We are travelling again. It has been a while, we did a trip out West in May but since then, other than a short trip to Chesapeake, most things have been close to home. We typically take a trip to the Upstate of South Carolina this time of year and I almost planned another but I was in the mood for something new. Looking around I settled on Blacksburg Virginia.
Weather is always important and I had been watching the forecasts. Initially it was supposed to be sunny but as we got closer, the forecasts started to turn. There was a strong front sliding across the country. The good news was that the morning would be nice and we would be well ahead of the front. We departed just after 8:00 AM and headed up the Coast. We had a strong crosswind but as we crossed Savannah it swung around and started providing a nice tailwind.
It's only 423 miles but for a variety of reasons we chose to make a fuel/comfort stop. We dropped into Wadesboro, NC just West of Charlotte. It's unattended on the weekends but the gate code and the FBO lobby code is the Unicom frequency. The ramp gate code makes you guess but the FBO had the clue printed on the door. I had called ahead the week before and gotten the codes so we were good.
It was a good stop and they even had a Welcome to North Carolina sign. The one downside was their fueling hose was a bit short. The previous person had left the hose in the taxi area so I stayed a bit farther from the pump to keep the right engine clear.
It was going to be tight as to whether I could reach the left filler port but I used an old trick and ran the hose under the nose which gave me the slack I needed.
Departing, we checked in with Charlotte and they soon handed us to Greensboro Approach. After checking in it was really quiet, for a long time. I called approach to make sure we were still connected and the controller said we were the only one there so we had our own controller for a bit. It was Sunday morning but I expected a bit more traffic.
The weather at Blacksburg was advertised as clear but coming over the mountains we had an overcast layer below. Roanoke wanted to know our approach request. They could only get us down to 5,200' so to be safe we set up for the GPS 13 approach but coordinated that we would take the visual if it worked out. About 15 miles out, we hit a clear area and picked up the field. With a clear path in, I cancelled IFR, descended a bit to stay clear of the clouds and entered the pattern.
You get a nice view of the Virginia Tech campus and stadium on downwind. When we called in the FBO had given us the winds and when we cleared the runway there was a follow me golf cart which we followed to a parking.
I was concerned that there were no tie downs but once shut down the lineman pulled out straps and got us hooked up. We had the front coming in so I reconfirmed they would not need to tow me, put up DO NOT TOW signs in the windows and put in the control lock, including the rudder pin. It is a pain to get in and when the winds are light, I often l leave it out.
The winds had been calm at Blacksburg when we were about 30 minutes out but now they were starting to blow. The blue and clear skies were looking cloudy and I was glad we got going and took advantage of the the calm before the storm.
Heading home we had great weather. It was cold overnight, down to 39 so we decided to head back around 9:30 AM when it was closer to 50. Starting the plane, the engines were at 45 degress, not great but well within limits. Once running we sat for several minutes to get the oil into the mid 80s. We were parked on a slight uphill and the plane was not gonna roll without some power.
We used the wait to set everything up and to call clearance. Roanoke has a remote frequency so we picked up our clearance and waited. I had filed and was given a route to T201 which goes around the East of Charlotte. I was not sure the computer would give it to us but it did and I was hopefull that would be our route. Once warm, I powered up to about 1200 RPM and got rolling. By the time we taxied out the oil was above 100 degrees and after the run up we picked up our IFR release and headed out.
The winds were screaming from the Northwest and I assumed we would have a rough ride, it was surprisingly smooth though. With the cool air we were soon at 8,000 feet with about 30 knots of tailwind scooting along. After we were handed off to Greensboro I got the bad news. We had to reroute. Either a lot more East or a lot more West. West looked better as it was shorter so we turned towards BZM VOR and then we were told it would be direct home.
Our 30 knot tailwind became a 25 knot headwind but it was only for 55 miles, then we could turn and start zooming South again. Well, Greensboro handed us off to Atlanta and he had another reroute all the way to GENOD. We had fought our way 40 miles West and now he wanted us to go another 55 miles? Also as we headed West it got a lot bumbier. I made a decison. We were in severe clear with 100 mile visibility. I cancelled IFR and started a climb to 8,500 and turned direct home.
I asked Atlanta if Charlotte would let us through the Class B. He checked and they would not. This was not an issue, I figured this would be the case so we kept climbing to 10,500. In smaller lower powered planes, climb rates are anemic up that high but the Baron has plenty of power and I just set up 500 feet per minute and left the power alone.
10,500 solved our class B problem but the winds were more from the West so we had just a bit of tailwind and sometimes a bit of headwind. I also started thinking ahead and our route would just clip the restricted areas by Savannah. I add SAV VOR to our route and the slight change fixed everything. Charlotte had no issue with us at 10,500 and it was a bit easier not being IFR. As we cleared the class B I told them I was going back to 8,500. Normally 10,500 can be a bit faster when the winds are favorable but today lower the winds were more from the North so we dropped back into a 15 knot tailwind.
Leaving Charlotte we slid over Columbia, I forget how close they are, only 77 miles and today with the visibility I watched Charlotte international slide under the nose and there was Columbia. Columbia came and there was Savannah and pretty soon we were descending for home. I could see the river and where the airport was when we were 50 miles out. Being VFR came in handy agian as we could descend as we chose and with the smooth air I was able to optimize our profile. The trip home clocked in at 2:18, 2 minutes longer than predicted and used 1 gallon more than planned which was not bad with the rerouting. The drive is close to 9 hours.
