The $100 (Veggie) Burger

Yesterday was just too perfect a day to not go flying. Not to mention that I needed to christen my new flying shirt from Greg ("I'm a pilot. Frightening, isn't it?!"), one of my best friends was keen to be my wingwoman, and the restaurant at Cambridge (KCGE) was calling.

Laura had been up with me in the Tiger a number of times, so I warned her that the experience of a Cessna 152 would be somewhat different. The first time I flew it, Rich told me to "get ready to strap on an airplane." It's true, and the intimacy of flying a two seater is awesome.

It was only after arriving at the airport did we realize that Laura's high-tech camera had no memory card, and my high-tech camera was still sitting on my coffee table. Thank goodness Venable recently upgraded my blackberry to one that includes a camera phone. The quality could have been better, but the memories are the same.

We had a pretty run out through the corridor and across the bay. Laura did a fantastic job, as always, of practicing her pilotage skills and ensuring my GPS and compass bearings were not leading us into either the FRZ or the Baltimore Bravo restricted air spaces. We soon joined a busy pattern at Cambridge, and left N25883 parked among various other Cessnas and Beechcrafts as we made our way to the restaurant overlooking the airfield.

I had introduced Laura to the concept of "the $100 burger" on our flight over. I.e., when pilots fly somewhere to eat, add the cost of the flight, and you quickly find yourself enjoying a $100 burger. In our case, it was two $50 veggie burgers. And two drinks (both in mason jars). We took off around 4:30 and headed back across the bay. The water was the calmest I'd ever seen it. We attempted in vain to spot a whale, decided a tanker was civilian not military, and agreed that massive clusters of "white things" on the water had to be sea gulls. Laura managed to capture the sun just as it was beginning to disappear behind the clouds.

An easy landing at Gaithersburg was the perfect end to a perfect Saturday afternoon. As I tied 883 down, I still missed the Tiger, but I love the L'il Red Dragon too.

Future Aviators, Rich's First Flight, and Aerobatic Lesson #2

My instrument instructor professed to not remember me when I wrote him last week inquiring about a lesson. I am definitely guilty of fun flying this summer and slacking off on the lessons. But it has been a great summer, so I don't regret it. Last month I took our club's Cessna 152 and flew the short jaunt over to Annapolis (KANP) to visit with my student pilot friend Keith and his family. Keith had warned me that high trees at the edge of a narrow, short runway frequented by gusty winds off the Bay could make for a fun landing. It was indeed fun, but I have also had worse.

Kevin, Tracy, Evie and Allie drove out for the BBQ and we managed to collect all the girls -- including me! -- wearing our Girls With Wings "Yes, Girls Can Fly!" shirts. (Poor Allie has been neglected by her aunty and does not yet have a shirt, so does not appear in the photo. She will get one for Christmas, though!)

Lynda Meeks, the organizer of GWW, got such a kick out of the picture she made it her promotional picture on her store's website.

It was a lovely day, and Andrea and Keith hosted a yummy BBQ, while Aiden and Madeleine kept all of us amused with their beach treasure hunt, and Chuck showed us how quickly she could crawl off her blanket and start eating sand.


All to soon it was time to head for home. Keith was there to see (and photograph!) my departure, which was very cool. It's not every day you get photos of yourself flying the L'il Red Dragon.

It's a beautiful view as you take off over the Bay, so I swung out further than I needed to before heading for home.

Next on my list of memorable trips was my first time flying Rich! Poor guy. He really did not luck out on the weather. Naturally, I wanted his first time in a small plane, especially with me as pilot, to be as enjoyable as possible. Bad weather had already preempted our flight to Ocean City, MD to see Mum and Dad, and I was hoping the same would not be true of our trip to visit Lowell and Roxanne.

Fortunately, Rich was a very good sport and was not phased by the clouds, the turbulence, or the decreasing visibility as we attempted to get to the Windwood Airport (WV62; Pvt) in WV. He amused himself taking photographs while I kept an eye on the clouds and debated when we would need to get under them - and down into the mountain turbulence - before they closed in too tight.

