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.