Post by Ben on Dec 31, 2010 22:56:39 GMT -5
It all started the day before. When the idea came up while talking to Dave about ideas for flying. He said that a few of us should fly to first flight NC. At that time I knew I wanted to fly the next day, but I had no idea I was going to decide to fly to another state.
Later that day my friend (also a pilot) Dakota contacted me and said we should fly. Well I figured that the next day (thursday would be perfect) So we agreed to talk later that day about where we were going to go. In the back of my mind I was thinking First Flight. But I had no idea that Dakota was thinking the same thing. When he called me and said he has a great idea and it was First Flight I was automaticly pulled onboard (since it was that we had the same idea) That night we flight planned on the phone and were hoping for a 9-10 am departure the next morning. So it was set.
The next day we met up at 8am. Starting planning lightly small details while the plane preheated. We called flight watch and filed the flight plan to first flight. We figured we could make it down all in one shot with no fuel stops untill the return flight. So at 945 we were climbing in the plane (704CM) ready to go on our adventure. At this time in the flight we still had the idea in our heads that all flights go as planned and nothing ever had to change.
So we took off from reading around 10:10 am. and turned south. Our first checkpoint was KEVY (Summit DE). We reached Summit with no problems. Just alot of exitement. After Summit we turned right for SBY our second checkpoint. We flew over SBY right on time and kept on for Accomack (KMFV). During this we incountered our first problem. Engine roughness. We lost 100 RPM within a few seconds then another 100 after that. I pulled carb heat right away (Carb icing). But it did nothing but slow us down more. After a few minutes of no gradual RPM gain i pushed our carb heat back off. It sounded fine again. At this time we were crossing MFV. We now continued for ORF. And something new we never did approched us. Crossing a large body of water. So we started to cross. I brief dakota that If something happen to the engine we turn for the nearest land. Luckily nothing did happen. After that conversation we joked that if anything happen we should land near a boat. Then swim to it. While crossing the water we decided to make the first divert for fuel. I wanted to go to Norfolk International. We decided to go to Chesapeake Rgnl. A untowered field just south of ORF's class C airspace.
So we landed at Chesapeake with one little problem. The wrong Unicom freq. That was my falt and I promised Dakota that I would take blame which I have all the blame to take even though nothing happend. So we refueled the plane in CPK. While there I checked the weather and the said that there was going to be some rain showers between us and First flight. Which was about 50 miles away. So we weighed our options. But even if we were to turn around the weather was 10X worse behind us now. So we contunued on.
We took off and departed the patten on a downwind. We contacted ORF approach and activated our flight plan. We contuned at 3000 feet now since it was a short trip. While there we got handed off once then dropped due to no more controllers. So we now where on our own 25 miles from First Flight. We hit up Flight Flight CTAF and just monitored. Whiched turned out was also the beach unicom too. So we decided to go with the flow and fly the beach in.
So now we see it. There it was. 4 Hours after we left we see it. Let me say that this airport is known for crosswinds. We had calm winds. So we entered on a upwind runway 20. Did a complete pattern and we stayed tight to the airport. That turned out to hurt up on final we were to high and I did a go around. So we tried again. This time I made my pattern wider. It did a short field landing. It it turned out perfect. Just as we practiced at Reading it worked on a real short field.
So there we were. Where aviation started. We parked the plane and got out. It was nice to walk around alittle. They had a very nice pilot briefing center that was secluded from the rest of the attractions. And only for pilots. It said on the door, Door code Squawk VFR then # . Which was cool. So we looked at the weather on the way back, went up to the monument and took some pictures, talked to some people, stamped our log books.
Then we prepared for the second half. Which now we had to fight with the wind. And guess what the wind won. We took off on 02 Because the winds picked up alittle and we needed all we could get. We did a short field takeoff. Then proceeded up the beach. While flying up towards our first point. I convinced Dakota that we should make a stop in Norfolk for fuel. I also wanted to see the jets. So he agreed. At this time dakota was Pilot in Command since I was on the way down. He needed help talking to ATC because thats one of his weak points. But thats okay because my weak point is untowered fields. Anyways i contacted Norfolk apprach and we were cleared inbound.
