Date Night, GA Style

Tuesday 8/26/14

It was one of those days at work today and I wasn't looking forward to going home to an empty house.  I did make my scheduled appointment for my haircut after closing up my office and bugging out.  I headed home thinking I would surprise my Bride, who is living in our beach house, with a dinner date night.  I made sure the Wilmington house was squared away in case there was a call for a showing then I checked wx for my flight south and return flight in the morning.

08Romeo needed fuel so I taxied to the pumps and took on 26 gallons that brought me to 50 total. I called Philly Clearance Delivery on my phone that is connected via Bluetooth to my Zulu headset and picked up my clearance. I was cleared to OXB via MXE V29 SBY Direct, 3000 expect 6000 and was given the appropriate approach and squawk code. I made my last call on CTAF noting my exit of the area towards the Modena VOR and switched to Philly approach.  Philly turned me direct ENO (on V29) and followed with a climb to 6000.

C&D Canal looking towards the Chesapeake Bay

It was a smooth flight despite some haze and I closed this leg out  with nice landing at OXB.  I have yet to take pictures of the new hangar, maybe this weekend. I drove our airport car out of hibernation and on to the ramp then pushed 08Romeo in for the night. It was gorgeous in OCMD, so I had to put the top down on the Cabrio.  With the music turned up I made my way to the house.  Mary was on her way back from a Boscov's trip with our friend Pam so I had some time to take Ziva out and get some ice tea.

We headed out to Whiskers Bar and Grille for dinner and enjoyed a nice night out, together! We headed home before ten and called it a night. I checked wx for my flight in the morning and filed just in case the morning mist/fog shows itself.

Wednesday 8/27/14

I was up at 4:30 for another wx check and then got ready for work. It pays to keep a work polo shirt handy for just this type of situation.

KOXB

KILG

The roads are empty which made for a very quick trip to the airport. I did my preflight in the hangar then tugged 08Romeo out on the ramp. I tucked the airport car in the hangar and with the push of a button closed the hangar door. It was still dark, sunrise was noted in Foreflight as 6:25. I plugged my flight plan in and got 08Romeo started so her oil could warm up. With winds calm I debated if I should depart runway 2/20(3200ft) new bright lights or 14/32(4072ft)older fair lights. Distance always wins out and unless I can get through to Washington Clearance Delivery I'll have to wait out the ground fog anyway.

Multiple radio calls to C&D went unanswered so I dialed up the national C&D number.  After announcing Maryland I was connected to a real person. The nice man gave me the tower number at Patuxent, which I called.  The guy in the tower said to contact C&D on 121.75, I did multiple times, no answer, he said try again. No problem, I made multiple calls and somebody finally answered just to let me know they were not open yet.


East view on departure, RT 90 bridge

west view on departure

Hmmm...Ok back to the national C&D number. I got the same guy again and he made some calls, I was standing buy.  All the while 08Romeo is purring along itching to get in the air. The sky was starting to show signs of the eminent sunrise and the mist/ground fog was now clearing enough to depart 32. I could see both towers silhouette against the sky that are listed on the GPS 14 plate, visibility was fine for a VFR departure.

While all this is going on in my head C&D comes back online and says I have your clearance advise ready to copy, there will be at least a twenty minute hold for release.  Yikes...I told him I appreciated all his effort but I will pick up my clearance in the air now that the ground fog has pushed inland and my departure is clear. He said Salisbury has traffic so they are holding you, no problem I responded, have a good day.

South of ATR and Cape Henlopen off my wing tip

08Romeo launched into the sky and with a turn out to stay clear of the ground fog west I climbed north east over the Bay. I was at 3000 headed to the ENO VOR. I contacted Dover Approach to open my flight plan and was directed to climb and maintain 5000, direct DQO. I like it! The ride was smooth and I was watching for the sun to finally show, it did not disappoint.

Dover AFB

As I made my way north I once again experienced the wx phenomenon of the cloud layer ending at Dover. This has happened multiple times and I wish I had an answer.  Any of you weather geeks reading this please chime in, inquiring minds want to know.


The Dover magic wx line



Dover handed me off to Philly and I cruised along with multiple sectors until reporting the field in sight. I canceled IFR early and switched to CTAF making my inbound calls for traffic and setting 08Romeo down with some stall horn. I cleaned up the plane and tucked her in for my Thursday night flight back to the beach.