The beautiful little Marisa was dedicated this weekend at a church in
Fayetteville, North Carolina. Take a look at some shots of the flight
down.
The weather was awesome VFR with a smooth ride down at 6000'. Right after launch, I discovered the first glitch for the mission. I had assumed all along that I had the approach plates for Fayetteville with my normal subscription selections. Unfortunately - I do not routinely get those plates. I could very well have printed them from the internet, or stopped and picked up a book. I just hadn't thought about it.
What to do. If the weather was bad (which would have revealed this error earlier as I am in the habit of lining up all of my expected approaches for each stop), I would have just selected the southern most approach where I would land and purchase the approach plates I needed. I could also have gotten a textual description from approach control (I think), but I wouldn't have done that. My GPS databases are both current, but you need at least a textual description. Nothing else to complain about though. I flew down VFR and executed a visual landing on RW22.
The trip down was unlimited visibility. We flew by Tilghman (spelling?) Island and laughed at Kate and John's description of their visit there. We saw the only clouds for the entire trip over Melfa, Va., near the end of the peninsula. Crossing the water toward Norfolk, we enjoyed the view of the York and James rivers heading off to the west. Mike and Yvonne live about 20 nm up the James river in Williamsburg, VA. I believe that Mike's ship, the USS Ross, is currently getting repaired there, but I'm not sure.
After Norfolk - all you see is denuded trees, in what I think is the great dismal swamp. I took a picture of the sun reflecting off the water that sits at the base of all the trees. I wouldn't have noticed this if the sun wasn't in the right position. After the swamp trees, its just more trees or open farmland. It was kinda boring....
We were passed by a Cessna 210, and again by a Bonanza. I wish I had unlimited resources, but I also am grateful I can fly along in my own bird. Still......
We were monitoring 121.5, the guard channel, and did not enjoy hearing repeated calls by the United States Airforce to some wayward pilot. Apparently, some misguided individual was flying around at low altitude, just north of Montgomery Co. Airport. I never did hear the issue resolved, and truly hope the guy gets a clue and understands that he or she violated the ADIZ.