It was bumpy once we went down below, but we got to see the changing colours of Fall and I tried to follow the mountain valleys to increase safety by maximizing altitude as much as possible.

It became evident at 4 minutes 15 seconds from Winwood that we would not have adequate clearance between the tree tops and the airport to make the landing safely, so I did a 180 and brought us back to Grant County (W99). Lowell and Roxanne had to drive an extra 45 minutes to pick us up, but they were very gracious about it. We left the airport and got lunch, which we ate in a lovely State park before hiking the Black Falls and returning to their cabin. We built a large bonfire and spent the evening enjoying the crisp mountain air, good company, and beautiful scenery.

Last, but certainly not least on my list of recent memorable flights was my second aerobatics lesson. I had seen my instructor up at the Flying W in August (where he was competing) but it has been six months or more since my first lesson. Fortunately, Adam declared me to be a quick study, and we did not spend too much time refreshing my knowledge of loops and rolls. We moved on to slow rolls and then it was time to combine the loop and the roll (the first one videotaped by Adam).

After we praticed the loop/roll combo three or four more times, Adam previewed my next lesson's maneuvers. After that, it was time to head for home. I still had time to do two more slow rolls while under the Bravo 2500 foot shelf before we hit the 1500 shelf. I also took a quick video of us, and the water, because it was just so darn pretty....



It was a gorgeous day, and I could see the Washington Monument as we flew towards the Potomac Airfield. It is a rare treat to be allowed to fly so close to D.C., given the restrictions imposed on general aviation pilots after 9/11.

All too soon it was time to get down to business and practice landing a taildragger. The winds had picked up and were their "usual gusty and variable self" as we came into Potomac. After we got on the ground, Adam teased me that I had landed not once, but three times, and was therefore that much closer to getting my taildragger endorsement.

I left the airfield only a tiny bit queasy and already looking forward to my next lesson when I will practice the Half Cuban 8 and Immelman maneuvers!

Flight of the Nanchang

Just arriving at Colin's hangar is exciting. You know there are going to be cool planes and plane pieces as far as the eye can see, but you never know exactly what projects they are going to be working on until you get there.

At Christmas, the hangar was full of sea planes. This time, there were not one, but two T-28s - both with equally beautiful paint jobs.

They were also working on a Mosquito, which has an all-wood frame. Once it's completed, it will be the only one flying in the world. Stripped down with the engines removed, it was hard to imagine it ever flying again. And yet, you know it will, because Colin and his boys are *magic*.

The second T-28 was outside and Colin said that her owner flies her quite a bit. It is SUCH a HOT plane. I think I may need to make a new friend...

Colin pressurized the engine on the Chinese built Nanchang CJ-6 we would be flying, pre-flighted and talked mechanics with Gordy. I forced myself to be cool -- literally -- until Arlene finished taking pictures of me with the planes and Colin had gotten a chuckle out of my Osh Kosh "I FLY PLANES" tank top, before I put back on the hoody I had brought with me.

Then I said a hasty goodbye to my Godparents and asked them to give Liz a call so she would be down on the dock waiting for our fly-by over Shawnigan Lake.

Next came the flight briefing. Colin walked me through the instruments and pointed out some noticeable differences. Manifold pressure in milliliters, inverted blue/brown horizon, intercom on the throttle, trim tab on the left with wires exposed, switches to turn on the turn coordinator and attitude indicator, brake on the stick, and the list went on.

Really, though, it could all be summed up pretty easily:

I sat in my seat vibrating with excitement as Colin buckled in and called Tower for a squawk.

The military grade harnesses were pretty snug. So snug, in fact, that I was glad that my hoody protected my neck from the scratchy material. I also quickly realized that my necklace had to go.

I latched my canopy as Colin finished listening to weather and hailing tower.

We waved goodbye to Arlene and Gordy, and taxied out to the runway.

Colin trusted me to take up both of my cameras, and although it was a bit of a challenge to hold onto the one, while sitting on the other, while rolling the plane with my free hand, I was very glad I had both. One for photos; one for videos. A girl has to have her toys, after all. And yes, that includes by Garmin 396, Richard.

