if I like the fact that I've come here so often that I'm recognized and understood or not. On the one hand, I like being a regular because it's nice to actually develop relationships with people, even if only simple ones, and it's nice to have a go-to. On the other hand, being a regular means you're also somewhat predictable (evidence in the comments when I got out of the aircraft and walked inside), and I'm not sure I like being predictable like that. It's not a big deal, really, but it's something I've obviously thought about.
At the grill, Melissa noticed the kid's menus had horses on them, and asked if I wanted to take one to color. Of course, being an occasional large child, I did. The hostess made note of the move and gave me a hard time about it as well. At the table, I colored the horses while Melissa chastized me for my lack of proper shading - with Crayons, mind you - while the server, Chris, got the drinks and took the food order. Melissa tried to steal my burger twice in the time we were there: once when we were ordering, and once when it came out. In the end, I managed to end up with my Clint Eastwood burger, despite her efforts. As we got ready to leave, I decided to finally get the names of the servers I liked and write them down so I can request them next time, which Chris helped with. As a thanks, we left the drawing. He said they'd hang it up if we left it, so we'll see what happens with it next time I'm there.
After taking care of the fuel and getting the plane set, we were off again. Tower got us set up with flight following from Potomac while we were still on the ground, waiting for a US Airways regional jet to land. As the RJ was exiting, we got the standard on course takeoff clearance, and we were off. As usual with my departures out of CHO, I made a short field takeoff. I find them fun and they keep my skill up for if I ever need to do one in the future. I kinda want to see what it looks like from the ground, though.
The flight back was calmer, though still bumpy in parts. As we got closer to JYO, I asked Potomac (ASPER), if I could get cleared into the Bravo. The controller let me know she'd advise me as I got closer, and eventually cleared me in, VFR at or below 5500'. Keeping it up at 5500' was nice, as we had a 20 knot tailwind, which put us up at about 140 across the ground. Once we were about 20 miles out I called the field in sight, but she held on to us until we were about 5 out. From there, I made a non-standard left base entry (nobody was around) and landed on Runway 35.
You know the rest of the story.
Yeah. That's the runway, and that's the end of the video.
50 hours of PIC XC done. Now it's just the instrument time, and the long cross country with multiple approaches. Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 1.7 - 50.4 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0 - 4.9 (of 40)
Last week, when I was out with some of my pilot friends, we started talking about getting back into flying. My friend Ashley, as you may know by now, has been a good flying buddy on a few of my flights, while her roommate and one of my friends, Katelyn, I haven't yet flown with. Since it's been just shy of two months and the flight school I rent from requires a flight every 60 days for checkout currency, I figured it would be a good time for both of us to take a flight.
As usual, since I'm somewhat over the idea of trying to think up a destination, I put it off on Katelyn. She's a pilot, so the idea of having her pick something off of a sectional isn't so unreasonable this time. In the end she suggested Luray.
The weather was pretty awesome this morning, so I was pretty excited to get up in the air. Since I'm such an addict, I ended up getting to the airport before the flight school even opened, so I had to sit pretty and wait for someone to show up. Once it opened, I grabbed the book and headed out to preflight so that the plane would be ready for when the girls showed up.
My usual workhorse, N172DR, was the 'breakfast chariot' for the trip down to Luray. After I got it all set and ready to go, I went back inside to meet Ashley and Katelyn. Ashley was going to stay behind and get work done, so I showed her Landmark's crew room, and Katelyn and I went out to go get the flight started.
Upperville - 2VG2
Since she hasn't flown around this area, I described some of the procedures in and out of Leesburg and pointed out some of the landmarks to help in avoiding some of the less friendly airspace. After crossing my southwest exit point, Upperville, we headed toward Front Royal and down the valley to Luray.
As we were heading down, I tuned in the Luray's common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF), which is a frequency shared by many airports out there because they don't draw enough traffic to justify having their own frequency. You'll hear calls from all over the place because of that. One of the calls I heard was from might-as-well-be-Delaware Harford County, Maryland (0W3). The total distance that call traveled was slightly over 100nm. Crazy.
With the wind from the south, I made for a straight in approach to Runway 22. It wasn't my most stellar landing, but it certainly wasn't the worst. As I was slowing the plane down and getting ready to taxi back to the tie downs, the airport attendant, John, asked what we were up to. I told him we were headed into town and he met us with the van at the plane to drive us in.
Since Uncle Bucks turned out to be good last time, I figured it was worth another shot. I'd say it was a good choice, but I was stuffed by the end of it. After eating, we decided to walk back and get a couple laps around the pattern before heading back to Leesburg. Unfortunately, by the time we made it back, it was getting close to the time we had to have the plane back home because someone had it after us.
