Last weekend was an out and back from Houston to Cocoa Beach, and this weekend I saddled up the Val and headed to the nation?s Capitol. Ho-hum?.just another couple of days in the cockpit I designed around myself and my flying style! Sorry, no pictures of note - haze is haze you know....)
The mission for this four-day trip was two-fold. First, I wanted to see Louise?s new home in northern Virginia and check out the little airport in Fredericksburg that is her new home base. Second, I wanted to attend a reunion of my father?s WW II ship mates being held in Philadelphia. Seeing as how the younger generation of my office had Atlantis, the Space Station, and STS-117 in their capable hands, and I would simply have been meddling if I hung around, I saw no reason not to launch on Thursday for the northeast. The weather was nice, although hazy across the south, and I was able to make the trip in two hops, with a fuel stop in northern Alabama at KJFX ? Walker County. There apparently are two FBO?s on the field ? one with a self-serve setup, and one doing full service. The good news is that they are having a price war, and the full-service guy is selling 100LL for $3.25. The owner told me that since he has other sources of income from non-aviation businesses, he is content to keep the lowest price on the field (and is 20 cents cheaper than the self-serve guy?). Hey, a price war is good for the consumer, so if you?re looking for fuel in that area, give it a try!
The weather was acceptable VFR to start in both directions, although the summer heat across the southeast made for haze. Weathermeister showed a preference for the lower altitudes (due to winds) on the way up, but I wanted to stay above the bumps and heat, so compromised at 7500? for the leg up, eventually climbing to 11.5K? at the end of the second leg to get over some build-ups. I had intended to stop at Bluefield in West Virginia (KBLF) for ore cheap gas before heading in to Shannon (KEZF) where it was $4.50, but as I got closer to BLF on Thursday, I found it clobbered by a thunderstorm, so I decided to forgo that stop and go direct to Shannon, arriving with a good hour and a half reserve. The D.C. area was showing good VFR with broken decks above 4500?, but I must admit I was a little worried when I went ?on top? as I crossed in to Virginia, and the clouds kept rising on me. Fortunately, just about the time I was thinking of calling for an IFR clearance, I started to see a slope down, then clearly defined broken layers, and finally, had good ground contact for the VFR decent. All exactly as was being shown on the TAF?s I had on the XM receiver?. I did take the on-line ADIZ training, but since KEZF is on the south side, I didn?t have to deal with it.
Sunday?s return began with an early-morning wakeup in Philadelphia and a four-hour drive back to Shannon. I really like this little airport ? it is easy to see that it has been around quite awhile. Louise told me that after I left about 1100, she spent the rest of the day hanging out and met a number of RV?ers based there. I think it?s going to be a neat new RV community for her. I was looking at another 6 hour day of flying, with upper winds essentially light and negligible, so I aimed for 12.5K and cruised all the way back Alabama for more of that cheap gas to complete the first leg. More haze, but the air was smooth and jazz was playing on the XM?.My biggest worry of the day was the broad area of scattered thundershowers building in Texas and Louisiana ? typical summer weather in other words.
I was able to maintain my VFR cruise at 12.5K all the way to Alexandria LA, where I finally had to face the fact that the boomers were higher than I was going to go, and needed to start working my way around them down lower. The XM NEXRAD once again proved to be the tool that makes this kind of work possible ? it is instantly obvious with a glance if there is a safe route to use, or if it is time to turn back ? and if your escape route is still viable! I only had to make a few deviations to get to the Beaumont area today, and never even got the plane wet ? I considered flying through a few showers just to wash off the bugs from 13 hours of flying, but there was lightning in those things, and I don?t? like to get to close to that with an electric airplane!
As I got into Texas at Beaumont, it was clear that the Houston area was getting its major storm of the day ? all the way from Galveston to north of Intercontinental - lots of red with few or no gaps, and nothing good to say about it! Beaumont had just had a line of minor weather clear through, and ceilings and visibilities were good, so rather than doodle around in the air, burning gas and waiting for a break, I put down there and sat on the deserted GA ramp for about 30 minutes as I watched the Houston storms move north and east a bit. Thos simply proved the old adage about it being better to be down here, wishing you were up there?than to be up there, wishing you were down here! It didn?t take long and the southern end of the line was over Galveston, with rapidly improving conditions behind ? my home base of Pearland was reporting ?clear? when 30 minutes before it was ? mile in heavy rain and thundershowers. I launched off of BPT VFR ?for the beach?, flew a little out to sea to get around the remnants of the southern storm and came into glorious evening sunshine about half-way down the island. ?Direct KLVJ? and I had unlimited ceilings and visibilities of 50 miles ? the air being scrubbed clean by the big storms. 1029 nautical miles for the day, 150 of those around thunderstorms, and except for the descent into the hot, humid Alabama woods, not a bump to be found.
Valkyrie gets a little time off, with no big trips planned for a week or two. Maybe we?ll have to do a mid-Texas breakfast or lunch next weekend, if the Dallas area can stop doing it?s monsoon weather imitations. Meanwhile, it?s time to flip my tires to wear out the other grooves, so that will provide an evening of entertainment sometime this week?..
