Today's flight was the shortest of the trip so far. It was a treat to only have to use one chart. It was a nice VFR day, but as I did yesterday, I filed IFR to avoid the any issues with departing
the Washington area ADIZ. Doing so had the side effect of adding 21 miles on to the flight, but the extra ten minutes wasn't going to make much of a difference in today's schedule. The southern half of the runway at Chesterfield County airport, one of Richmond's general aviation reliever airports, was under construction, so I was left with about 2400 ft of tarmac to land on. No problem for a Grumman Tiger, even if the runway is sloped downward at 0.7%. My short-field landing skills turned out to be up to snuff today, as I stopped the plane in less than 1000 ft. My brother Warren and
my four year-old nephew Charlie met me at the terminal building, as did two very courteous linemen. Although not quite old enough to qualify as a
Young Eagle, Charlie was anxious to take an airplane ride, so I unloaded luggage, reconfigured the plane to four-seat mode, and off the three of us went for a little flightseeing. We stayed just outside the Richmond Class C airspace and flew over their house, my niece Gracie's school, and one of my favorite Richmond landmarks, the Westhampton Bakery (try the ice-overs... they're awesome). Of course, one of the first things Charlie did when we got home was tell his sister how great the flight was, so tomorrow, I'm going to try and fit one in for Gracie. As for my next destination, I'm not quite sure yet. I still want to visit First Flight airport, a little airstrip adjacent to the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk, NC, which won't be a problem. Further south, however, there is currently a tropical disturbance just off the coast of Florida, which is expected
to drift west if and when it gets organized. If I head to south Florida as originally planned, I may not be able to make it all the way to Fort Lauderdale, and if I do, I may be stuck there for a while. One option is to skip the peninsula altogether, head for the panhandle, and visit my grandmother in early November (after hurricane season ends) when a business trip will take me to Key West. We'll see what the weather looks like tomorrow. Today's flight totals: 0.8 hours, 100 miles. Trip totals: 23.8 hours, 2748 miles, 14 states.
the Washington area ADIZ. Doing so had the side effect of adding 21 miles on to the flight, but the extra ten minutes wasn't going to make much of a difference in today's schedule. The southern half of the runway at Chesterfield County airport, one of Richmond's general aviation reliever airports, was under construction, so I was left with about 2400 ft of tarmac to land on. No problem for a Grumman Tiger, even if the runway is sloped downward at 0.7%. My short-field landing skills turned out to be up to snuff today, as I stopped the plane in less than 1000 ft. My brother Warren and 
my four year-old nephew Charlie met me at the terminal building, as did two very courteous linemen. Although not quite old enough to qualify as a Young Eagle, Charlie was anxious to take an airplane ride, so I unloaded luggage, reconfigured the plane to four-seat mode, and off the three of us went for a little flightseeing. We stayed just outside the Richmond Class C airspace and flew over their house, my niece Gracie's school, and one of my favorite Richmond landmarks, the Westhampton Bakery (try the ice-overs... they're awesome). Of course, one of the first things Charlie did when we got home was tell his sister how great the flight was, so tomorrow, I'm going to try and fit one in for Gracie. As for my next destination, I'm not quite sure yet. I still want to visit First Flight airport, a little airstrip adjacent to the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk, NC, which won't be a problem. Further south, however, there is currently a tropical disturbance just off the coast of Florida, which is expected 
to drift west if and when it gets organized. If I head to south Florida as originally planned, I may not be able to make it all the way to Fort Lauderdale, and if I do, I may be stuck there for a while. One option is to skip the peninsula altogether, head for the panhandle, and visit my grandmother in early November (after hurricane season ends) when a business trip will take me to Key West. We'll see what the weather looks like tomorrow. Today's flight totals: 0.8 hours, 100 miles. Trip totals: 23.8 hours, 2748 miles, 14 states.
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