October 15, 2015 - Fly to Auburn, Alabama |
|
You may recall last year I flew down to Spartanburg, South
Carolina, picked up an old high school buddy, then we continued on to
Auburn, Alabama where his son went to school and an Auburn football
game. We had sucha great time we decided to do it again this
year. Once again we were lucky with the weather and were able to
make it happen. Here is the Link to last
year's trip.
I got up at 4:45AM and was on the road by 5AM. Today would be
a night takeoff, my first ever I do believe. The taxi light was indispensible for the
taxi; without it I'd have never been able to make it to the runway in the
dark. When the plane took
off, there was only blackness in front of me, so I just used my airspeed
to judge my climb. I made a 180 turn and headed
west. By now the lights of Baltimore made it easy to see the horizon.The brightly-lit tall buildings in
Baltimore were spectacular in the darkness. As I passed Clearview, the sun was starting to come up behind me. I was really slow – 130-140 mph – so I knew I had a strong
headwind.It was really bumpy
too.By Frederick it
was daylight.I had hoped the
sunrise would really light up the foliage, but the colors hadn’t really
turned, and the sun wasn’t really lighting anything up very well.My speed didn’t pick
up much when I turned southwest.
The rest of the flght wasn’t very
enjoyable because I was getting bounced around – hitting my had on the
canopy a couple of times. I knew
there was going to be a headwind, and I had planned for it, but I was
still about 40 minutes late. The last 100
miles or so my speed picked up to about 160mph.I met Jack at Spartanburg Executive
(KSPA), and took his neighbor up for a quick ride. Jack had brought
Hardee’s breakfast sandwiches and coffee -- sweet!
We had a nice flight to Auburn. The visibility was outstanding –
we could see Atlanta 42 miles away.
I also could see Stone Mountain which is this huge rock that just
sticks up out of the flatness.
We still had a headwind but it wasn’t too bad, and the air was
reasonably smooth. The Auburn
temporary tower wasn’t up when we landed. Jack's son Joe met us and I took
him up for an hour. Joe is 2/3 of
the way through towards his Private PIlot's license so he knows how to
fly. I let him fly most of the time and he did well.
There were lots of expensive planes on the ramp: jets,
twins, factory-glass ships. The final count for the weekend was
115! The football game was sold
out: 84,000.
The game itself
was a little bit of a let down as neither team had a good
quarterback. But Auburn
finally won.
The next morning we went to Waffle House for breakfast, then
out to the airport. At least
half of the planes were already gone. Joe and I went for a quick flight,
mostly right over the campus.
Joe did all of the flying except for TO and the actual landing – he
flew down to short final.
Then Jack and I flew back to Spartanburg, I dropped Jack off, and I
continued on to Maryland.
I angled over to the mountains and flew over Blacksburg, to
see Virginia Tech. I had a
nice tailwind and was booking along at 7500 feet. It did get a little bumpy in
spots. Over Frederick, I
could see Towson, the visibility was that good.
The smoke really shows the headwind I was fighting all Saturday
morning.
|
|
 |
|
|
On long final for Spartanburg
Executive. Spartanburg's lone skyscraper building is in the lower
right corner. |
|
 |
|
|
The Auburn campus and pagenatry of college football was pretty much the
same as last year so I didn't take any pictures. The following
pictures are of the transit home after I dropped Jack off in Spartanburg
Sunday noon.
The leaves really havn't turned color yet. This was about as good
as I saw the entire flight. |
|
 |
|
|
A golf course on a river bend just
south of Blacksburg, Virginia. |
|
 |
|
| Blacksburg,
Virginia is, of course a college town where Virginia Tech University
lives, shown below. |
|
 |
|
| I enjoyed a nice
tailwind home and I was in the mountains. I noticed this classic
Lenticular cloud off to the west. To glider pilots, "Lennies" mean
mountain wave, which can take a glider up to 20,000 feet plus. |
|
 |
|
| I noticed
this airport out in the middle of nowhere on top of a mountain
ridge. It is Ingalls Field Airport (KHSP) in Hot Springs, Virginia
and has an FBO where you can get fuel. I'll have to stop here
someday. I bet landing there on a day like today with strong winds
would be a bear. |
|
 |
|
|
New Market Airport (8W2) where I
soloed in the Ka-4 glider long ago. |
|
 |
|
|
I flew over Bill B.'s airfield again but he wasn't there so I didn't
land. |
|
 |
|
|
My old Citabria lives in this hangar
now. |
|
 |
|
| This house
overlooks the Shenandoah River. Not bad. |
|
 |
|
| Why have the
leaves turned only by this house. Maybe they sprayed them with
"foliage color" paint? |
|
 |
|
| Another house with
a million dollar view. |
|
 |
|
|
McMansions in Loudin County,
Virginia. |
|
 |
|
| I've always liked
this house near the Flying Cow airfield. Maybe because of the bright
red barn. |
|
 |
|
|
Passing near Frederick Airport.
The new tower is visible to the right of the main runway. It should
be operational soon. I dislike towered airports.
The visibility was so good today that I
could see the Towson skyline from here. |
|
 |
|
| Passing by Liberty
Reservoir. The color should be spectacular in a week or two. |
|
 |
|
| The RVnestled
safely in its hangar home, after performing flawlessly all the way to
Alabama and back. |
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|