8-20-2009 to 8-23-2009
My wife had a medical conference in Washington, D.C. from August 21 to August 23 (a lot of medical conferences are held in weekends so doctors do not have to miss their work). We decided to fly our own airplane since it is a less than two hour flight. In order to take commercial we have to drive two hours to Columbus, Ohio that is too much trouble. First I have to decide which airport to land at. Gaithersburg, Maryland (GAI) seems to be the most suitable for the following reasons. First, it is in DC SFRA (Special Flight Rule Area), instead of the Flight Restrict Zone(such as College Park, Potomac Airfield and Washington Exec). Second, it is not too far from the Metro Red line. Our hotel, Mayflower is right next to the Farragut North station. It makes the transportation from the airport to the hotel easy. Since we are flying into DC SFRA, I first checked AOPA website for information on SFRA operations. I found this webpage: http://www.aopa.org/adiz/adiz.html I also found that in order to fly within the outer circle (60 nm around DC) you must successfully do an online course and pass the test. You are supposed to carry a certificated that you print after the course in your wallet just in case you get ramp checked.
(Click here to take the course. You will need to register first. If you don't get the correct course, just type "SFRA" in the search box and you will find the course. You will need to download the Reference Guides as well.)
On the day of departure, the weather forecast was not so good. Hurricane Bill was moving toward Bermuda and it affected the weather in the east coast. There was also a cold front moving from west reaching our area. After my wife came home from work at noon we had a quick lunch. I filed IFR from KPMH to KGAI then we drove to the airport. We departed at 2:00 pm. During the run up, I could hear the thunder and see the rain shower a few mile north west of us. Fortunately we were going east. En-route we climbed to 9,000'. The scattered cumulus cloud tops were slightly lower than us. When I checked the XM NEXRAD and lightening image I saw major activities right behind us over our home airport. There were towering cumulus mostly south of us. The only rain activity on our route was close to the DC area. With the cold front pushing from west toward east we had a consistent 25-27 kts tail wind. The estimated enroute time is 1 hr 33 mins. We were handed off from Huntington Approach to Indy Center to Parkersburg Approach. After we were 80 nm from Parkersburg and not yet handed off to Washington Center, I called Parkersburg. Eventually we were handed to Washington Center. Center was busy handling all the traffic in the area to avoid scattered thunderstorms. We went through several clouds that top at 12 or 13 thousand feet. Before entering such cloud, I always prepare for some bumpy rides. A few vertical actives (gaining and losing altitudes) really call your attention. The rain inside the cloud washed away some bugs on the windshield. Up to this point our ride had been relative smooth. Our direct route was amended to direct MRB, after MRB fly Vector 166 before direct GAI. Our direct route actually would lead us through some storm activities. Upon reaching MRB we were lowered to 7,000' and in the clouds. We were handed to Potomac Approach. Approach asked whether we had radar on board. Of course my answer was no. He then asked if I have weather on board, I said yes, with XM. He instructed us to avoid weather. At this point, we were in some green area (on the radar)and the yellow and red were south of us over Dulles Airport direction. Several Heavies (big airline) were asking for help to avoid those weather (not good for us and not good for them). 25 nm from GAI and still on Vector 166 we were let down to 4,000'. Now we were under the dark cloud in VFR. I asked and received clearance to go direct Gaithersburg. Gaithersburg was under a sunny sky with a few scattered clouds. We landed and called Potomac Clearance to cancel our IFR. The total flight time is 1 hr 45 min.
Before we went I read not very complimentary comments about Gaithersburg FBO. My experience verified it. When I taxied to ramp a lineman guided me to park next to two fuel trucks (he happened to be there). After shutting down, I asked him where is the tie down and we need it for three night stay. He told me to go inside, register and he will tow my airplane to the tie down. Three days later we came back to find our airplane sitting at the same spot with one choke on nose and another one behind right wheel (the ramp is slightly sloped). Luckily the several thunderstorms over the past two days did not blow the airplane away. I complained to the lady at the counter. She said that I did not request to her and the lineman never mentioned neither. She apologized and waived our ramp fee.
The lady at FBO called a taxi for us. We waited for 25 minutes before the taxi showed up. It is an $18 ride from the airport to the Shady Grove Metro Station (last station on red line). Another 35 minutes we arrived at Farragut North station that is right next to our hotel. Mayflower is a beautiful historical hotel on Connecticut Ave and L Street. I booked it with my AAA membership and it is $104 a night!!! It costs us much more to have our Saturday night dinner there! While my wife had her meetings in the hotel, I walked around and visited White House (from outside only, to go inside you have to apply through your congressman ahead of time), Smithsonian, Washington Monument, and National Geographic Museum (half in remodeling). My wife's meeting ends at 3:00 pm. So I came back to the hotel at 2:30pm. It was a good move since right around that time thunderstorm hit the city. That evening we went to Adams Morgan since it is promoted on the entire back page of the tourist map. What a disappointment. Saturday afternoon was raining hard, we decided to stay in the hotel and use their restaurant. We had a good meal. It turns out Sunday morning's program (only 8-10 am)does not apply to my wife's work. We left hotel at 7:30 am and walk through George Washington University to World War II Memorial, Lincln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial (all the Memorials!), then Einstein Monument (at the corner of National Academic of Sciences). We came back to the hotel around 10 am and prepare to depart.
