Wow, have I ever fallen behind! A combination of being incredibly busy and lacking internet access.
Made it to JGG with no problem, although I did have to go the long way around. JGG was the annual get-together of an ever-expanding bunch of pilots who met on the Cessna Pilots Association web forum. A wonderful group of people. This was my 3rd such event; it's been going on for about 7-8 years, starting with about 5-6 people in Harrisburg, PA. A lot of conviviality, including some flying, most notably a pilgrimage to First Flight, where we had so many planes we essentially had to pile them atop each other (about twice as many planes as parking spots), continuing on to Ocracoke, where we dined (but did not drink) at Howards Pub. The flight took us over Cape Hatteras, which is a very significant geographical and geological feature, so I was pleased to see it.
Sunday I departed JGG under MVFR (low ceilings), which extended just a short distance westward, and flew on in better weather to SE WV, where I have friends. Yes, I carefully noted the positions of all the high towers. My friends live between Lewisburg and Bluefield, but there's a pilot about 2 miles from their home who maintains a nice turf airstrip. I'd flown in there before and still had it on my GPS. The more challenging strips in the back-country of Idaho have nothing on this airstrip--it's really fun to fly in and out of. Yeehaa! Saw my friends' new addition to their house and just hung out. It was great.
Monday I hopped over the hill (I think I was in the air all of 15-20 minutes) to Blacksburg, where I picked up the chairman of my math department, and on we went to the first of two ingresses to the ADIZ, landing at GAI. Had to stay under the clouds, which were fairly solid, so it was hot and bumpy, but he complimented me by falling asleep. No problem getting into the ADIZ or GAI, and received some help from a fellow pilot who was in the pattern when the directions to the transient parking from UNICOM were less than clear. Thanks to whoever that was. Picked up a car and headed to West Friendship, then on to the Orioles-Yankees game with our alumni. That was really fun. Never seen the Yankees live before. Camden Yards is nice, but the Orioles lost.
Up late the next morning, and back to GAI to get my math chairman back to BCB, then back to the ADIZ, this time HEF. Got car and hotel and had more meetings. Left HEF and headed to Wilmington, DE. HEF to ILG is across the FRZ, and I didn't even want to try. Just egressed the ADIZ westward, then flew around it past Frederick, etc. Weather a factor, so I didn't try to land to visit AOPA or anything. Squeezing through weather windows is why I haven't been able to try to visit any of you folks who are scattered around the area, though I sure would have liked to. The controller sending me out of the ADIZ from HEF was funny--he said "You have successfully exited the ADIZ, squawk VFR, frequency change approved", so I said "Success! So long."
The controllers at ILG were great, too. I was coming in on a long right base for 19 and there was a Lear a bit farther away (but, of course, faster) that they brought in on a left downwind for 19. The timing didn't quite work out, so they asked me to slow down, and of course I couldn't resist saying that I never thought I'd be asked to slow down for a Lear. Much hilarity all around after that from the controllers, the Lear pilot, and me. They kept calling me speedy and the Lear pilot called me a souped-up C172 (and, of course, I had to point out that I'm a C182, so they admitted that was their miscalculation). Then ground control started asking where I was from and all that and we got into a long conversation about the length of the flight, etc. Next morning when I left, the same guy was on, and asked me where I was going, etc. It was fun, the only bad thing being that the manager of the FBO (AvCenterFBO) got ****ed off at me for going out to my airplane too often. This was pretty unreasonable, I thought. Here's the sum total: I arrived at about 1430, 3.5 hours before my contact was to pick me up. I arrived so early because of the weather. I went into the office to order fuel. I then went back out to my airplane to get some nicer clothes to change into. I have a big, heavy duffle because I’m away for a month, and didn’t want to haul it back and forth, particularly because there was some uncertainty about where I was going to stay that night. After I changed, I went back out to put my flying clothes back in the airplane. Then, when my contact arrived, it turned out that I was supposed to stay with her, so we asked them to open the gate so we could get her vehicle out to pick up my duffle. We did not get in the way of any taxiing aircraft, and no one had even an engine going. No one at the FBO said anything, and they were very nice. We had a little trouble with the gate, not least because it worked too fast, and my contact is in her 70s and couldn’t quite react fast enough when it opened. Then, the next morning, I asked to get the vehicle into the gate to take my duffle back out, and that’s when the FBO guy looked very angry. After my contact had left, I asked the guy what I had done wrong, and he snapped that I sure went out to my airplane enough times. I couldn’t believe it. If he had a problem with it, why didn’t he say so the previous day? After all, all I’d done that day was take my duffle bag out.
So I promised him that when I went out the next time (I had to pay for the fuel, of course), I’d leave, and that’s what I did. I don’t know what the other choices are at ILG, but this really left a bad taste in my mouth.
MVFR out of ILG, which meant I had to thread my way around the Dover Class D and the restricted airspace around PXT (and the ADIZ). Finally there was a break in the clouds, so I climbed high enough to cut off the corner of the restricted zone over PXT (which only goes to 5000’). Incredibly, it was still hazy at 6500’, and by that time, I couldn’t see the ground very well. Although it was VFR in that I wouldn’t have had any trouble seeing other aircraft, it was essentially IFR in the sense that there was no horizon and minimal ground contact. High workload because I was still threading my way around and between restricted airspaces and the ADIZ, and my airplane is not very well equipped for what I had to do. I did fine, but was really sweating. Then, to make matters worse, the clouds started to solidify underneath me, contrary to what all the weather sources had said, so I was sweating that, too. However, it turned out that the weather sources were right, and that was just a short distance. While I always had an out, it was just very high workload. Found myself over a big hole over Tappahanock, where I have a friend I’d hoped to have lunch with, so I circled down and landed. Called my friend and cooled down in a nice restaurant.
Lunch over, I took off again but this time knew I had to stay low because the cloud tops were building. Had a dinner date with Agatha and Mark Shilling in Chapel Hill, NC. Got in there just fine, but tired—it was hot and I’d spent half that leg squinting to try to see a little farther through the haze (which was 5-10 miles, but don’t forget I’m used to 50 miles). A great recipe for a headache, but fortunately I caught myself and relaxed before it got bad.
Chapel Hill is a nice little airport, but has no tail tiedowns, and T-storms were a possibility. I carry ropes and tiedown stakes, and the parking area is grass (or appears to be), so no problem, right? Wrong! The grass is growing through a thick layer of gravel, so I had to try several places. Finally found a place where the stake would go in, and on the last twist to get it thoroughly anchored, I managed to shear off the top of it! Never thought I was that strong (though I was using a bar). It has a loop, so I did have something to tie the rope to, but I’ll never get the stake out, and it will be a great place to puncture someone’s tire, so I’ll have to warn the airport about it. Dang!
Got to the rental car place, hotel, cooled down, Agatha and Mark picked me up (what patience—they got a late dinner and got home late), and we had a great time together. For once, I’ve got a morning free, so I’m going to do laundry and shopping (for lunch stuff to carry in the plane)—and write this.
So far I’ve flown something like 47 hours (haven’t totaled the fuel!) and I’m still in NC, so I suspect I’ve got a minimum of another 25 hours to go. Having a great time, but I sure can’t wait to get out of this haze!
Judy
