Weekend trip to Columbus

My buddy "Bull" from college has an annual summer party in Columbus, OH. A bunch of my friends from OH and MI come to it, so it's a great opportunity to have some good fun with good friends. I have driven out there before for a long weekend, but now that I have the RV, is driving really an option? 2 hours in the RV vs 6 hours in the car. No real choice there!



When I arrived at the airport, it appears as if they had installed a new windsock!


The weather didn't look fantastic for this trip. Locally the weather was fine, but expected to get worse from a system arriving from the south. In Columbus, it was practically all IFR and getting some pretty intense rain. However, the system over Columbus was supposed to move north by mid-afternoon and have clear skies. I decided to blast off so I wouldn't be stuck in MD. My original plan was to land in south-eastern OH and wait out the much over Columbus. The weather near KDMW wasn't all that bad, but it was soupy out.


Always a headwind heading west.


ADS-B was great to paint a picture of what was ahead.


The views of some of the low clouds around the mountains were really quite spectacular.




This is Garrett County Airport in western MD.


Right next to the airport is Deep Creek lake and Wisp ski resort.


More awesome views. I think I am going to break down soon and ditch the point-'n'-shoot camera for a DSLR to get better pictures.

Flying over Morgantown (KMGW) class Delta.


The town of Morgantown, WV, home of West Virginia University.


My original planned stop to wait out the weather was Noble County, OH (I10). However, the weather started to break closer to Columbus. I made it as far as Zanesville, OH (KZZV) before I couldn't continue any further.


Immediately I liked this airport. Everything a pilot wanted to see in terms of fees.


This was a top notch FBO. Multiple Leather Couches, 2 airport cars ($40 to rent overnight), LCD TV's....and the fanciest bathroom I have ever seen. Take a look at the polished brass flushing valve hardware! I couldn't help but take a picture of this.


I waited for about 6 hours in Zanesville for the weather to clear at my intended destination - Delaware, OH (KDLZ). There were a number of people at Zanesville who were on their way to Oshkosh, so the wait was quite pleasant. We took the airport car to a local restaurant and exchange flying stories.



Upon landing at KDLZ, my friends were anxiously awaiting me so we all could get to my friends party. When removing the gift beers from the RV, one of the bottles busted open, leaving us to quickly remedy the situation.

Fast forward 16 hours and it was time to go back home.


I couldn't help but bring 4 local souvenirs home with me.


It was a beautiful day in central OH.


And a relatively chilly day for 11:30am in the end of July.

Once I took off from KDLZ, I noticed Foreflight had traffic on it! The latest firmware for the Stratus ADS-B receiver includes the ability to pick up ADS-B on the 978 Mhz spectrum (but not on the 1090 Mhz spectrum). Definitely nice, but not 100% foolproof.


There were good tailwinds forecasted up high, so I climbed over some broken clouds to 11,500'. It was chilly up here at 36 degrees, but I had a kickin' 29 kts tailwind.


Not too shabby doing 205 Kts (235 MPH) over the ground!


Unfortunately being up high didn't last long. The cloud tops were getting higher, and I don't have oxygen, so back down to 4,500' it was.


In case you haven't noticed, I like taking pictures of power plants and then investigating them later on, once I am on the ground. Perhaps it is because my grandfather designed power plants for Baltimore Gas and Electric (BG&E). Perhaps it's because I'm an electrical engineer. Most likely a combination.



This is the Mitchell Power Station in in Moundsville, WV. It's a coal burning plant. One of it's claims to fame is has a 1,206' chimney, which at one time was the tallest in the world. Currently it is the 5th tallest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Power_Plant). This plant is slated to close by October 9th, 2013 because it does not support clean burning coal.


It's tough to see here, but there is an amazing rock face along the far side of the river where the river over time chiseled away at the earth.


Lucky day for me - another power plant. This is the Hatfields Ferry Power Station in Masontown, PA. It's another coal plant with some nasty pollution issues (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hatfields_Ferry_Power_Station). This coal plant it slated to be shut down by October 9th as well.


The weather was great on the way home right up until about 20 miles from KDMW, where the ceilings dropped slightly due to some rain in the area. 1.9 hours on the hobbs for the trip home. Another great weekend, made totally possible by the RV.

Great write up Mike. Lots of pics. Glad to hear about Zanesville. I go in to Cambridge just East of there and having an alternate is good to know.

Great trip write up. Ditto about Zanesville. I took that same route last year on the way to KLAF, overflying Moundsville, WVa. All except I was in the Cardinal, not making the GS you do. One of these days though!

Next time, let us know you are heading our way. I could have assisted in getting your RV in a hangar for the night. DLZ is my home base. Although this past weekend, I wouldn't have been able to be much of a host. We spent the day Saturday moving into our new home in the rain. The good news that I now have a five minute drive to the hangar instead of half an hour that I used to have. As soon as I can get the house in order and the RV put back together, it'll be first flight time.

bob

Mikey,

Terrible shame about the beer! That is alcohol abuse! Dont let it happen again!

Btw, those Great Lakes beers are awesome!

Nice write up!

. CJ

rleffler said:

Next time, let us know you are heading our way. I could have assisted in getting your RV in a hangar for the night. DLZ is my home base. Although this past weekend, I wouldn't have been able to be much of a host. We spent the day Saturday moving into our new home in the rain. The good news that I now have a five minute drive to the hangar instead of half an hour that I used to have. As soon as I can get the house in order and the RV put back together, it'll be first flight time.

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Bob,

I didn't know DLZ was your home base....next time I'm in the area I will let you know. I would love to check out your sweet RV-10!

GREAT write-up, Mike! Thanks for posting it. Very inspirational.

I have a suggestion for a very good camera. I have a Panasonic Lumix, and it has served me extremely well. It's a very good mid-range camera. It's not big, heavy, and bulky like a lot of top-of-the-line digital SLR's, so you can always have it with you. I like it for the image stabilization feature, especially in a bumpy airplane. It also has a larger, high-quality Leica lens, much better than almost all other point-and-shoot cameras. A professional photographer friend had high praise for this model, so I feel very good about it. They have it on sale right now at Costco. It's a $300 camera, and until the end of August, it's $70 off. Read more about it here:

http://www.costco.com/Panasonic-LUMIX-ZS25-Digital-Camera-Bundle.product.100038762.html

Hey Bruce,

Thanks for the suggestion on the camera! Turns out I currently use an older Panasonic Lumix with a Leica lens. I think over the years it has been abused enough where it doesn't take crisp pictures. I was discussing my camera dilemma to my roommate, and he just happened to have an extra Canon DSLR body in his collection he said I can use. So I think I'm in business. If the DSLR turns out to be too bulky, I'll take a gander at the new Lumix you recommended.

Thanks Buddy!!!

Another great trip Mike! It won't be long before you go to Alaska

I'm in!

Vlad said:

Another great trip Mike! It won't be long before you go to Alaska

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When's the Alaska trip? Sign me up.

AO

Agent Orange said:

When's the Alaska trip? Sign me up.

AO

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No need to sign up Andy. Pack heavily and go. Week 26,27.