Window Tint for 3 Tango Charlie

Today was my lucky day! Alan Brentzel, Wingviewtint.com, was in Ocean City Maryland and I was able to have my windows tinted on 3 Tango Charlie. Alan did an excellent job! I love the new look, and what this product will do for the cabin temps.

BEFORE

AFTER

Garmin 480 - Amended Route and Hold

Recently, I flew to and from NJ during the TFR in Rehoboth Delaware, and had my route amended. Nothing difficult or crazy out of the way, but I didn't see a "how to" on this in my current Garmin 480 playlist.  I added a video to the playlist addressing the amended route, potential hold, and finally a direct to destination.  I want to mention the great service from our surrounding ATC folks. Shout out to Patuxent, Dover, and Atlantic City Approach Controllers. 

Breakfast with my Bride

 

A post was put up on the Pilots of America forum for a breakfast run to Cambridge MD, KCGE. Pugs (Allen) was going so I thought it would be good to catch up.  Mary wanted to join me this morning which always makes the flight time fun. I had twenty seven gallons left on board after the Jersey flight so I planned on fuel at Cambridge.  Fuel at Cambridge is $6.21 full serve and here at Ocean City it's $7.35.  I now have a reason to fly for fuel and good eats!

Winds favored three-two and we launched after picking up our IFR clearance and most important squawk code for the TFR transition.  On departure I was directed to fly a 270° heading until Pax can ID me, then they turned me on course direct CGE. The ride was fairly smooth despite the quartering headwind of 20-25kts. 

I cancelled IFR and switched over to CTAF at Cambridge. Allen was in the down wind and we were maybe 15 miles out. I entered a straight in for runway three-four and made a nice landing. Once the plane was secure I ordered thirty gallons of fuel and headed in to breakfast. 

There was no line and most tables were open. The three of us were quickly seated and placed our orders. This restaurant has very good food and for the limited staff the service was good. We all enjoyed the meal and conversations. 

Once the fuel bills were paid we all headed out to our planes. Allen and I each sumped tanks and made a general walk around our aircraft.  Allen taxied out and I followed him to runway three-four. I had a tail wind going home, Allen had the headwinds heading back to Hagerstown. 

I picked up flight following with Patuxent and made for the coast. We really enjoyed the tailwinds heading east, toping out at 150kts.

Pax turned me loose to get on CTAF but I had to keep the code until I landed. 

A fun day of flying in perfect weather!  

Hangar critter!

Round-trip and Storms

Mary and I were invited to a wedding in Millville NJ. I had toyed with the idea of flying vs driving to Millville NJ from here in Ocean City MD.  Option one, Driving north to Wilmington, across the Delaware memorial Bridge, then south to Millville would be just under three hours.  The return home in the evening, on a Friday, would have been brutal with beach traffic.  Option two was taking the DRBA ferry from Lewes DE over to Cape May NJ then drive to the event. It's just under an hour to Lewes from home and the boat ride is an hour and twenty minutes. The drive to the event from Cape May would be about an hour.  Option three, my favorite, would be flying to and from the event.

The weather looked like it would hold out for us to fly, so option three it is.  I  filed for the flight to Millville, KMIV, departing Ocean City, KOXB, at 2 pm.  I had secured a rental car that would be waiting for us at the Big Sky FBO. 

I picked up my IFR clearance with Patuxent while on the ground at Ocean City. The TFR does not allow you to pick up in the air, you must have an assigned squawk code prior to take off. On departure I flew a 270° assigned heading while climbing out for five thousand. Once Patuxent ID'ed me they gave me direct LAFLN. Pax handed me off to Dover and Dover handed us off to Atlantic City. The ride was really rough as we crossed the Delaware Bay, to the point Mary actually felt nauseous.

We landed at Millville and taxied to the FBO ramp. The guys working helped me push the plane back and secure it. The rental was waiting for us and the it was running with the ac on. The drive to the event was just ten minutes  from the airport. 

The Return Flight Home

Once the wedding ceremony was complete we congratulated the happy couple, took some pictures and headed back to the airport. Mary and I had made the decision not to attend the reception. Trying to get the dog and two cats boarded then having to get everyone picked up is a nightmare, especially with the costs going up for everything.

I had filed for the return flight when we landed at Millville. With the rental returned we climbed aboard 3 Tango Charlie and headed for home. Once in the air I picked up my clearance with Atlantic City and punched in my assigned squawk code for the TFR transition. My route was reverse of this morning, until handed off to Dover.  Dover amended my route and added an additional leg to the Salisbury VOR. I had filed for four thousand which provided a smoother ride a bit lower then the cloud layer. Cape May was reporting heavy showers and lighting and I had hoped it would not beat us to our destination. I should add a note here that since I didn't grab my flight/video bag I did not have my Sentry with ADSB in. No traffic and no weather today. I had only grabbed my iPad for the flight. 

