Richmond for a Stamp

N6017N - C172S - 2.3 hours

This flight came partially out a need to celebrate the great medical news of a friend, and partially out of my need to go play with my new toy.  In the end, it was a lesson in flexibility, and situational awareness.

From the very start, things were slightly hectic.  Roscoe wasn't going to be able to get back to me about the flight until after I left work, and I didn't want to reserve an aircraft until I was sure I'd be using it.  As I came up out of the Metro after work, I checked in with Roscoe to see what the story was, called the flight school to put the keys to one of the aircraft out in the lock box, and headed home to change and get my flight gear.  When we got out to the airport, the aircraft I had intended to take was down for maintenance, so I took one of the newer 172S models with a G1000, which was a decision that could have saved my life, along with the life of my passenger.

Not much to see.  Night is dark.

After a few minutes of readjusting to the the G1000, we were off.  The departure was normal, and the sky was really clear, with the moon lighting things up.  I didn't set the Contour up until after departure, which you can see in the GPS data on the right side of the image.  The cool thing about it is that you can very clearly see the profile ascent from under the Bravo.  In the future, I'll post a link to the video, but the flight was at night, and the camera didn't pick much up.  Looking at the map, you can see the recording picks up just west of Leesburg and continues all the way down to just north of Richmond.  The profile's first step is 2300, with the next step up 4300, and the final cruise of 5500.  In the end, the recording cut out at just under 42 minutes because of the limited 2GB SD card.  I ordered a 32GB card, so given 21 minutes per GB, the new card should give me about 11 hours, which will far outlast the battery.  If I bump the settings up, the battery and file size will suffer, of course.  I'll work on ways to get audio eventually.  I got flight following from Potomac TRACON on the way down, talking to the MANNE, MULRR and FLTRK (FLaTRocK) sectors.

As we got closer to Richmond (RIC), approach offered both Runways 16 and 20.  I took 20 because the taxi back from 16 would take forever.  The controller pointed the airport's direction out a few times, but I couldn't see a beacon or the airport in general, so I didn't call it in sight.  At about 12nm out, I was able to spot the beacon buried in a mass of airport lighting, and told the controller we had the field.  From there, he has us contact the tower, who cleared pretty far out to land on Runway 20.  Since I hadn't been to RIC before and it was dark, I had the tower controller turn up the runway lights for the runway so I could see exactly where it was (you can hear my request at about 14:08 in this LiveATC archive - you won't be able to hear tower, but you'll hear me).  Once I had a better idea of what I was aiming for, I brought it in on one of my better landings, despite a little choppy air on final.  The tower controller had me roll all the way down to the end of the runway for an easier taxi to Million Air, which was the FBO where we'd be parking.

My friend Mike, who lives around Richmond, met us there to give us a ride into town.  At first we thought we'd grab barbecue, but since we got in so late our options were pretty limited.  We ended up settling on Steak 'n Shake mostly because it was new in Richmond, and because I hadn't been to one since I was 13.  Despite being a chain (and the first chain mentioned in this blog), it was pretty good.  Even if it wasn't stellar, write-home-about-it, best-burger-ever, it hit the spot.  After the quick dinner, we trekked back to the airport to head back home.

Back at Million Air, Roscoe got his Richmond stamp for his Aviation Ambassador passport, I paid for fuel, and we set off for Leesburg.  I haven't flown into a Class C airport since the end of 2005, so I was a little rusty on the radio calls for a departure clearance, but after that I was set.  Holding short of the runway, I had to wait for an Air Wisconsin CRJ to land before I was cleared out.  The departure was pretty standard with a turn to a heading of 270 on climbout and departure with FLTRK (you can hear the departure at about 7:30 in this LiveATC archive).

Signal Mountain - In the way of anything south 

The way back to Leesburg was just a nice as the trip down, but it got interesting closer to Leesburg.  As I was nearing CSN (CaSaNova, a navigation radio down near Warrenton, VA), the controller asked if I was going all the way to CSN or if I wanted to go direct to Leesburg prior to getting there.  Because it was shorter, I advised him I'd be heading towards Leesburg just prior to CSN.  You've probably heard me mention Upperville (2VG2) a lot in my flights, and the reason is that it's a landmark I can use to help me avoid terrain, while still remaining under the Dulles Class B airspace.  Cutting in prior to CSN meant not using that landmark, and changing my game plan.  Because it was non-standard, and I knew there was terrain out there I would be flying close to, I enabled the terrain feature on the nav display of the G1000.  That, and keeping my head up and out probably saved my life.

