Washington DC

Monday I was able to sleep in, which helped.  I didn't wake up feeling real well, so moving slowly was good.  I didn't leave until 1:30, and even by then I still wasn't great.  I told the guy in the left seat he was PIC and I was backup today, we went up to 21,000', had a nice fierce tailwind, and got to Stafford, Virginia in an hour and 45 minutes.  I was on the ground there for 3-4 hours, and I spent most of that lying down in a pilot lounge chair in the dark, dozing. We had to leave Stafford and get to Maryland Airport in Indian Head, VA before dusk, because no transients are allowed to land at the airport there after dusk.  The airport and runway are NOTAM'd closed at dusk.  There is also currently no instrument approach into there.  There was some rain and scattered thunderstorms that we worked around and missed on the way over, and a line just kept moving right in between us and Maryland Airport, getting really heavy for awhile there, but the timing worked out perfectly.  We touched down just before dusk, and even with the rain we were able to go in VFR.  There was a crowd of people standing around watching us come in--we were briefly famous.  They had just gotten their runway expanded, and I think they're not used to having twins in there or something.  It's now all the way up to 3740'.

We got a truck rental and found a Holiday Inn Express, and they stopped at Outback for dinner.  By the time we ate and got checked into the hotel, that was all she wrote for me. 

Unfortunately they only got one rental car, so I didn't have any ability to go exploring this time.  The job site they are working on is so close to the White House that they all had to do background checks, get badges, etc., and nobody who wasn't given security clearance can even enter this plant.  We're not sure if security is worried that they will poison the poop supply or what.  So anyway, I couldn't go with them to the plant, and I didn't have a car, so I stayed in my hotel room until checkout time, and then sat in the hotel lobby until 1:30 or so, at which time they asked me to get a cab to the airport because the hotel was out of their way to come and get me.  I got the cab, went to the airport, found a vending machine and used the last of my change to get a Diet Coke and a Snickers bar for lunch, filed a flight plan, taxiied the plane over to the fuel pump and topped us off, and waited until 4 pm when it was time to head home.  There were several folks in there, and I talked to a couple of them about Foreflight and Garmin Pilot and iPads.

The airport we were at, 2W5, was built by somebody connected with something WWII (I couldn't understand him) back in 1943, and has been there ever since.  As I was walking through one of the rooms, I noticed it had a book shelf full of books, and of course I couldn't pass that up without checking it out.  The very first book I saw was showing the full front cover, I glanced at it, did a double take, and sure enough...

 

 

So I had to open up the book and see if there was a full photo in there, and if so which one it would be--I see a red bobble head.  :)

 

You know, a couple years ago I was in a little place in Mississippi and saw that their state aeronautical chart featured an air shot of the Checkertail Mustang.  So I brought one home, though I don't need a Mississippi state aeronautical chart, but hey.  Last year I went to some little airport in Virginia and found hanging on the wall a calendar that had the Checkertail Mustang featured that month.  Today I'm at a little airport just south of DC and run into this book.  It followeth me still. 

 

There was another sign hanging on the wall at the airport that did make me smile:

We may have to copy that some day.

Flying into the DC SRFA was busy but uneventful on an IFR flight plan.  One thing to remember is that you never, ever squawk 1200 while you're anywhere in the air in that airspace.  So even though you cancel your flight plan in the air once you see the airport, which they want you to do because otherwise you have to call them on the ground on the phone, you have to stop your finger from automatically hitting the "VFR" button, which is tough when it's part of the ingrained process.  :)  At one point they asked us where we were going, and both D and I were like "Why, what's wrong, we're supposed to be here, I swear!" but we just answered where we were going, they said 'ok', and they didn't send fighters after us after all.  ;)

I joked on Facebook that if only we had some way of knowing where we were going, and some kind of warning about that fancy DC airspace out there.  I could have had D hold up his iPad too, but this seemed like enough screens for the joke...

Most of the airports out there, you have to call the approach facilities directly on the phone on the ground to pick up your clearance and code.  It wasn't bad the first time, getting in, but getting back out, he told me I'd have a 10 minute delay.  I sat on the phone with the engines running and 8 people standing outside watching, and he came back on after a few minutes and said "Actually I can get you out NOW, if you can depart in the next 90 seconds, or it'll be a 15 minute delay or more."  I said "We can do it."  and I waved at D to start taxiing and get going.  Winds were a light crosswind, so it didn't matter which runway, so I figured we'd take the one closest to us.  Well, D starts back taxiing all the way down the runway, and I ask what's up--there's an airplane in the pattern using the other runway and now on final.  We get to the end of the runway, and that Cessna is taking its sweet time clearing the runway, and we've now missed our void off time by two minutes.  I told him to launch anyway and call up departure as soon as his wheels were off the ground, which he did, and they didn't say anything but "radar contact".  They gave us a nice clearance out with 8 waypoints to plug in.  I did that part while D handled the flying and the talking. We had headwinds so we stayed low, the backseater took a nap, my head was killing me, and three hours later we finally made it home.  The weather was good, which helped.

Steve was just getting done flying with a student, so I waited for him, and we went to Wendys so I could finally get something besides a little bag of pretzels and a Snickers bar.  I was actually shaky, so that was a most delicious chili and chicken combo.  Afterwards he went to pick up Kaylee from play practice, and I went home and put away my bag, did three loads of laundry, did the dishes and got them put away, and got stuff ready for tomorrow.  No rest for the wicked. At least I can breathe today, and if the perpetual headache will go away I'll be doing not too shabby.  :)