That said, we set off towards Leesburg, this time with Katelyn at the controls as I played navigator. As we got closer, I called headings and descents to keep us out of Dulles' airspace, and made sure everything was in order. I also explained how to make the really awkward pattern entry to Runway 17 at Leesburg. It's a really hectic approach because you really don't have much time to get situated on the downwind before you have to start your base turn. You're boxed in by the SFRA to the southwest and east, and Dulles tower's airspace to the south, so you have to keep a tight pattern. All of that worked against her, and the wind that was picking up only made it worse, but she salvaged the landing in the end.
We got in right before we had to have it back at 1230 so Katelyn ran the book in so that the next guy wouldn't be too delayed, while I made sure the plane was in order and locked up. After taking care of the paperwork, we went over to collect Ashley from the crew room and head out for a little time at the Leesburg Outlets.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 1.3 - 44.7 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0 - 4.9 (of 40)
When I asked if anyone wanted to join in on the flight a few days ago, a couple people showed some interest, so I figured I'd take another trip. My friend Melissa asserted she's a pretty great passenger in a small plane, so I invited her along for the flight. Initially, I sent her a link to a flight map website and said pick a spot, but aviation sectionals aren't the most understandable to someone who hasn't used them much, so the job of picking a destination fell back on me.
A few posts back, I mentioned a need to head out west for once, as I've rarely gone out in that direction. More specifically, I was supposed to head out to Cumberland (CBE) a while back with another one of my friends, but we decided to head down to Charlottesville, as I knew what was there and that we could actually get around with relative ease. I was still curious about Cumberland, though, so I figured I'd give it a shot. It's a relatively short trip out west, it has some interesting terrain around it, and I don't head out west enough.
Regular Appointment with the DR
Since it was the day after Christmas, I was surprised to show up at the flight school and find the president and vice president of the flight school manning the counter. I figured someone else would've drawn the short straw. In any case, I got the book, checked the weather, and then headed out to preflight and show Melissa how to properly shake down a plane. I was the last one to have flown it, so everything was still relatively in order.
Just like the last flight, the wind was still pretty strong, though not unmanageable. It made for a bumpy flight all the way out west, and even more so while we were stuck under Dulles' Class B airspace. Once we cleared the Blue Ridge mountains, I was able to pop up a little higher, though just like last time, clouds kept me lower than I'd wanted. A large break in the clouds allowed me to get up another thousand feet for a few minutes, but another line of clouds ahead of me forced me back down, and back into the bumpier air.
Soon enough, though, we were closer in to Cumberland, where I entered the pattern for runway 23, set down and taxied over to the terminal for a quick run into town. At first, I figured we could just eat at the airport cafe, but as the attendant noted on the frequency and as a sign also pointed out on the door to the terminal, the airport cafe was closed indefinitely. One of the guys at the airport recommended we check out the Crabby Pig, which is a local seafood/barbecue place. Since we weren't going to be too long, they also let us borrow one of the airport trucks, which was nice of them.
The trip into town wasn't too bad, since they gave us a quick run down of how to get there, but the place is somewhat hidden, so we ended up parking a little farther down the road than I thought we would. I got their pulled pork, to see if it could stand up as a barbecue joint. I would've gotten seafood, but to be honest, in the likelihood that one would be better than the other, I figured it would have been the barbecue. Don't get me wrong, we were technically in Maryland and we all know - crabcakes and football, that's what Maryland does - but this part of Maryland might as well be part of West Virginia (the airport is, actually). The verdict? I'll take it. It could have been better, but it certainly wasn't bad, either. The smoker was out back, so I know they smoke the pork right there. The sauce could have been a little better though. Wait, is this a flight blog or a food blog? All of the pilot folk know about the (two) hundred dollar hamburger, so it's all related. I don't care what you think. Either way it's worth another shot, and if you're there down there, I'd recommend it.
On the way back, I filled the truck back up as a thanks for borrowing it, and set off toward the airport.
Back in the plane, I got everything situated, started and set off for the runway. The wind had died down significantly, so the departure was pretty smooth, in addition to the climb. The clouds had all disappeared, too, so I was able to climb a little higher. The way back was much shorter because of the wind aloft, which pushed us up to 140-145 knots across the ground (161-167 mph). As we descended back under Dulles' airspace, it got a little bumpier, but not too bad.
Two Grass Strips and Summit Point
In the descent, I tuned into one of Potomac Approach's sectors for arrivals from the west (MANNE), where I got to hear an interesting conversation between the controller and an arriving flight. The arriving flight was assigned the most inconvenient runway possible at Dulles. Because of that, the pilot questioned it to make sure the controller didn't say it by mistake, to which the controller's response was simply that there was no misunderstanding between the two. A few moments later, however, the controller came back with a more convenient runway. From the privacy of my own flight deck, I commented aloud that thanks were in order, but as I said it, the pilot came back and thanked the controller. I know a bunch of you reading this wouldn't find that nearly as funny as I did, and still do, and for that I almost apologize, but not quite.
Turning Final 35 JYO
Anyway, back on the ground, I put the plane back in its spot, reorganized everything and we headed home.
Hours: Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 1.5 - 43.4 (of 50) Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0 - 4.9 (of 40)