Colin latched his canopy, accelerated down the runway and we were soon able to see the Tsawwassen ferry terminal as we climbed to 2,500 feet and left the airport behind.

The CJ-6 just sounded cool as we flew along. It wasn't long before ATC advised that we would be overtaking another plane at 3,000 feet. At 140 knots easy cruise, Colin said the plane burns 12-14G/hour.

Within minutes, we were approaching Shawnigan lake, where I had spent the previous five days drinking and relaxing with Lance, Liz and Celeste in the lake house they'd rented. Liz had requested an "Empire of the Sun" moment, and Colin definitely delivered. We could see her jumping up and down on the dock as we buzzed by. According to Liz, babies cried and a neighbor nearly fell off his dock as the sun went dark, but surely she exaggerates...

Once we had put the fear of G*d back into Liz, Colin gave me a two-part roll refresher, which I listened to with one ear while capturing the whole thing on video (below). It's good to be Gen Y, eh?




Afterwards, we headed out toward Duncan to a local "practice area." Colin gave me the controls as we left Shawnigan, and encouraged me to play around with the plane's capabilities as we climbed higher. It's no wonder Colin says he always feels motion sick when he lets a backseat driver fly.

My flying improved remarkably, however, after I was reminded that my turn coordinator and attitude indicator were switch controlled ....

The views over Duncan looking West were incredible. I practiced steep turns while holding altitude (more or less), got a feel for the pull of the plane, and then it was time to practice rolling.

We agreed that loops were less exciting than rolls, so I rolled some more. Then Colin took me on a backwoods flight through the mountain valleys before climbing again and contacting ATC.

As I flew home, Colin talked me through the landing. We agreed to come in "aircraft carrier style" and slid the canopies all the way back on final approach. It's a good thing I was not actually in charge of landing the plane as my hair, even tied back, further reduced the visibility experienced by the backseat passenger. I suppose that's what I get for forgetting my WTF flying hat!

Colin touched down lightly and we taxied back to his hangar. It was hard to believe that an hour+ flight had passed so quickly. It was hard to resist hopping up and down and crying, "Again, again!!"

We put the cover back on the plane - military camouflage, of course - and Lance soon arrived to pick me up. Back in the hangar, I thanked Colin profusely for letting me, once again, play with his planes and I foisted upon him the only form of payment he seems to accept.

After all, it may be eight hours bottle to throttle, but it's zero throttle to bottle.

Triple Play

Three flights in three days. If storms hadn't of prevented our flight to Montreal, it would have been four in four and then I could have called this blog "Four Play."

Alas, sometimes there is a downside to having the call sign Strikefinder.

Flight #1 was our much anticipated, annual overnight trip to the Flying W (N14) in Lumberton, NJ. After arriving at KGAI on Saturday last, we decided to fly boyz v. girlz, so Danielle and Mila came with me in the Tiger, and Rich took Jason and Anthony with him in the Baron.

The race was on from Gaithersburg. Richard needed to stop and get gas, but he took off first, and his Baron is a good deal faster than the Tiger, so neither of us had the clear advantage.

I hailed Rich twice once I was clear of the SFRA on our agreed-to frequency, but got no response. As we were approaching the Delaware River, I heard him call me, "Strikefinder, do you copy?" The Baron was passing over the Chesapeake bridge, so we had a comfortable lead. I had actually been hoping he'd catch me, however, as it would have been cool to come into the Flying W in formation. After all, flying is not a competition.

Except that the girls won.

We found two tie-down spots on the crowded airfield, and some folks made a quick change into their bathing suits while others mistakenly dropped the towels that were shielding them, and we were off to the pool.

The competition had been going on since 8 a.m. and continued until around 6 p.m. We watched the competitors doing loops, hammerheads, Immelmans, and barrel rolls, as we drank, lounged around the pool, swam, got peed on by Nick's kid, played volleyball, and ultimately made our way back to the planes to change for the night time bar and dance scene. A rocking good band, Sloppy & The Joes, entertained us for the second year in a row. They even professed to remember us -- although how could they not with Rich wearing his Sloppy & The Joes t-shirt ?? -- and gave us a shoutout on their blog afterwards. All too soon, however, it was time for a 2 a.m. swim in the pool, and the long taxi ride to our hotel (the Flying W lost our hotel reservation).

