Elkhart, IN - Parkersburg, WV - Frederick, MD

We made it! We have arrived in Frederick, MD!

We departed Elkhart around 8:30AM this morning enroute to Parkersburg. It was hazy, but no significant cloud layers or weather activity. We crossed through Ohio State's practice area and said good morning to Alex and everyone else out practicing. We cruised at 5,500 and picked up VFR flight following from Port Columbus. Right around Port Columbus, we started to see a cloud layer building up at 5,500. We had to do a little bit of ducking and weaving until we got to Parkersburg. We decided to not land at Parkersburg and continue straight on to Frederick.

We did the flyby to continue at Parkersburg, and started the climb to 7,500 to clear the mountains. We had to dodge more clouds, but eventually got on top. Right about then, Jann noticed that the SFRA around Washington had turned red, like a TFR. We weren't sure what that meant, and I really wasn't in the mood to be escorted, so we decided to call a Flight Service Station. Well, there is a lack of communication outlets in West Virginia, so I did the fun trick of calling them up over a VOR. You could tell that the lady on the other end was really surprised to hear from us. We inquired about the status of the Camp David prohibited area and the Washington SFRA, and she assured us that they were in their normal statuses.

We still didn't like it, so we picked up VFR flight following into Frederick. I got to talk to Washington Center and Potomac Approach! Exciting! We cleared the mountains and started the descent into Frederick.

About 5 miles out from the flyby, we hit nasty turbulence. I whacked my head on the ceiling and my headset got all messed up. It hurt! I didn't have any time to worry about it, because I was 5 miles from having to do a full-throttle flyby at 300' AGL. We did the flyby beautifully and circled to land.

I didn't have enough time and/or space to slow down, so my first approach had us coming over the threshold at about 130 knots. No good. I went for the go-around, and the next time was much nicer.

On the ground, all of the racers are parked in a single line about (I kid you not) one mile long. It's insane. The airport is also incredibly busy, with flight training, jets, helicopters, and the racers.

When we parked, the ground crew warned us that the news wanted to talk to us. Ruh-roh. As soon as we popped the door open, a news crew was there. I felt bad for Jann, because I was in the left seat at the moment and the crew was interviewing me like it was my plane! I felt like a yammering idiot because I had just done two legs, a flyby, go-around, landing, and taxiing, and my brains were a little cooked. She told me that they had filmed us flying around the airport (ruh-roh again), so you may be able to find a clip of me on YouTube balking a landing and then stammering my fool head off. Fun!

The flyby wasn't as nearly as scary as the ride over to the hotel. Our driver was from New Jersey. I thought we were going to die. Swerving, weaving, slamming of brakes, yelling . . . yikes. We made it OK, though, and now we are at the hotel and trying to figure out if we have any required events this evening. I think there is some sort of party we need to go to, in addition to a film screening, and maybe something else. I haven't quite gotten that far yet. I would like to go back to the airport and see the AOPA building and find out if there is anything interesting to see in town.