As I descended to 1300 to get under the final shelf of the airspace, Roscoe and I spotted the radio towers on top of Signal Mountain, along with the silhouette of the mountain itself against the moonlit terrain on the far side.  The heading I was on would've kept me west of the range, but I dodged further west to remain on the safe side (you can see it in the FlightAware image at the top of the post just north of the thick grey line that represents I-66).  After we passed the range, I went direct to Leesburg, and set down on Runway 17.

With the plane back in its spot, we threw the book and keys in the lock box and headed home.  I learned a few things tonight that I won't soon forget.

No longer lacking Southeast destinations 

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 2.3 - 48.7 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0 - 4.9 (of 40)

Virginia Tech versus Miami

N6017N - C172S - 3.7 hours

As I mentioned in the last post, I've always wanted to fly down to Virginia Tech for a football game.  The campus has an airport on it, which happens to be right next to the stadium, making things really easy and convenient.  When I was a student there, I worked at the airport on game days to help with parking and fueling aircraft, and most of the time, I was plotting in my head how to make it work, and what the whole experience would be like.  I finally got to live out those day dreams from years ago today.

The build up to the flight was pretty rocky, because weight caused troubles, as usual.  I got a C172S in hopes that the larger engine and higher payload would allow us to bring a fourth person with us, but the G1000 equipment weighs a little more, in addition to some of the extra equipment that's installed in this plane.  With that, I had to cut us back to three people.  Originally, my friend Ashley's roommate, Megan, was going to bring one of her friends, but he backed out and Ashley took his spot.  Once that was all settled, things got back to the norm.

I showed up at the airport a little earlier than normal to run the weight numbers one last time, check the weather, file a flight plan, and get everything else set up.  When Ashley and Megan showed up, we headed out to the plane to preflight and get ready for the flight down.  I ran through my normal preflight, while Ashley went through her own, explaining the whole process to Megan so she knew exactly what we were checking and why.  After the plane was thoroughly shaken down, we set off to the southwest.

On the way out, I tried to pick up flight following from Potomac Departure (ASPER), but they dished me off on another sector of Approach (MULRR), who then dished me off on another sector (MANNE), who finally set me up with flight following.  I'm definitely not complaining - especially since they were able to accommodate me - I just thought it was comical (note the KOKV departure point - apparently there was something wrong with the way the flight was entered, because Center saw an oddity with it as well, not that it really matters).

Southwest of Staunton, VA

Further down the line, I talked to Center, Potomac again (CHOWE), and then back to Center (Hot Springs).  While with Center, one of my friends jumped on the position to say hi, and ask if we could take a few pictures so she could see what this area of the scope actually looks like.  If you think about it, they just stare at a screen with some lines on it all day, and the terrain and the colors all go unseen.  It makes sense you'd want to see what it looks like from the pilot side, just so you can get a feel for what's really there.


Just as soon as she jumped on, she had to head off, and we had to go talk to Roanoke Approach on the way into Blacksburg.  For those of you who are familiar with that area of the state, we flew west of McAfee's knob, down Blacksburg/Catawba Road, over the campus, and then made our way in for a landing.

Luckily, having worked at Tech's airport, I knew how the whole game day show went.  We parked on the closed runway, wing to wing with a Cirrus, and headed inside for a much needed bathroom break.  Mat and my friend Jeanne, who had come in Thursday night from Denmark, had driven down and met us in the terminal.

After that, it was Jimmy John's, begging for tickets, Tech slipping one by Miami for the win, and a walk back to the airport to head home.