I was up early and decided to be that annoying person who makes a lot of noise until others wake up. We stumbled downstairs for breakfast and then taxied back over to the Flying W. It was nearly 11 by the time we rolled in, so I decided to file and fly home to meet Laura and her sister, Rachel, and two of Rachel's boys, Will and Josh, for their much-anticipated flight in the Tiger.

[PLACEHOLDER FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF WILL & JOSH THAT LAURA HAS PROMISED ME]

This was only my second time flying little people, and they were as wide-eyed as Aiden and Madeleine had been when I flew them. I explained as much information about the flight, the air space, and the scenery as I could think of as we flew along. Rachel helped by asking questions when I ran out of miscellaneous fun facts for kids. Josh and Will mostly just listened.

[SEE ABOVE]

Will started to feel a bit motion sick as we flew along, so we circled over Harper's Ferry and then headed back to Gaithersburg. I hit the ground running, as I was hosting a BBQ back at my house and I was already late. (Which seems to happen a lot when I make plans post-flying.)

[FEELING GUILTY YET, LAURA??]

After a fun night of entertaining both friends and family, I headed to bed. I awoke at 2:30 a.m. with thoughts of flying jumbled in my head. My alarm went off at 4 and I did one last weather check before calling and cancelling my bosses' and my commercial tickets. I emailed Jerry that we were a go from Gaithersburg, showered, filed and fell out the door shortly after 4:30. I was pre-flighted by 5:30 and sat on the tarmac by the Tiger and watched the sun come up. I haven't watched the sun come up over Gaithersburg since my flight training days with Richard. I dare say, I think I've actually missed it!

Jerry arrived at 6, and we were wheels up by 6:15. As we crossed over the mountains, the early morning light on the haze made for a beautiful sight. I explained the basics of heading, altitude and attitude to Jerry and then let him take the yoke. Like a good pilot, he kept his eyes on the horizon as I took a quick picture so that he would have bragging rights back at the office.

Jerry did a good job of holding heading and altitude for nearly 15 minutes. It was an easy flight out to Elyria, Ohio, and we touched down at 8:30. With a courtesy car ride from the folks at the FBO over to our destination, we arrived only minutes behind co-counsel who had "gone commercial" from DCA. We completed our witness interview by 1, had lunch, and were back at the airport and in the air by 3. There was convective sigmet activity in the area and more approaching from the West, so I kept my eye on the clouds as we high-tailed it East over the Ohio River and beyond.

I hailed Cleveland Approach shortly after take-off and requested flight following. The controller surprised me with his reply. "What are you from Canada or something?" he asked. I confirmed that I was. "Oh, well," he said. "I guess I'll give you a Bravo Clearance anyway. I don't suppose you also want to go direct to Gaithersburg?" I laughed, and agreed that I would.

In short order, Jerry and I were flying directly over Pittsburgh International airport at 5,500 feet (mind the 747s, eh?) and then the city of Pittsburgh was off our left wing. We were home on the ground shortly after 5, and the Tiger was tied down and tucked in by 5:30.

As Jerry was leaving, he commented that there would undoubtedly be another trip to Ohio in our near future. He paused for dramatic effect, and then informed me that he would fly with me again.

It was a Viper saluts Maverick moment, if ever there was one.

As an added bonus, when I tallied my logbook later that night, I realized I had crossed 200 hours of flight time. Onward and upward!

Oshkosh

You can forget about the B'Gosh. For one week each year, Oshkosh, Wisconsin is focused on general aviation instead of overalls.

Rich and I decided to fly in his Baron, and then Rich joined the B2Osh group, who fly and arrive at Oshkosh in formation. I was thrilled by this development, as formation flight seemed extra cool, and it also meant that I got to fly with Derek deBastos while he trained Rich.

After his initial training, I flew the Tiger straight and level one evening so Rich could get some more formation practice in. Once he figured out how to slow the Baron down enough to keep pace with me, it worked pretty well!

