Friday morning we were off to DC. We planned to meet Sam at the airport around 12:30. It is only 2 hours which meant we could take our time. We departed Greenville just before 10:00. Typically we go IFR but since we had to go just North of Charlotte, I was concerned that we would get a significant reroute. I know this sounds pessamistic but Charlotte seems to like to keep people at least 60 miles away.
As the weather was great VFR, I decided to go VFR. The direct route got a bit close to the Charlotte class B so I added SHINE intersection to my plan and that gave us a nice buffer. Departing I was given runway heading and 5,000. As soon as we switched to departure we got an unrestricted climb and on course.
Joke was on them, runway heading was exactly on course. The flight is only about 2 hours but the gas at HEF is quite expensive. I decided to drop into MTV, for a quick top off. We have been many times as it is a great stop. Cheap gas, stupid fast pump and clean bathrooms. They have a restaurant that smells good but we have never had time to try.
Leaving MTV we picked up our clearance on the ground and were cleared to go with no delay. The route took us parallel to the mountains and even though we had clear weather and a smooth ride, we experienced a pretty strong mountain wave.
We had been chugging along at around 161 KIAS. We were on autopilot and I noticed the nose pitch up and the speed start to decay. Eventually we settled on 143 KIAS and 2.5 degrees pitch up. After a few minutes the nose pitched down and we began to pick up speed. You think about mountain waves out West but we have them on our side of the country too.
Heading into DC they held us high until we were close in. Usuualy in bigger metro areas they bring you down early. The approach ended up being a slam dunk and luckily the air stayed smooth as we had to boogie on down. The air was cool outside so I had to balance power reductions with keeping the engines warm.
We picked up HEF at about 12 miles and got a visual to 34R. As we pulled onto the ramp it was not clear where to park as it was very full. The line guys pointed to a place I was not sure I would fit. I headed that way and they had me pull sorta half way into a spot. We shut down and they apologized for the unconventional parking.
As soon as we got out, they hooked up a tug and put the plane on tie down. Traffic was a bear getting into the city but we had a nice ride chatting with Sam. Once in the city Sam had to work so we headed out to a dumpling place Sam had recommended. We had a variety of dumplings that were pretty good and then we went for a walk. Pro tip, at the Capital One Cafe you can get coffee half off if you use a Capital One card.
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