Keep flying and/or pounding those rivets!
Paul
The mission for this four-day trip was two-fold. First, I wanted to see Louise?s new home in northern Virginia and check out the little airport in Fredericksburg that is her new home base. Second, I wanted to attend a reunion of my father?s WW II ship mates being held in Philadelphia. Seeing as how the younger generation of my office had Atlantis, the Space Station, and STS-117 in their capable hands, and I would simply have been meddling if I hung around, I saw no reason not to launch on Thursday for the northeast. The weather was nice, although hazy across the south, and I was able to make the trip in two hops, with a fuel stop in northern Alabama at KJFX ? Walker County. There apparently are two FBO?s on the field ? one with a self-serve setup, and one doing full service. The good news is that they are having a price war, and the full-service guy is selling 100LL for $3.25. The owner told me that since he has other sources of income from non-aviation businesses, he is content to keep the lowest price on the field (and is 20 cents cheaper than the self-serve guy?). Hey, a price war is good for the consumer, so if you?re looking for fuel in that area, give it a try!
The weather was acceptable VFR to start in both directions, although the summer heat across the southeast made for haze. Weathermeister showed a preference for the lower altitudes (due to winds) on the way up, but I wanted to stay above the bumps and heat, so compromised at 7500? for the leg up, eventually climbing to 11.5K? at the end of the second leg to get over some build-ups. I had intended to stop at Bluefield in West Virginia (KBLF) for ore cheap gas before heading in to Shannon (KEZF) where it was $4.50, but as I got closer to BLF on Thursday, I found it clobbered by a thunderstorm, so I decided to forgo that stop and go direct to Shannon, arriving with a good hour and a half reserve. The D.C. area was showing good VFR with broken decks above 4500?, but I must admit I was a little worried when I went ?on top? as I crossed in to Virginia, and the clouds kept rising on me. Fortunately, just about the time I was thinking of calling for an IFR clearance, I started to see a slope down, then clearly defined broken layers, and finally, had good ground contact for the VFR decent. All exactly as was being shown on the TAF?s I had on the XM receiver?. I did take the on-line ADIZ training, but since KEZF is on the south side, I didn?t have to deal with it.
Sunday?s return began with an early-morning wakeup in Philadelphia and a four-hour drive back to Shannon. I really like this little airport ? it is easy to see that it has been around quite awhile. Louise told me that after I left about 1100, she spent the rest of the day hanging out and met a number of RV?ers based there. I think it?s going to be a neat new RV community for her. I was looking at another 6 hour day of flying, with upper winds essentially light and negligible, so I aimed for 12.5K and cruised all the way back Alabama for more of that cheap gas to complete the first leg. More haze, but the air was smooth and jazz was playing on the XM?.My biggest worry of the day was the broad area of scattered thundershowers building in Texas and Louisiana ? typical summer weather in other words.
I was able to maintain my VFR cruise at 12.5K all the way to Alexandria LA, where I finally had to face the fact that the boomers were higher than I was going to go, and needed to start working my way around them down lower. The XM NEXRAD once again proved to be the tool that makes this kind of work possible ? it is instantly obvious with a glance if there is a safe route to use, or if it is time to turn back ? and if your escape route is still viable! I only had to make a few deviations to get to the Beaumont area today, and never even got the plane wet ? I considered flying through a few showers just to wash off the bugs from 13 hours of flying, but there was lightning in those things, and I don?t? like to get to close to that with an electric airplane!
As I got into Texas at Beaumont, it was clear that the Houston area was getting its major storm of the day ? all the way from Galveston to north of Intercontinental - lots of red with few or no gaps, and nothing good to say about it! Beaumont had just had a line of minor weather clear through, and ceilings and visibilities were good, so rather than doodle around in the air, burning gas and waiting for a break, I put down there and sat on the deserted GA ramp for about 30 minutes as I watched the Houston storms move north and east a bit. Thos simply proved the old adage about it being better to be down here, wishing you were up there?than to be up there, wishing you were down here! It didn?t take long and the southern end of the line was over Galveston, with rapidly improving conditions behind ? my home base of Pearland was reporting ?clear? when 30 minutes before it was ? mile in heavy rain and thundershowers. I launched off of BPT VFR ?for the beach?, flew a little out to sea to get around the remnants of the southern storm and came into glorious evening sunshine about half-way down the island. ?Direct KLVJ? and I had unlimited ceilings and visibilities of 50 miles ? the air being scrubbed clean by the big storms. 1029 nautical miles for the day, 150 of those around thunderstorms, and except for the descent into the hot, humid Alabama woods, not a bump to be found.
Valkyrie gets a little time off, with no big trips planned for a week or two. Maybe we?ll have to do a mid-Texas breakfast or lunch next weekend, if the Dallas area can stop doing it?s monsoon weather imitations. Meanwhile, it?s time to flip my tires to wear out the other grooves, so that will provide an evening of entertainment sometime this week?..
Keep flying and/or pounding those rivets!
Paul
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