Long story short we landed behind a CRJ-200. Far enough that wake Turb did not effect us. We taxied to Landmark for fuel. They were very nice to us. Thye even offered to take us to food but we declined because we still had 3 hours to fly.
So here is where the fun begins. I contacted Ground not even thinking about Clearence. They told me to contact clearence. So I did. That was new to me. But we handled it as best as we could. So then we contacted ground and asked for taxi. We got taxi clearence to 05. Right after us so Did a Learjet and a Southwest 737. But we beat them there and got on the runway quick. We took off and they gave us a heading of 080 so the other traffic could depart. So this started to take us off our flight plan. But it was okay because we had 3 GPS's. But of course at the worse time for the GPS's to fail. They did. Over water. All at the same time. Also our transponder fell off radar. So we followed the chesapeake bridge.
Once over land again my Ipad got gps service again. And we proceeded to our next checkpoint. At this time the Ipad was loosing battery so we started using dead reckoning and pilotage to find our way. Only using the Ipad when we needed. Which went just fine. As we apprached Summit DE. We figured we needed fuel. AGAIN. The headwind was really killing us. So we tried to get someone on the ground at Summit but noone was on the Unicom.
So we decided to divert again. This time to KILG. This was a headsmasher. We had no charts or info on ILG. So this is where the ipad came into GREAT use. It had everything we needed to make a landing at ILG. The controllers there were also great. They were very nice and I would go back there because of how nice they are.
So we taxied to Atlantic Aviation. We topped off the tanks. We didnt need as much fuel as we thought. But it was still nice to get out and move around. At this time it was between 8:00 and 8:15. So we needed to get back very bad. So we quickly departed on runway 32. And headed home to RDG. And let me tell ya. When I heard Reading Approach I was so happy the day was comming to an end. We landed at Reading with no problems.
Overall. The day was great. Besides sitting in a small plane for 8 hours. Any day flying is a good one. It was one trip I will never forget. And a trip I would make again (with a few changes).
I would like to thank Dave for the idea and the help to make this happen. And thank Dakota for being a great flying partner. And I would also like to thank you for reading this with all the spelling mistakes (my weakest area in school)
PS. I will post more pictures once Dave shows me how.
Later that day my friend (also a pilot) Dakota contacted me and said we should fly. Well I figured that the next day (thursday would be perfect) So we agreed to talk later that day about where we were going to go. In the back of my mind I was thinking First Flight. But I had no idea that Dakota was thinking the same thing. When he called me and said he has a great idea and it was First Flight I was automaticly pulled onboard (since it was that we had the same idea) That night we flight planned on the phone and were hoping for a 9-10 am departure the next morning. So it was set.
The next day we met up at 8am. Starting planning lightly small details while the plane preheated. We called flight watch and filed the flight plan to first flight. We figured we could make it down all in one shot with no fuel stops untill the return flight. So at 945 we were climbing in the plane (704CM) ready to go on our adventure. At this time in the flight we still had the idea in our heads that all flights go as planned and nothing ever had to change.
So we took off from reading around 10:10 am. and turned south. Our first checkpoint was KEVY (Summit DE). We reached Summit with no problems. Just alot of exitement. After Summit we turned right for SBY our second checkpoint. We flew over SBY right on time and kept on for Accomack (KMFV). During this we incountered our first problem. Engine roughness. We lost 100 RPM within a few seconds then another 100 after that. I pulled carb heat right away (Carb icing). But it did nothing but slow us down more. After a few minutes of no gradual RPM gain i pushed our carb heat back off. It sounded fine again. At this time we were crossing MFV. We now continued for ORF. And something new we never did approched us. Crossing a large body of water. So we started to cross. I brief dakota that If something happen to the engine we turn for the nearest land. Luckily nothing did happen. After that conversation we joked that if anything happen we should land near a boat. Then swim to it. While crossing the water we decided to make the first divert for fuel. I wanted to go to Norfolk International. We decided to go to Chesapeake Rgnl. A untowered field just south of ORF's class C airspace.