Last Friday afternoon couldn't come quickly enough, as far as I was concerned. After packing the Baron, Rich, his Dad (Sam) and I were finally en route to the B2OSH rendezvous point of Rockford, Illinois (KRFD).

We dipped South to stay clear of some towering rain clouds, and fought a decent headwind, but otherwise had an uneventful four hour Westerly run. We chocked the Baron beside the many other Beechcraft planes, and arrived just in time for the B2Osh hangar party, where we ate Mexican food and ice cream and mingled with scores of other general aviation enthusiasts.

Derek deBastos was more than a little surprised to see me, and commented, "I thought you couldn't come because you had a wedding to attend?!"

Before I could respond, Rich chimed in, "Yeah, and is her fiance ever pissed."

I quickly elbowed Rich and explained to Derek that my friend had graciously allowed me to miss her wedding so I could get my pilot fix for the year.

"I like Rich's story better," Derek replied. "And I plan to repeat it."

And so he did!!

Breakfast the next morning was quite the sight to behold. Donned in our matching t-shirts, hats and name tags, we definitely felt like part of the flight team. (Either that, or we had just been transported back to Grade 3 camp.)

After the formation flight briefing, we headed outside so Rich could pre-flight the Baron. Fortunately, we had ample time to goof around too.

Can't touch this!!

BECAUSE I AM ELEMENT ONE!

Rich learned that our Right Wingman had had mechanical problems en route to RFD, so Rich would be in a flight of two instead of three. Rich was Left Wingman, flying in Baron Element 1, which was to lead the Baron planes into Oshkosh behind the Bonanzas. I was nearly vibrating with excitement as the 120 odd planes ahead of us fired up and taxied out to the runway. FINALLY, it was our turn!

As we waited on the taxiway, Rich commented that nothing had better happen to our Lead, or we would become a formation flight of one and all of his training would be for naught. I chided his negativity, and assured him that all would be well.

We took off, and I watched in shocked disbelief as our Lead's right main gear failed to retract.

With the first GPS waypoint of our route forming a tight triangle, the planes ahead of us were nearly doubling back on top of us, and combined with our Lead's mechanical issues, it was somewhat of a hairy start. Our Lead eventually decided to abort the flight and return to his home airport. As he fell back to assume Right Wingman, it was not without a certain amount of disbelief that Rich announced, "I have the Lead."

And so, Rich led the Baron group into Oshkosh, touched down lightly, and followed the long line of planes to our campsite. (We later learned that our former Lead landed without injury, although his gear did collapse on impact.)

We got the two sleeping tents assembled, and were turning our attention to the dinner tent, when The Oshkosh Saturday Afternoon Storm hit. Sam, Rich, our neighbor, Kevin, and I struggled to hold onto the dinner tent before eventually admitting defeat and seeking shelter under the wings of the Baron to wait the storm out.

As the rains subsided, we made our way to the B2Osh pizza and margarita party. Later we met up with Rich's friend Ken, his former instructor, Rusty, and another friend of theirs for dinner at the local steak house. We hit Target quickly so I could get some warmer clothing than I had thought to pack, and retired to bed early. It had been a fun, but tiring day getting to our little home away from home!

The next morning, Sam and Rich set out to explore, while I got some document review out of the way. We rendezvoused early afternoon and struck out with our lawn chairs to sit and watch the planes arrive. It was a great afternoon.

We passed a Royal Canadian Air Force plane as we made our way back to camp, and were soon enjoying another pizza and beer party with the B2Osh group.

Rich even managed to win a door prize!

I just practiced making the planes look cool.

We soon hunkered under the B2Osh tents as The Oshkosh Sunday Afternoon Storm hit, followed by a double rainbow. (I later discovered that the storm had knocked over our dinner tent and bent most of the poles. Fortunately, Enter MacGyver and His Son and a Whole Lot of Duck Tape, and our tent narrowly missed joining the scores of others that were piled near the dumpsters on Sunday morning.)

Don't forget to click on the above video (Mum!)

