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June 30, 2007: Weather here in Southern Ohio was good. We took off and headed directly to Blacksburg, Virigina. I have promised to bring my wife Li-Fen to visit Professor and Mrs. Whitelaw. Professor Whitelaw is 90 and has Alzheimer's disease. I visited them in February and now it is time for both of us to visit. A few minutes after take off, we encountered haze and low clouds. We kept going up until reaching 11,500 ft and by this time we saw massive cloud blocking our way. Looking at the XM weather display, we saw a large area of precipitation to our south and partially block our direct route to Blacksburg. We descended through the clouds and kept on the edge of the green and yellow areas on the weather display. Soon we found ourself a few miles south of the Charleston, WV class C airspace and down to less than 4000 ft. That is quite low in the mountainous area of West Virginia. We got sprinkled by some drops of rain, however, the air was smooth and downward visibility was good. Soon the ceiling was higher and there are areas with scattered clouds. We climbed up to 9500 ft again and found ourself in-between two layers. When I look at my PFD I found we got 29 knots tailwind. Again, the air was smooth. Cruising between layers away from the precip at nearly 200 knots ground speed was great! Soon we arrived at Blacksburg. We found a scattered cloud area and quickly descended below.
After a great visit with the Whitelaws (and their son Edwin and his wife Christi), we headed back to the airport. Now it was raining and the sky looked really dark on the east side. We filed IFR and proceed toward Willisamsburg. At 8000 ft, we were right above the clouds. Again, I could see from my XM weather display a lot of green and yellow activities to our south. We are right on the edg of the rain activities. Several VFR pilots got caught by the precipitation and the low visibility were calling Roanoke approach for help. On my left side, I could see Roanoke and on the right side were just dark clouds extended to several thousand feet above us. Enroute to Richmond VOR, Richmond approach finally freed us from the vector airway and cleared us direct to JGG (Williamsburg-Jamestown airport). We descended through clouds to a hazzy sky. After landing at JGG we were told by Bill, the airport guy (manager?) that the day before (June 29th) around 8:00 pm, a freak wind blew through the airport and flipped over three airplanes and damaged several others. Fortunately, the transit ramp was not touched. He offered us a golf cart ride to see the airplanes. A few of those planes were not insured. We really felt sorry for the owners. We visited a few sites at Williamsburg and had wonderful seafood at Captain George's.
July 1, 2007: We went to the airport at 8:00 am and prepared to leave for Kitty Hawk (FFA). Williamsburg has some sunshin and most airports along the route report 7NM visibility and scatter at 1500 to 2000. I first circled Jamestown settlement to allow my wife to take some pictures before preceeding to FFA. When weather is not clear, I usually listen to the AWOS/ATTIS along my route of flight. This morning, there are a layer of low clouds and very hazzy. I was not able to see too far ahead. I listened to the Hampton Road Exec AWOS that reported 7 NM and sky clear. However, when I arrived I saw a wall of cloud goes all the way up. I didn't believe I have any chance climb over it. When I looked down through the scattered cloud, Hampton Road Exec was right below me. Well, The sky above the AWOS station was indeed clear. But, anywhere else was not. I flew a few mile west and rapidly descended below the cloud before preceeding south to pass under the "cloud wall". I kept going down until 800 ft. Ten or so miles later we got scatter cloud again. I climbed back up to 5500 ft. Due to the haze, we did not get to see the beautiful coast. The First Flight airport runway is surrounded on bothside by tall trees and one side with a roadway. About to touch down I saw a flock of birds (I say eagle and my wife say hawk) sitting on the runway a third way down. They did not have the common sense of not sitting on the runway, but, did have the common sense of avoiding being runway kills. Right after we passed the birds, we saw several deers standing 50 yards from the runway enjoy watch us landing. Wow, this place is not safe! Back taxi to the ramp and we saw two airplanes tied down overnight. It seems that we were the only traffic of that morning. The hazzy weather does not encourge too many flyers.
I went in to the AOPA pilot lounge (locked and with a sign saying the code is VFR, that is of course 1200) and signed the guest book both on the paper and online. We then, walked up to the monument and took a lot of pictures. Unfortunately, my right foot hurts at the time, I limped up the hill and back down. After that I decided that we will tour the place through air (it is a long way to walk to the musume and the Wright brothers workshop, etc.) After taking off, we made several circles around the field before proceeding south. My original plan was to follow the outer bank to Ocracoke Island so we can have air tour of the entire outer bank. With the haze, it is not worth the longer flight. I took a GPS direct toward Ocracoke. This time the cloud was really low, we flew 600 ft over the water and had to avoid the ristricted airspace too. Visibility and ceiling at Ocracoke was better than that over the water. We landed and tied down the airplane. There is a building outside of the airport fense (no gate). The building has no sign on it and was locked. The only facility around the airport that was open were two portal potties outside the fense. I called Howard's Pub using my cellphone and soon a six seat electric cart arrived to pick us up. It turns out Howard's is the first building going into town. It is 1/2 mile from the airport and 1/2 mile from the town center. Since it did not open until 11:00 am, we sit in the rocking chairs on the porch and waited. Howard's seems to be very popular and not cheap. After lunch we took the same ride back to the airport. This time there were a few airplanes arriving and departing. We met two couples came in with a V-tail Bonaza for the weekend. We began a conversation and showed them our RV. When they tried to call their rental home owner, they found none of their cellphones had service. I lent them my Alltel cellphone. After not able to get hold of the guy, I suggested that they call Howard's. After they boarded the electric cart, we taxied out for departure for Myrtle Beach.
