This past weekend was special for myself and a couple friends of mine. I flew myself, my buddy Chris and 2 of our friends up to Reading, PA (KRDG). the Kutztown Univ. up in PA was holding and alumni weekend for grads, and specifically the rugby team that our fallen friend Dave played on had invited us all up for his induction into their hall of fame. It was a really special day and I was glad I could attend.
The morning started at 7 am. I arrived at the airport and printed out the information I would need up at Reading from the internet. I stopped into the Flight service station to file my ADIZ flight plan and get a weather briefing for our flight from JYO to RDG. I planned for a VFR(visual flight rules) route on a heading of 056 direct. The weather was spectacular. Light winds and high pressure dominated. visibility was greater than 50 miles and hardly a ripple in the air. I loaded up the airplane with fuel to the tabs(17 gallons a side). Weight and balance dictated that I not take full fuel due to the fact that I had 2 120# females in the back seat, some bags and a 190# male in front along with me. No problem though. We lifted off and climbed to 3500 enroute to RDG. We transitioned between EMI and LRP, using GPS primarily but backed up the nav with VOR signals. Our arrival into Reading was uneventful. A slight crosswind on runway 36. Winds 040 at 12kts. The heavy airplane sat into the x-wind rather nicely and the thump of the wheels and deceleration was a welcome feeling for my backseat passengers.
After a great day of rugby, food and some adult beverages we were wheels up around 1030 am the next day. The 22 kt headwind from the day before now became a 27 kt tailwind at 4500. After we leveled off GPS showed a groundspeed readout of 152 kts. Not bad for a PA28R-200. Coming back into JYO was uneventful as well. We had to circle north in order to get set up on a left downwind for 35. Winds were calm....a welcome site for my pax.
Student load here has been tremendous. Ive got several guys on my schedule who are hard at work here at the flight school. I am having a blast, and really learning alot. Next up is 3 weeks in Florida to get my MEI and 100 hrs of multi.
3 comments:
I surprised you didn't go into N31. Interesting runway and very nice dinner.
Yeah, the diner we ate at was right next to the runway. We were at max gross and there was a nice xwind there. The "countour" of the runway, combined with being heavy and having a xwind in an arrow wasnt my idea of a good time. I tend to have more of a conservative airline pilot kinda mentality than the cowboy antics alot of my friends display.
Hah! Your attitude is to be commended. Plus you really didn't need to excite your passengers. I would have made the same choice.
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