After the B2Osh event, we visited with our Congressional Flying Club friends, who were conveniently parked one row over and about ten planes down from us. They had encountered some tricky weather out of Gaithersburg on Saturday, and one plane put down for mechanical problems, but all had eventually arrived safe and sound.

On Monday we were again up at 0600 ("What does the 'O' stand for? OMG it's early."), showered, and headed out to check out more planes. We started with the war planes, of course.

I like planes, but watching Sam and Rich listening to the various owners explain the finer details of their aircrafts was almost too cute to watch. Just look at them. Look how happy they are!

As the day progressed, the weather once again turned ominous and the afternoon airshow was cancelled. I was disappointed to miss the Blue Angels and Patty Wagstaff, but we spent a few hours checking out flying gadgets, clothing, and assorted paraphernalia, which was fun. Rich and I eventually found a restaurant that promised to start serving beer at 6 o'clock, where Sam joined us, and all was once again right with the world.

We left the restaurant as the skies cleared and the first beat from the Doobie Brothers was heard from across the fields. I was pleasantly surprised to recognize almost all of their songs, and Sam and I decided that a little dancing was in order, which Rich videotaped (below).

Rich and I met up with the B2Osh group after having dinner with Sam, and stayed up far later than a 0600 start makes wise.

But you party with the boys, you get up with the men, eh?

Tuesday was a crazy busy day, starting with birthday cake for Rich at the CFC campsite.

We then headed over to the church chapel and admired the aviation themed stained glass windows.

Afterwards, we high-tailed it to Hangar A, as I had volunteered Rich and myself to assist Lynda Meeks at her Girls With Wings booth for a couple hours. I lured in men and pitched the organization and tried to make a sale, while Rich put tattoos on any number of blushing teenagers. Of course, I claimed the privilege of putting on Sam's tattoo for myself.

As Sam, Rich and I departed our lunch table that day, I suddenly realized I did not have my telephoto camera with me. I had left it in the John, of all places, before lunch.

As we checked in with various officiates, I had to remind myself of the scene from the movie, A League of Their Own, where Tom Hanks shouts at a female baseball player who is starting to cry, "There's no crying in baseball!"

The financial sting was bad, but it was the thought of all my pictures from Oshkosh being lost that really had me on the verge of tears. Rich dashed off to check the far lost and found, while Sam and I made our way to the closer one. Then, a horseshoe fell from my, er, pocket, and my cell phone rang. An officiate announced that it was my lucky day, and that he had my camera.

Rich caught up with us at Hangar B and informed me that he had bought me a present so I would always remember what I had done. I could tell by the look on his face that he was up to no good. Note the writing on my tank top in the below picture.

Ribbing done, at least for the time being, we headed out to watch the afternoon airshow.

It was an impressive show, and made me want to get back into my aerobatic training with Adam. There is clearly much more to learn!!

We packed up camp as quickly as we could after the airshow ended, and all too soon we were following the officials' flags and tower cleared us for take-off. As we climbed out, we said adieu to all the pilots and planes still on the ground.

None of us were ready to leave, but we had had a truly amazing four day adventure.

And naturally, we have already begun planning next year's trip.

Future Pilots

A few months ago, I signed up as a role model with an organization called Girls With Wings, which uses "aviation to entertain and educate girls about their limitless opportunities." One of the organizers put me in touch with a student pilot, Keith, who had recently enrolled his daughter, Madeleine, with Girls With Wings. When I realized our June club fly was going to be to the WWII air show in Reading, PA, I emailed Keith and invited him and Madeleine, as well as his son, Aiden, to come along in the Tiger.

Aiden had been flying with Keith twice before, but told his Dad that it was a "life long dream to fly in a low wing," so we knew he was on board. Madeleine had never been flying in a small plane, but decided to follow her big brother's lead, and agreed to come too. They showed up on Saturday decked out in cool flying gear, and looking as cute as can be.

We had a low flight up to Reading to stay under the clouds, and I got some good experience at the air show being vectored around as the controller and tower coordinated the landing of nearly 100 planes in a few short hours.