Once past LAFLN I asked Dover for direct Ocean City and the controller had me standby. I didn't think they would give me direct instead hand me off and let Patuxent turn me direct. I was wrong, I got direct OXB and contact Patuxent on 127.95.

There was an Embarer Phenom inbound ahead of me so Pax told me to head direct PFAIR, hold instructions would follow. PFAIR is the initial fix for the RNAV GPS 14 approach to Ocean City. I added the fix and pointed 3 Tango Charlie for the potential hold. I also pulled the power back and slowed down hoping to not need the hold. The clouds were moving in and I wanted to get on the ground. 

I advised Patuxent I had the weather and the airport. Pax gave me a frequency change and advised keep the code, and cancel on the ground. I traded position reports with the jet, they were landing on three-two and I was landing on two-zero. I figured he needed the runway length, I just wanted to land with the winds in the right direction. The Phenom report three mile final and I was about a five mile right base for two zero. I advised the jet I would do a 360 or two until he was clear, then land. It worked out fine, as the jet called clear I was inbound after the second turn. I made a nice landing and taxied for the hangar. 

Mary and I secured 3 Tango Charlie then headed home with one stop for a Dairy Queen burger and ice cream. It started to rain as we left the airport and the wind really picked up. As we made our way on to RT50 it began to downpour, I mean rain had enough that you couldn't see very far ahead of us and could not see the shopping centers along the way. As if the heavy rain wasn't enough it started to hail. Marble size hail pelted us the last ten minutes until we turned into the park for home.

I'm glad we got home safely and the plane was safe in the hangar. Ocean Aviation had some serious damage from the storm when it swept across the airport, all the other hangars were untouched.

Approach Plates 101

History by day .com

Interesting title, but, I always said I would blog about the good, bad, and the ugly. Yesterday, I flew a quick hop to shed some rust on my stick and rudder skills along with GPS/Auto Pilot buttonology.  What I'm trying to say is what I am about to share should clearly fall in the ugly category.

Lets start at the beginning. Since my bride was headed to the beach I decided to finally get in the air, it's been a month. I did a very detailed preflight and fuel sump before climbing aboard. I decided to mount my typical front/panel view video camera and would also add in my iPad screen capture video of my approach.

I ran into what I thought was an issue back in April while shooting two approaches into Ocean City. I did not get vertical guidance on the RNAV GPS RWY 2 approach. Even after briefing the plate the light did not come on that it's an LNAV approach. I'm not sure if it's rust or being complacent, I think a mix of both. Why do I think that, because I didn't go dig to find an answer that day. 

Fast forward to the RNAV GPS RWY 14 approach I shot yesterday. This time as soon as I got home I opened up my Stec 60-2 Pilots manual and the OXB RNAV RWY 14 approach plate to work through this mental blockade.

Lets take a look at the chart I created after reading through approach plates 101 and the above noted information. I have a WAAS enabled GPS (Garmin 480)so I can shoot LPV and LNAV/VNAV and expect vertical guidance. On an LNAV approach, the pilot flies the final approach lateral course, but does not receive vertical guidance for a controlled descent to the runway.

Wow, did I brain fart. I'm not sure why, I totally briefed the plate, knew what the approach was, and yet expected something different. Obviously I need to get my butt in the air much more often and work at being proficient like I used to be. As with any acquired skill; If you don't use it, you  will lose it. That is a true statement especially when it comes to instrument flight.

The positive takeaway is my stick and rudder skills are still sharp and the buttonology was there.

I'm back in the air on Friday for a flight across the Delaware Bay to Millville NJ - KMIV. My long time friend and flying buddy, Vince, is getting married!

Local Flight & One Approach

I haven't been in the air in just over a month, I needed to change that. Mary was heading to the beach with her cousin and her grandkids so I opted for flight time.

Ocean City was busy today, everyone taking advantage of the beautiful weather. I should have went out early this morning when it was a bit cooler. 

OC Airshow 2022

It’s Airshow weekend here in ocean city MD. This year Mary and I will be attending with our friends Mike and Kim.  Mike B is mentioned all throughout my blog posts over the years. We agreed to split the costs for Flight Line beach box seats with lunch included. 

