Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Dulles Columbia
Dulles quickly receded below us as we climbed out above the new control tower. Departure instructed us to proceed to FLUKY and a few minutes later we were level at 8000 direct to GVE. Soon after that we were cleared up to 10K. On this particular day, the haze layer was at about 9000 feet.
As we got closer to North Carolina, we could see the high clouds that were outflowing from Tropical Depression Dennis. As we got closer to Columbia, a thin overcast layer had clearly formed above us.
The descent into Columbia was bumpy and the power was adjusted to bring the airspeed closer to Va. It was a good thing. About 10 miles from the airport, we got a good jolt of moderate turbulence. Where it came from is a mystery, but the hills around Columbia combined with tropical weather in the region must have combined to create the clear air turbulence. With the airport in sight, we cancelled IFR and entered the traffic pattern for 13. The landing included a fairly significant 12 knot crosswind with some gusts, but it was mostly uneventful.
With a fuel order placed to the line personnel, we went inside to make arrangements for lunch. I also requested the charts I needed for the next segment of the flight to Florida. There was some confusion about my request, and I was asked to clarify if I just needed to borrow them. Huh? The long and short of it was that they didn’t have any charts for sale, just to borrow for training. Well, that was no good. I inquired if they knew if the FBO at CAE had charts, and they thought so. I asked to borrow the phone.
A quick call confirmed that there were charts in CAE. The plan changed again. Fly over to CAE, get charts and depart IFR to MLB. The plane was getting fueled at CUB, and the crew car was about to depart for the nearby McDonalds. We went and ate lunch, and then it was back to the airport for our next short flight.
As we got closer to North Carolina, we could see the high clouds that were outflowing from Tropical Depression Dennis. As we got closer to Columbia, a thin overcast layer had clearly formed above us.
The descent into Columbia was bumpy and the power was adjusted to bring the airspeed closer to Va. It was a good thing. About 10 miles from the airport, we got a good jolt of moderate turbulence. Where it came from is a mystery, but the hills around Columbia combined with tropical weather in the region must have combined to create the clear air turbulence. With the airport in sight, we cancelled IFR and entered the traffic pattern for 13. The landing included a fairly significant 12 knot crosswind with some gusts, but it was mostly uneventful.
With a fuel order placed to the line personnel, we went inside to make arrangements for lunch. I also requested the charts I needed for the next segment of the flight to Florida. There was some confusion about my request, and I was asked to clarify if I just needed to borrow them. Huh? The long and short of it was that they didn’t have any charts for sale, just to borrow for training. Well, that was no good. I inquired if they knew if the FBO at CAE had charts, and they thought so. I asked to borrow the phone.
A quick call confirmed that there were charts in CAE. The plan changed again. Fly over to CAE, get charts and depart IFR to MLB. The plane was getting fueled at CUB, and the crew car was about to depart for the nearby McDonalds. We went and ate lunch, and then it was back to the airport for our next short flight.
# posted by Bob @ 6:54 PM 
