Day 15: June 14th. I woke up in Olney, MD and would end up in Ashland, VA, a suburb of Richmond, VA before the day was out. Jim and Jeanette drove me to the Gaithersburg airport by 12:30pm. I had a 1pm IFR flight plan from Gaithersburg into BWI. As I was still inside the DC SFRA (Special Flight Rules Area), I filed an IFR flight plan even for this short flight, because it minimized the complexities in this highly protected airspace. Jim & Jeanette bid me farewell and Jim shot the following
video of my takeoff from Gaithersburg. Jim apologizes for the shakiness, but you can clearly see me "waving" my wings to say goodbye. Thanks for a fantastic time in MD!
Next, it was time to pick up a co-pilot who would join me on the remainder of the east coast portion of my journey, Matthew Cusack. Matthew took off from Albany, NY on a Southwest flight into BWI earlier in the day. As I made the turn to the south (see map) to approach BWI, I saw a Southwest jet flying several miles off my left wing also heading southbound. It was flight 358 from Albany with Matt on board! The faster jet made its way around me, then turned to land on Runway 33L as I made a shorter radius turn to land on 33R. 33L is 9500 ft long and 33R is 5000 feet long, designed for lighter air traffic like me. I landed in parallel with the Southwest jet, so Matt & I arrived at BWI at exactly the same time. Upon landing, I hopped into the lineman's van and he drove me across the field to the terminal side of the airport where I picked up Matt. He had just walked out of the terminal when we pulled up, but initially, we didn't see each other. In fact, we were talking on the cell phone with our backs to each other, when Matt heard my voice and turned around. Very funny! In this photo, you can see me holding the
article that was published in this day's Albany Times Union about my flight. Matt had just picked up a copy at the airport before boarding the Southwest flight. The column was entitled "
My Other Life" and is a weekly column about people's lives outside of work. I like to fly an airplane coast to coast when I'm not teaching Math!
We took off from BWI and made our way to Hanover County airport located in Ahsland, VA, just outside of Richmond. A good friend of Matt's, Dennis O'Brien and family live here. Dennis literally lives in the traffic pattern for this airport, a short 5 minute drive away! This is a pilot's dream. We flew under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), as I have for the majority of this trip; however, we probably only experienced less than 5 minutes of actual IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions), which is a fancy way of saying, we were in the clouds for 5 minutes. We arrived at about 4:15pm where we greeted by Dennis and his kids: Connor, Kiera, and Liam. This is always the best part, to have loved ones waiting for you at the airport when you arrive.
Day 15: June 14th. I woke up in Olney, MD and would end up in Ashland, VA, a suburb of Richmond, VA before the day was out. Jim and Jeanette drove me to the Gaithersburg airport by 12:30pm. I had a 1pm IFR flight plan from Gaithersburg into BWI. As I was still inside the DC SFRA (Special Flight Rules Area), I filed an IFR flight plan even for this short flight, because it minimized the complexities in this highly protected airspace. Jim & Jeanette bid me farewell and Jim shot the following video of my takeoff from Gaithersburg. Jim apologizes for the shakiness, but you can clearly see me "waving" my wings to say goodbye. Thanks for a fantastic time in MD!
Next, it was time to pick up a co-pilot who would join me on the remainder of the east coast portion of my journey, Matthew Cusack. Matthew took off from Albany, NY on a Southwest flight into BWI earlier in the day. As I made the turn to the south (see map) to approach BWI, I saw a Southwest jet flying several miles off my left wing also heading southbound. It was flight 358 from Albany with Matt on board! The faster jet made its way around me, then turned to land on Runway 33L as I made a shorter radius turn to land on 33R. 33L is 9500 ft long and 33R is 5000 feet long, designed for lighter air traffic like me. I landed in parallel with the Southwest jet, so Matt & I arrived at BWI at exactly the same time. Upon landing, I hopped into the lineman's van and he drove me across the field to the terminal side of the airport where I picked up Matt. He had just walked out of the terminal when we pulled up, but initially, we didn't see each other. In fact, we were talking on the cell phone with our backs to each other, when Matt heard my voice and turned around. Very funny! In this photo, you can see me holding the article that was published in this day's Albany Times Union about my flight. Matt had just picked up a copy at the airport before boarding the Southwest flight. The column was entitled "My Other Life" and is a weekly column about people's lives outside of work. I like to fly an airplane coast to coast when I'm not teaching Math!
We took off from BWI and made our way to Hanover County airport located in Ahsland, VA, just outside of Richmond. A good friend of Matt's, Dennis O'Brien and family live here. Dennis literally lives in the traffic pattern for this airport, a short 5 minute drive away! This is a pilot's dream. We flew under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), as I have for the majority of this trip; however, we probably only experienced less than 5 minutes of actual IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions), which is a fancy way of saying, we were in the clouds for 5 minutes. We arrived at about 4:15pm where we greeted by Dennis and his kids: Connor, Kiera, and Liam. This is always the best part, to have loved ones waiting for you at the airport when you arrive.
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