Thursday Night

Mike and Kim joined us for dinner at Sello's Italian Oven and Bar on Thursday night. The food and service was excellent, and the company even better.  

Friday

Everyone had plans for Friday. Mary and Kim spent a good part of the day shopping in Berlin and the outlets. Mike played a round of golf at the Ocean Pines course, and I tried to video Airshow practice.  

L-R Kim, Bev, Mary, Me, Frank, Mike

When the plans to attend the show were made Mary set up dinner for six at The Hobbit. We very much enjoyed meeting up and sharing meal time with our aviation friends and spouses. My bride and I met up with Frank (AirDorrin.com) and his bride Bev along with Mike and Kim. The food was excellent and the conversations and laughter filled the evening, definitely good times. I woke up Saturday sounding like froggy from our gang as a result of all the laughter during dinner.

Saturday Airshow

While most sun worshipers would have liked more sunshine yours truly was happy with the partly cloudy and sea breeze we were given by mother nature. 

Mike and Kim

Mike and Kim arrived ahead of us via bus or uber and gave us the parking pass. We decided to leave a bit later and make a stop at the airport to pick up my lightweight directors chair. Yes, the beach box seats had chairs but they are hard on my hip and back, so I brought my own. Traffic was backing up on RT50 but moving along. When we got into OC most of the traffic was headed to the inlet parking, we headed north to 17th street. 

The 17th street parking was full, not happy, but we were directed to 20th street, not so bad. Indeed 20th street had open spots and we ended up parking just five spots from the boardwalk. I grabbed my chair and Mary her beach bag and off we went, three blocks south. After some issues with the ticket reader we were sent to another access point and finally entered the beach flight line box seat area.

We were right on show center, great seats! Mary fixed me a plate of food, included with the Flight Line Club seats, and the four of us enjoyed lunch and settled in for the show.

First up were the Green Knights with the POW flag and then the Stars and Stripes landing show center with the national anthem playing. Yep, goosebumps galore, heck I have them now while typing this. 

The Aero L39 Albatros was first up and I could not believe how quiet that jet was. The performance provided multiple passes including inverted and different maneuvers.

The coast guard did a SAR demo including swimmers jumping out of the helo and then being recovered with the powered sling. The Demo team was on duty today but took time to take part in the show.

B25 at KOXB

The North American B-25 Mitchell, Panchito, based just north of Oceans City at Delaware Coastal made an appearance. Those radial engines sure sound nice as she flew multiple passes along the beach. The B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell.

Next up was the F18 Hornet "Rhino" based at Oceana NAS in Virginia Beach. The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is a twin-engine, supersonic, all-weather, carrier-capable, multirole combat jet, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft. What a great demo! When the F18 passed overhead it was so loud you could feel it in vibrate in your chest. Of course I had no hearing protection even though it was handed out when you came in the gate. What?

Next up was the Dover AFB C17 "Moose". The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas.

Michael Goulian in his Extra 330SC put on one hell of a show. The straight vertical climb, hanging it on the prop then doing multiple tail flips was just insane. I was getting dizzy just trying to video his performance. 

The Navy legacy flight did not perform nor did the SOCOM Para-Commandoes. I did capture some of the A10 four ship flight on video.

The main attraction, The Thunderbirds, were up next to close the show. They did not disappoint. The F16's screamed overhead west to east coming right over the hotels towards the show center box. 

The USAF Air Demonstration Squadron is the air demonstration squadron of the United States Air Force. The Thunderbirds are assigned to the 57th Wing, and are based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force. Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. 

The Thunderbirds performed multiple formations and maneuvers to keep your attention focused while the two solo aircraft would sneak in behind the crowd and blast your ears with thunder. It was a very well planned and executed flight demonstration. 

We cleaned up our area and headed the very short distance to the boardwalk, followed by a three block walk to the SUV. The four of us decided on a light dinner and ice cream at Dumser's to close out the day.

Top Gun Maverick

https://www.topgunmovie.com/

 

Mary and I went to see the movie today, it was fantastic!  I really enjoyed some of the throwback scenes and the appearance of Val Kilmer as Iceman. The flying scenes were unbelievable, better then the first Top Gun.  The movie was definitely worth the price of admission. I want to type so much but refuse to give up any spoilers.  GO SEE IT!

Airport Time and Plane Watching

Not much flying of late, especially with our mission to Laurel Scrubbed due to weather.  My instrument currency will lapse the end of this month so I need to get a safety pilot and get busy. Worst case scenario, I'll hit the full motion sim for the third straight time to keep current. Here is some airport time that I captured on one of our Ziva play time airport excursions.