Before we left for DC I was already planning to go to the Sunday afternoon Rostraver EAA corn roast. Rostraver is just south of Pittsburgh. There are several RVs based there. This event is also the "official" Ohio Valley RVator's Ultimate Fly Out (UFO) event. The weather at DC was clear and enroute ceiling were around 4,000' with rain forecast near and around Pittsburgh. Weather at southern Ohio is forecast to be clear in the afternoon. I call FSS and filed my first DC SFRA flight plan. "IFR,N103LF,HXB/G,140,GAI,1400,VFR/025,LUCKE,0010,SFRA DUATS, Experimental ,0430,TC Chang, KPMH, 2, Y/B". The flight plan is only for us to fly from Gaithersburg through LUCKE gate about 10 nm total distance. I got my Xponder code from Potomac Clearance. On taxi to the runway I hit a raised area on the ramp and felt the bump. Only after arriving to my hangar I noticed that the under side of the front nose wheel pant was damaged. It must hit the concrete and got pushed against the nut on the nose gear bottom. I don't have a good experience at KGAI!
Enroute to Rostraver we had to fly below the cloud. 30 nm out, over Seven Springs we had some rain over us. Other than that the ride was just fine. At Rostraver the wind was calm. Several airports in the area were using runway 26 and so I called to coming in for 26. No one said anything until we were 4 mile out and preparing for mid field left downwind, I saw a Cub (it must not have a radio) just took off runway 8. Time to change our plan. I called a mid field cross wind for 8. Since the Cub was doing a very close pattern we were kind of cutting in front of him. On base I saw a Cessna taxi to runway 8. He is quiet too! Even after cleared the active I never heard anybody transmit. Now it is time to find where is the corn roast. This is the first time I came to this airport. I only know that the event is some where at the back. There are several rows of hangars and no sign for the evet. Popeye (Bill, an RV8 builder) who promised to ride a bike with a handheld to guild traffic was not there (we arrive two three minutes early). We just taxied around all those hangars. There were people sitting in front of a few hangars and they just looked at us. While taxiing somewhere we heard an RV calling for airport advisory. Since no one answered (none of the airplane in the pattern transmitted anything), I keyed radio and told him to land on 8. Later I found it was Bob (Beeman) coming in his RV9. Eventually we found the plance. We were the first airplane to arrive. Yet, there were a lot of cars already there. After we got out, here comes Popeye (now he has met my entire family). After greeting us, he rode his bike to guid Beeman in. At the corn roast we were greeted by several RV pilots I have met before. Sorry that I can not remember all the names. We first got some wonderful sweet corns from Steve (RV7) and hamburg from Gary (Shiner, RV6). We sit down with Michelle (Steve's wife), Karen and her husband (Karen's brother-in-law is the funder of Black Jack RV formation team), and Byron and his wife (RV7). Later Larry (7A) and Tom from Point Pleasant, WV joined us. Jim (RV6 and RV10) from Lancaster, Ohio flew in with his RV6 came after Larry and Tom. We had great time visiting each other and telling RV stories.
After 3:00 pm it is time for us to leave. We said good bye to friends and taxied out. Weather from the ground did not look good. However, radar did not show any activities on our route. I told Larry to follow me. While we were using the facility, Jim beat us departing the airport. On our climb out, we saw an area a few miles ahead was raining (with 10 mile visibility you can see rain very well from the air). On our air-to-air frequency 122.8 Jim told us that after that patch of rain the weather is good. Due to the low ceiling at times we had to go down to 2,500'. This is in the Appalachian and we were arout 1,000' above ground. Larry got a lot of formation practice off my wing. We also took a lot of pictures of his airplane. After we reach Parkersburg, WV, he pointed his nose toward Point Pleasant (30 degree left), climbed up and left us in the dust (or shall I say air). He got 20 hp advantage and is not shy of using it.
After we put our plan away we went to the Skyline restaurant for dinner (5 pm). First we got to talk to two RV6 gentlemen from Gallipolis, Ohio whom I have not seen for a few months. When we were about to leave a gentleman (Jeff Lumpkin) came approaching us and told me that he has been reading my postings on OVRVator. I was wearing my Ohio Valley RVators shirt that is how he identified me. He was building an 8 and recently gave up building and brought a built one. His daughter lives in the area and he flew his 172 in from Indy to visit (waiting for his RV transition training). Since our boys live in Indy we visit Indy all the time. He is doing it the other way around. It is indeed a small world. I got to meet a lot of people through this little airplane I built in my garage.