Wilmington Shuttle Run

Mary wants to head north to spend some time with her family. The plan is to meet up with her sister-in-law, spend time with the great nephews and then spend the night at my sister and brother-in-laws home. 

Wednesday 2.9

The weather watch has begun for our Friday departure and return round trip on Sunday. Friday and Saturday look beautiful with temps in the mid fifties. Sunday has bounced back a forth with some predictions of flurries and freezing temps to partly sunny in the forties. Obviously Sunday is the concern, and being a weather guesser is the best gig out there. 

Thursday 2.10

Mary and I made the call to remove Sunday from the plan altogether. The updated plan still has me making the north run drop off arriving at KILG Friday at 11am. Once Mary is squared away with the rental car I will immediately head back to the beach. I’ll top off fuel once back in the hangar and be ready to launch for ILG on Saturday around 2:45pm.  

Friday 2.11

Good morning! Mary is packed, my video cameras and iPad are charged and ready to go. 3 Tango Charlie has 40 gallons on board, good to go for the round trip. I'm taking a final look at the weather and we will be ready to head to the plane. 

The weather is looking good with the only alert of note is turbulence starting at flight level 240 and above. We won't be going there for this flight, or any other for that matter.

We departed runway one-four and climbed out in the pattern before pointing north. It was a smooth flight and the visibility was unlimited. Once in the air we could see the Salem NJ nuke facility and Atlantic city across the Delaware Bay. The Bay water was the cleanest I've seen in quite awhile. 

Route 50 behind the wing

Traffic was light but I decided to pick up flight following with Dover Approach. There were a few Del State planes in the area and two military aircraft. TITUS 31  is a King Air based out of Andrews and he was picking up his clearance back to the based as we approached Dover. Thanks Vince G for the heads up on the aircraft.

Dover handed me off to Philly and then since Philly took forever to step me down, I cancelled. I nosed 3 Tango Charlie over and headed for the left downwind runway one-nine, as directed by the tower. Winds were gusty but I made a nice landing and shut down at FlyAdvanced. I unloaded the bags and Mary signed for her SUV rental. I gave my bride a kiss, said see you tomorrow and saddled up for home.

Delaware ANG C-130's

As I taxied for runway one-nine full length I passed the Air Guard ramp and multiple C-130's. That was worth the flight right there. Once my run up was complete I launched for home. 

Pictures by Vince Games

The ride was smooth, until I jinxed it by saying so, and from Dover south it was ride em' cowboy. 

Once again the Del State planes were out, this time in full force. I bumped my way along until letting down for Ocean City, at that point the air was a bit smoother. Ocean Aviation had multiple planes in the air and after some good communication we all made our way to runway two-zero. 

The plane is clean, and fueled for tomorrows flight north to once again do the shuttle flight. It feels good to be in the air and enjoying the sunshine, at least for now. We shall see how bad the weather gets for Sunday.