I went to Gaithersburg, Maryland, in Ethan's 340 with his brother Andy, who is going to be my new 'boss', someone I'll be flying around a lot in the Conquest. This was our first flight together, and it was just the two of us. We had some storms to get out in front of when we left; it was right at our tail, but I was headed away from it. Coming back in I had 32 knot gusting direct crosswinds, and had to work for the landing. Afterwards he said "Nice job on that landing. That was an interesting angle we were at for awhile there." Ha. Yes it was. Pointed one way, going another. :)
Going into the Washington DC area, you always have to be careful. It's one big "Flight Restriction" area, you have to have done specialized training to be allowed to get within 60 miles of it, and there are very specific rules you have to follow. If you violate any of them, you will be violated next by the FAA with certificate action, suspension, or revocation. If you go the wrong way, if you don't file the right form, if you squawk 1200 after you cancel your IFR instead of leaving the code in (which you don't do anywhere else), if you lose coms and don't do the right thing, any of that, and they will be out to get you. You're supposed to monitor the emergency frequency at all times in there so if they're going to yell at you you can hear them no matter what freq you're otherwise on. You have to be familiar with your "intercept" procedures, in case they send the fighters out to intercept you and tell you to land. I always said if I got intercepted, I will be taking photos, and I will get the coolest selfie of my life, as the last legal flight I take as a pilot. ;) Anyway, so it's serious business out there.
I didn't have any trouble, once you know what to do it's just a matter of making sure you don't make one of the big mistakes. When I landed, the little airport was really busy with flight training. I parked, put in my gas order, which was to top it off for about 100 gallons of gas, and then asked for the courtesy car or crew car to go into town and get some brunch. The desk lady informed me that the crew cars were reserved for the jet pilots only. So sorry, policy. I've never actually heard of that one before, and I get around to a lot of places. Even the big FBOs at the Big Airports where they don't actually want piston traffic will give you a courtesy car. They charge a hefty fee to land and park there, waived by the purchase of a hefty amount of gas at a hefty dollar amount per gallon, but they'll give you a car. This place, I bought a hefty amount of gas at a hefty dollar amount and still had to walk for food because I was in a pressurized piston twin instead of a jet. Lame. Their airport cafe was closed for maintenance, there was no vending machine food there even, the car wasn't in use at the time, but I didn't deserve to go eat as a corporate pilot flying in from Indiana at 21,000' and buying 100 gallons of gas, because my plane had props. That's just a dumb policy and one I've never heard of before anywhere else.
I did end up walking to a place nearby though that had the best french toast and bacon I've ever had, and that's saying something. I hate it when that happens because then everything else pales in comparison and is just not as satisfying. The only down side was the toast had a bit of orange zest on top and I dislike orange flavoring stuff. But even that couldn't ruin this meal. lol
Kaylee submitted her last 21 page paper for her degree last night. Successfully completed. :)
And I've got stuff I should be doing but am procrastinating on.
Maryland where they don't like prop planes
32-35 knot winds at Frankfort
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