As we waited for the car to take us over to the air show, Keith snapped a picture of me by a Cheetah, complete with its large Cheetah mascot. (I just wanted to show Greg that I'm not the only pilot weird enough to fly with a stuffed animal. There are at least two of us!)

I had been to the WWII air show last year with Gillian and Rich, and it is quite the impressive spectacle. There are hundreds of actors in costume, singing, dancing, historic planes, tanks, motorcycles, WWII battle reinactments ... you name it, they have it!

We checked out the historic village, army tents, and Madeleine and Aiden got new toy planes, before we settled down to watch the air show. Keith was kind enough to lug around his telephoto camera all day, so all pictures are courtesy of him!

Of course, I stole the camera at one point to take a picture of the happy family.

We got some nice views of the planes as they taxied past us before taking off for their respective roles. Some did aerobatics, while others took part in mock battle reinactments.

We eventually retreated from the heat to the shade under the wing of a large plane. The kids drew pictures, colored, and ate some of the snacks their Mom had packed, while Keith and I talked plane geek and watched the rest of the airshow.

I definitely sense future pilots with these two!!

We decided to start making our way back to the Tiger around 4:30. The airport had predicted holding all planes until 5:30 because of the aerobatics show, but ended up releasing us closer to 5:00. The clouds had cleared, although a bit of haze had set in, but we were able to climb higher and get home a little faster.

We stopped quickly at Carroll County for gas, and then made the short jump back to Gaithersburg. Keith helped the kids fill out their log books while I tucked the Tiger down. Aiden now has four entries and Madeleine two. Not bad for a six and a four year old!

As we made our way over to the parking lot, Keith and I joked that the kids were going to sleep well that night. Oh, and their Dad and pilot too!!

Kitty Hawk

Because flying is always more fun than chores, studying, or pretty much anything else, Rich, Shivi and I agreed that spending Sunday in the Outer Banks, NC was just what the doctor had ordered.

Rich and I were a bit late taking off from Gaithersburg, and the day was already good and hot by the time we arrived at Hanover Airport (KOFP) to pick Shivi up.

We stayed low until we were clear of restricted airspace around Richmond and then climbed to 5,500 AGL for cooler and less turbulent air. I got in a bit of hood time with Rich as my safety pilot, before coming in for a gusty landing at Currituck (KONX), where the fuel price was remarkably reasonable at $2.85/G.

From Currituck, we were heading to Dare County Regional Airport (MQI) until Rich pointed out that I had managed to pick the only airport in the Outer Banks that is on the intercoastal waterway instead of the ocean. I explained that it's a Canadian thing. EH?

With the canopy open and pretty views of the water, we considered going all the way to Oracoke (W95), but our stomachs and a desire to get to the beach sooner rather than later convinced us to land instead at Kitty Hawk Airport (KFFA).

Another gusty landing, and we were tying the Tiger down beside the historic site of the Wright Brothers' first flight. It took us a little while to figure it all out, but that's what signs are for.

Apparently, however, the sign for the Womens Restrooms --> Pilots Briefing Room --> is still on backorder.

Rich explained that the mound / monument that we were admiring was not actually the mound that they had taken off from, which has shifted 400 feet due to erosion. It was still cool to stand on such symbolic pilot terrain, though.

We continued on foot and managed to stumble across a hotel in relatively short order, where we called a cab, and enjoyed a late seafood lunch at Awful Arthurs. Once we realized the pier charged an entrance fee just for looking, we claimed a spot on the sand and the braver Canadian swam (for at least a good three minutes before getting back out).

After some deep beach thoughts - Shivi and I would have been mirror opposites, if only I had worn a brown bathing suit instead of a white! - we played a little frisbee. All too soon, however, it was time to head back home.

We had a smoother run back to Hanover, where we dropped Shivi with little fanfare and only a tad of pomp. We saw stunning views of Lake Anna as the sun set on our way North. ATC assigned me a Bravo clearance, so I got some more practice at being under their control, and it shaved 15 minutes off our flight too.

As we drove home from the airport, it was hard to believe we had only been gone 11+ hours. It felt like so very much longer. In the best possible way, of course.