Lane Stadium

I had thought we'd have more daylight by the time the game ended, but as we were walking back to the airport, it was very clearly dark outside.  Luckily, Tech has an obstacle departure procedure that can be followed, to ensure we remain clear of terrain, which helped any apprehension of the terrain to a certain degree, I think.  To be honest, I think we were more distracted by the King Airs and Citations that came screaming out of the airport on their way home.  Tech being uncontrolled, it's up to the pilots to coordinate not hitting each other, and two of them came pretty close to each other.  I wouldn't say they came dangerously close, but too close for my own comfort.  Luckily, none of them were too close to us.

After that, it was a long and dark, yet calm flight back.  After departing Tech, we talked to Roanoke, then Washington Center, and lastly Potomac.  For whatever reason, the controllers in Potomac seemed off on the way home, just in the manner of phraseology.  After making sure I'd be okay with the SFRA with CHOWE, I got dumped on MANNE, where I asked for a clearance into Dulles' airspace, so that I didn't have to fly so low over the terrain at night.  Instead of bothering with the coordination, MANNE dumped me on ASPER to ask him.  Long story short, they kept me out, but it wasn't a big deal.

Once we got back, I shut the plane down, parked it and headed home.  I know I was tired.  Hand flying for 3.7 hours will do that to you, especially when combined with the jumping and yelling that go on at Tech games.

Pass up the bird!




Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 3.7 - 35.5 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0 - 4.2 (of 40)

Newfangled Gadgets

N6017N - C172S - 1.1 hours

What I'm used to

Aside from flying to a vacation destination, as I mentioned in a previous post, I've also always wanted to fly down to a football game at Virginia Tech.  I've been offering to take people down to games, but up until now, nobody's taken me up on it.  Earlier this morning, my friend Ashley set me up with her roommate to talk about a trip.  Because it's supposed to be nice this weekend, most of the planes were booked.  The only one left with enough space in the schedule was one of the G1000 C172S models.  Since this isn't the standard panel most of us learned to fly on, it requires a checkout in order to rent it.  That being the case, I had to book the plane and an instructor tonight to get signed off to fly it on Saturday.  Despite the instructor, Thomas, and my joke that if you're under 30 you could probably figure it out pretty well on your own, requirements are requirements, so off we went.

See the difference?

To be honest, going into the whole thing, I wasn't too enthused about flying "glass," as it's called.  It's not that I'm afraid of it.  It's not that I hate technology.  I know they're IFR capable and I know they have battery backups, but as someone who works with computers all day, I'm very familiar with the idea of single point of failure.  All of your instruments on two flat screen panels reduces the number of points of failure, which is not a good thing.  Then again, as I'm typing this, I'm remembering that most of the planes I've flown in have only one static port, which is arguably worse as it truly is a single point of failure (a blockage of the static port can make a number of your instruments worthless), but I digress.

I think in the end my biggest aversion to them is that people think they're a huge leap forward in aviation.  Don't get me wrong the features (lean assist, among several others) are awesome to reduce workload and optimize performance, but there's something to be said for not putting too much faith in technology.  I'd prefer not to be in the soup with only the basic three instruments.  For those wanting to go down the "it's what the airlines have" route, you're right, but they also often have dual generators, dual batteries, and so on. In any case, I'm making it out to be a bigger deal than it really is, especially now, since I don't have my instrument rating anyway.  It's just an I-work-too-much-with-computers-to-fully-trust-them thing.

During the flight, as I was poking around at the displays, with my eyes distinctly not outside, I figured I might as well get some hood time, so I threw the hood on to start logging.  We tracked the Martinsburg VOR (MRB - a radio beacon), flew headings, and otherwise just prodded the screen to see what it would do for us.  One of the extra features Thomas managed to find was the XM Radio, so we listened to some of that before heading back in to Leesburg (JYO).  For those of you wondering how we hear ATC or other people on the frequency while blasting ourselves with XM Radio, it has auto-interrupt when it senses a transmission on the frequency.

By the end of the flight, I came to like the G1000, but I'm still not going out of my way to fly an aircraft with it installed.  Then again, I won't specifically avoid it.  That gets me thinking, though.  Because I just displayed an aversion to new technology, does that mean I'm getting older?  I'll tell myself no, since I used it with relative ease (if you've used a G530 before, you'll be relatively at home here), but who knows.

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0 - 31.8 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.3 - 4.2 (of 40)