So we landed at Chesapeake with one little problem. The wrong Unicom freq. That was my falt and I promised Dakota that I would take blame which I have all the blame to take even though nothing happend. So we refueled the plane in CPK. While there I checked the weather and the said that there was going to be some rain showers between us and First flight. Which was about 50 miles away. So we weighed our options. But even if we were to turn around the weather was 10X worse behind us now. So we contunued on.
We took off and departed the patten on a downwind. We contacted ORF approach and activated our flight plan. We contuned at 3000 feet now since it was a short trip. While there we got handed off once then dropped due to no more controllers. So we now where on our own 25 miles from First Flight. We hit up Flight Flight CTAF and just monitored. Whiched turned out was also the beach unicom too. So we decided to go with the flow and fly the beach in.
So now we see it. There it was. 4 Hours after we left we see it. Let me say that this airport is known for crosswinds. We had calm winds. So we entered on a upwind runway 20. Did a complete pattern and we stayed tight to the airport. That turned out to hurt up on final we were to high and I did a go around. So we tried again. This time I made my pattern wider. It did a short field landing. It it turned out perfect. Just as we practiced at Reading it worked on a real short field.
So there we were. Where aviation started. We parked the plane and got out. It was nice to walk around alittle. They had a very nice pilot briefing center that was secluded from the rest of the attractions. And only for pilots. It said on the door, Door code Squawk VFR then # . Which was cool. So we looked at the weather on the way back, went up to the monument and took some pictures, talked to some people, stamped our log books.
Then we prepared for the second half. Which now we had to fight with the wind. And guess what the wind won. We took off on 02 Because the winds picked up alittle and we needed all we could get. We did a short field takeoff. Then proceeded up the beach. While flying up towards our first point. I convinced Dakota that we should make a stop in Norfolk for fuel. I also wanted to see the jets. So he agreed. At this time dakota was Pilot in Command since I was on the way down. He needed help talking to ATC because thats one of his weak points. But thats okay because my weak point is untowered fields. Anyways i contacted Norfolk apprach and we were cleared inbound.
Long story short we landed behind a CRJ-200. Far enough that wake Turb did not effect us. We taxied to Landmark for fuel. They were very nice to us. Thye even offered to take us to food but we declined because we still had 3 hours to fly.
So here is where the fun begins. I contacted Ground not even thinking about Clearence. They told me to contact clearence. So I did. That was new to me. But we handled it as best as we could. So then we contacted ground and asked for taxi. We got taxi clearence to 05. Right after us so Did a Learjet and a Southwest 737. But we beat them there and got on the runway quick. We took off and they gave us a heading of 080 so the other traffic could depart. So this started to take us off our flight plan. But it was okay because we had 3 GPS's. But of course at the worse time for the GPS's to fail. They did. Over water. All at the same time. Also our transponder fell off radar. So we followed the chesapeake bridge.
Once over land again my Ipad got gps service again. And we proceeded to our next checkpoint. At this time the Ipad was loosing battery so we started using dead reckoning and pilotage to find our way. Only using the Ipad when we needed. Which went just fine. As we apprached Summit DE. We figured we needed fuel. AGAIN. The headwind was really killing us. So we tried to get someone on the ground at Summit but noone was on the Unicom.
So we decided to divert again. This time to KILG. This was a headsmasher. We had no charts or info on ILG. So this is where the ipad came into GREAT use. It had everything we needed to make a landing at ILG. The controllers there were also great. They were very nice and I would go back there because of how nice they are.
So we taxied to Atlantic Aviation. We topped off the tanks. We didnt need as much fuel as we thought. But it was still nice to get out and move around. At this time it was between 8:00 and 8:15. So we needed to get back very bad. So we quickly departed on runway 32. And headed home to RDG. And let me tell ya. When I heard Reading Approach I was so happy the day was comming to an end. We landed at Reading with no problems.
Overall. The day was great. Besides sitting in a small plane for 8 hours. Any day flying is a good one. It was one trip I will never forget. And a trip I would make again (with a few changes).
I would like to thank Dave for the idea and the help to make this happen. And thank Dakota for being a great flying partner. And I would also like to thank you for reading this with all the spelling mistakes (my weakest area in school)
PS. I will post more pictures once Dave shows me how.
Attachments:
I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures.