The Military Conspires With The Weather Against Me

As I write this, the storms are rumbling through.  The forecast had them coming a bit later but this was the same forecast that said there would be no storms on the way home from Dothan Alabama, yeah right.  I had to run over to Dothan this morning and other than some early fog it looked to be a pretty easy flight.  I launched just before 000 and made a quick stop at Suwannee for the cheap gas, then on to Dothan.

Departing Dothan I was given a climb to 9000 and cleared direct home.  The trip over had been mostly clear skies with the rain well South by the Gulf.  I was not expecting anything on the way back as I had looked at the radar and was not on the ground long but climbing out, there was a line forming just South of my route.  It did not look like an issue until about 10 minutes later when the controller informed me the MOA (Military Operations Area) was now in use.

The MOA is the Purple blob blocking my route.  The controller wanted to send me the long way around the North but I was not keen to burn the extra gas.  Also it was not clear whether it might fill in and trap me North of my destination.  I asked about the Southern route and was given direct Greenville VOR (GEF) then direct.  Oh and btw, let us know when you want to start deviating.  As you can see the clearance was going to take me through the storms.

I was actually in great weather and above most of the low stuff so I fired up the radar and started planning.  The turn at GEF would keep me clear of the rain by the Gulf, then I just needed to work past that long line on the Georgia Florida border.

Making my turn at GEF I could see the buildups, they were actually pretty scattered.  The big cloud chimneys looked imposing but between the radar and my eyes I was able to chart a path down the valleys between the cloud cliffs.

Things were changing quickly and I could actually see the clouds boiling up.  While today I mostly relied on my eyes, the onboard radar confirmed my path while the satellite radar was quite misleading.  For example, I ended up sliding between two strong rain shafts near Lake City.  The tops were only in the low teens and at 9000 I was above all but the cores.  Notice that the XM weather is not really showing the quickly forming intense rain nor that pillar of rain at 18 miles that will be just off to my right.

When I say things were changing fast, look at the radar below.  In the scan above I am about 25 miles from Lake city.  Below I am 9  miles so this is about 4-5 minutes difference.  The XM is still hopelessly behind and following it I would have likely strayed very close to the new storm ahead to the right.  In reality, I turned left and split the difference while staying in clear air.

If the rain had been more developed and more vertical, I would have given it much more room.  I did expect a bit more turbulence but by staying out of the buildups, I had a very smooth ride.  

After Lake city I just had one small area of storms to avoid but by this time I was descending and could no longer pick my way visually.  Again the live radar showed a lot more than the XM.

I skirted South of the last rain showers and broke out around 3000.  There was a slow Cessna on the ILS to 32, they were using 23 though but because of the opposite direction traffic, I was going to be vectored around quite a bit.  I don't like cancelling but sometimes it makes everything easy.  I cancelled, the controller handed me to tower and in I went.

They were using 23 but the winds were calm and I was set up for 14 so I asked and was given 14 with a land and hold short of 23.  This worked well and I joined the right base and soon was rolling to a stop on 14.  The controller had given me full length on final but I easily made the 2000' turn off and the plane was soon away in the hangar.

I was on a roll

The year started slow flying wise.  Last year I flew 154 multi hours in the 10 months I had the Baron.  This year started very slow as the plane was down 7 weeks for an upgrade.  Then I had some other maintenance that took out a few more weeks.

I had recovered though and was on a hot streak, in 3.5 months flew 84 hours.  That pace is around 300 hours a year.  My goal is 160-180 hours per year to stay sharp so I was on a roll and then last week, I did go by the plane for various reasons but did not fly.  Early in the week I had just flown and then later in the week the weather was not cooperating when I had the time.  Yesterday we tried to fly but the morning weather was not  quite what I wanted.  I was pessimistic about today's forecast but surprise, other than some offshore rain, it was a nice morning.

CC and I headed out for some sightseeing.  In reality I just hate to have the engines sit without running.  They stay healthiest when the oil gets hot and drives of the moisture.  There was plenty of rain off the coast to watch.  This is a good example, the picture above was to our right and the below shot was too our left.  You pick the weather you want.

We cruised around a bit looking at the showers the landmarks like the Saint Augustine lighthouse.

It was another good day to work the radar and practice separating the ground from the rain.  Down low you need to be aggressive on the tilt up but that means only the closest storms paint accurately.

Over the water we don't have the clutter issue as water doesn't reflect well unless the waves are really big.  We had rain South of St. Augustine and it was interesting to compare our view, the live radar and the ground based signal.  As usual the ground based showed the big picture but was out of date.  

We didn't penetrate any weather today and soon it was time to return home as rain was popping up close to home.  CC flew us back to the initial approach and I took us in from there.  We had a small shower over Mayport but it floated away so we stayed dry.  We also heard someone call a water spout out at the beach which a friend of ours saw.  Overall a nice day to get back on a roll.

Time to Divert

We woke early Saturday to get ahead of the weather.  It was going to be clear almost all the way home but strong storms were forecast the last few miles from 1 PM on.  The trip back to the airport is 50 minutes which is longer than normal and adds to the door to door time but it is the SFRA area, what are you going to do?  We had parked at the APP jet center and they had the plane fueled and ready to go,  they also had cold waters and nice snacks.  This will likely be our go to FBO up there.

We were heading out IFR which made the SFRA process seamless and just like departing any other towered airport.  I had been tipped off that we would fly the ARSNL5 departure so I knew to file ARSNL5.GVE and that's exactly what I got.  I had heard that sometimes you can get a delay for release but this morning we called in ready and were released a few seconds later.

Departing you climb to 800 then left turn to SHRLI where you track the 056 radial inbound to CSN and then on to GVE.  We were told to climb via the SID but maintain 2000, so we did.  The sky was much clearer than the trip up and we could see the Blue Ridge Mountains about 70 miles out.  On the way up we had enjoyed a modest tailwind.  Going home we had a tailwind, not sure how that happened but it did.  I actually know, On the we up we had a high offshore and today we had a Low, reversing the flow.  It was also going to bring storms to our destination.

We were soon cruising along at 8000 feet at close to 200 knots.  We had planned to stop in Claxton, GA for gas but the weather was IFR there and not improving as fast as I liked.  About an hour into the flight we discussed options.  We could pick another fuel stop or we could go direct to home and still have over 3 hours reserve.  The decision was made and I called approach and requested the change.

We were cleared direct home and given our initial track had kept us further West, this took us just East of Savannah and kept us right on the coast the rest of the way.  We had gotten an early start because they were predicting storms at home.  Without a stop, our early departure and the tailwind meant that we would arrive before it all went stinky bad.

After passing Savannah, we had a nice run down the coast as we descended for home and just as we were about to break out, the controller gave us a vector to sequence us behind a slow Cessna on a long straight in.  As we turned towards the coast and continued our descent we broke out and were in VFR conditions.  The airport was just off to our right and I could see the weather building to the West.  I decided to cancel IFR.  Free from the IFR separation standards, the controller gave me direct to the airport and handed me to tower.

Tower had been watching this unfold and was ready for me.  I was sequenced number 3 and was told to keep it tight on the twin ahead.  I could see the 2 planes ahead and was watching the plane on the long final on the traffic display.  We would slide in about 3 miles ahead of them which was plenty of room given that we were 30 knots faster.  I just had to make sure to give the plane ahead enough room.

As I was judging my spacing, they decided to go around as the plane before had delayed on the runway.  This made the spacing easy for me and I was cleared land.  After a smooth touchdown we taxied in and put the plane away, another successful trip in the books.  On the way home the skies turned darker and within the hour the rains came.  Our early start and divert meant that I didn't have to use any of the fancy equipment or skill to get home.  Always better to take the easy route with good weather if it's available.

A Capital Time

I had lugged a bunch of cargo up for my daughter but I'm not a freight dog.  I was here to sightsee.  It's been quite some time since I have visited DC so I was going to hit all the famous landmarks.

We walked South from downtown and started in the national sculpture Garden. Our first stop was the WW II memorial. 

Then it was all the classics.  The Washington monument, Korean War Memorial, Vietnamese Memorial Wall, and the Vietnam Women’s memorial. 

We climbed the stairs to see Abe and read aloud the Gettysburg Address.  We then wandered South to visit the Martin Luther King Memorial. 

We strolled the tidal Basin stopping to see the FDR memorial before visiting TJ, or more formally known as Thomas Jefferson. 

The walk back took us by the WW I memorial and finally the White House. Joe was not home, I know this because we overflew his TFR in SC on our way up.  We were getting tired and hungry so we headed home and grabbed some food on the way.  

After eating I was put to work building the IKEA furniture from Thursday. To be fair, most had been done the night before but I helped with 3 drawers.  We then searched out Ice Cream because, Ice Cream!!!

After this it was time for a break and then we headed out of the city for a quick hike to a waterfall.  On my scale of effort to impressive waterfall it scored only average. This may have been because I was getting tired or it was just and average fall with a moderate walk plus water obstacles.

Our daughter dropped us off in Chinatown so we could pick up some dumplings and roasted meats while she headed off with friends who had come into town.  In the end we walked about 14 miles and saw a great deal.  I wanted to visit the Air and Space museum but it is closed for work.  Next trip I suspect the weather may not be so nice so we will have more time for museums.

Special Flight Rules

I don't usually fly cargo but this trip was an exception.  My daughter moved but did not have enough room to take all her possessions in her car so we were going to visit her and bring along 185 pounds of stuff.  Originally it was 260 pounds but I helped re Tetris her car and squeezed in 75 pounds which lightened my load.

We were heading to Washington DC which meant we would be entering the DC Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA).  We have been in a SFRA before.  The Grand Canyon for example but the DC one is a bit more intense, if you make a mistake over the canyon, there are consequences but no one tries to shoot you down.

There are 3 zones around DC.  It starts 60 miles out where you must take awareness training to enter that airspace when VFR.  I took this training years ago and it is only required once but I did re do the training in preparation for this flight, just to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything from 9 years ago.

30 miles out is the outer ring which has a series of rules to make sure everyone is being controlled and you must comply with a host of special procedures.  The inner zone requires special permission to enter and there are only 4 airports that are not military.  One is Reagan National and which does not accept most General Aviation traffic at present though there is a program which is allowing more recently.

The 3 others are marginally closer but all shorter runways, between 2600 and 3000 feet which is tight for our departure.  Not wanting to go through a lot of hoops, I settled on KHEF, Manassas, in Virginia.  It was about a 50 minute drive into town (with no traffic) but it was the best compromise.  I also filed IFR, which means the SFRA is mostly transparent to us with a few minor exceptions. 

Wednesday and Wednesday night the East coast was a mess of storms.  DC was on the national news featuring flash flooding.  When I awoke there was still some lingering rain and our destination was low IFR. It looked crummy but the forecast said it would all clear in time. 

We departed into clear but hazy skies.  Our plan was to top off at KRWI as it had a great prices on gas.  About half way through South Carolina it started to clear and we easily picked up the airport 20+ miles out. After topping off we were on our way.  Washington center had our clearance and other than a busy frequency, all was well. 

Approaching DC I was expecting a re route as our path took us through restricted airspace.  I was not disappointed, we were given direct BRV and thence fly heading 010.  Inbound we flew through some smooth clouds and soon were under the clouds. 

We headed up the Potomac and picked up both KHEF and Dulles. The controller gave us direct HEF and the visual and we were soon rolling out and heading to the FBO.  I had called ahead to let them know I needed to have the car out to the plane.  They parked us up front and my daughter pulled planeside.  We soon emptied the plane and crammed into her car with all her stuff.

The afternoon was spent wandering the city.  Highlights included visiting the Georgetown law school, looking at the Capitol, strolling through the national botanic garden, dropping into the National Museum of the American Indian, perusing the national portrait gallery, shopping a farmers market and moseying through Chinatown.

We capped the day off helping my daughter pick up some IKEA furniture and grabbed some dinner.  We needed some rest as we had an ambitious day of sightseeing ahead of us Friday.