Since our flight path penetrates two restricted area, upon airborne, I called Cherry Point Approach for clearance. Given the thick cloud layer, I decided to cruise at 6,500 ft. I must called Cherry Point six or seven times. Two or three times they came back with a word or two then silence. At one point, I heard another pilot call them for IFR clearance without getting replies. I climbed in circle to keep us outside the restricted airspace. Finally, Cherry Point Approach broadcast once that they are experiencing equipment difficulty and everyone should call Washington Center. They did not give Washington Center's frequency. I called for the frequency without getting a reply. So, I pushed the near button on my GPS and got the center frequency. After contacted Washington Center, I proceeded toward Columbus County (CPC). I check on AirNav and found the fuel at Columbus County airport is more than a dollar cheaper than Myrtle Beach. Since my tanks would be pretty empty and would take a lot of fuel, I headed that way. Soon I had to climb again to keep in VMC. Finally, at 9,500 ft we were on top. When it is time to descend I requested for clearance to descend through clouds (althrough ther are holes to go through, I tried to get a direct route). Unfortunately, center said maintain VMC. I had to zig zag and doing steep descend in order to get down. At Columbus County, we met Phil and Mary. The husband and the wife are the director and the manager of the airport. After taking 31 gallons of fuel we headed to Myrtle Beach. At 20 miles, I called approach and got a straight in runway 18 clearance. I tuned my nav radio to the ILS and simulated an ILS approach.
At Myrtle Beach Aviation we saw four Harrier Jump Jets parked on GA ramp. There used to have a airforce base and I initially thought the planes were based there. Then, we found out that those planes were just came in for fuel. We got our rental car and have them put our RV in the hangar. After resting in the hotel, we decided to walk on the beach and find a restaurant for dinner. It was a hazy and cloudy day, the air must be in the low 80s with a strong breez. It was very comfortable. The water is in the 80s too. A lot of people were having fun in the water. While walking along the edge of the water bare foot, we were stoped by an excited middle aged man. Initially I was a little taken back, but, quickly we started a conversation. It turns out this gentleman just arrived at the hotel after 18 hours driving straight from Toronto. He was so excited about the warm water he could not stop sharing his exciment with someone (us). He told us that July 1st is the Canada day and we wished him well and move on. More than two hours later, after having dinner on a beach front restaurant (Damon's Grill) we saw our Canada friend still in the water having fun. We waved to each other and said happy Canada day!
July 2, 2007. I woke up at 5 am and checked several times on sunrise. I should have checked the sunrise time before going to bed. Well, I was a little excited myself, I can not sleep! About six, I saw a little light in the sky I woke up my wife. We went down to the beach to see the sunrise. Many others were doing the same. Unfortunately, we got a cloudy sky. Sun poke out of the cloud for just a brief moment and we got a few pictures. We walked a few miles along the beach before heading back to the hotel. In the afternoon we drove to Broadway on the Beach (an unique shopping mall and amuzment park combination, around a lake and definitely not on the beach.) We had fun there. Later we drove to North Myrtle Beach and tour the area.
July 3, 2007. Today is the day to go to Charleston. We had flight following from Myrtle Beach Approach and Charleston Approach. Charleston International Airport is also an airforce airport. There was a C130 doing touch-and-goes behind us. Corporate Wings at Charleston has the most beautiful facilty among all FBOs we have visited. We got our rental car and drove directly to Patriot Point. Upon arriving at Patriot Point, we brought the tickets and boarded the 10:45 am boat to tour Ft. Sumter where the first shot of Civil War was fired. After Ft. Sumter tour, we had lunch onboard the Carrier, USS Yorktown. We tour the entire ship and a coast guard cutter and a destroyer. Well, I really don't envy the navy life. They have such cramped quarters. After the tour we stayed at Charleston Marina Resort that is in Patriot Point. In the evening we drove to downtown and had a wonderful meal at Blossom's Cafe.
July 4, 2007. From weather forecast I leaned that there is a cold front coming down from Canada and another bad weather coming up from Florida. High pressure was moving from the ocean to South Carolina on July 4th and it stops the front from Florida. However, the Canadian front was moving through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania on the 4th. We decided to leave early in the morning and try to come home directly instead of stopping at Great Smoky Mountains as we planned originally. As soon as we reached North Carolina/Tennessee/Virginia border, clouds start to build up. We climbed to 9,500 ft in order to be above the clouds. Close to Huntington, WV, I decided to descend below the clouds. Well, I did not stop until at 3,000 ft. At this altitude, we are just below the ceiling and in the haze. Fortunately, we had flight following to keep us from other traffics. The air was bumpy. In another 20 minutes, we made it to home airport. 2 hour 34 minutes flight time brought us back from Charleston, SC to Portsmouth, OH.