Preparing for Departure Tomorrow

We had a good time at the barbecue. The local EAA chapter didn't tell us that we were the evening program, but it was a good time. Most of the chapter members didn't know a whole lot about the race, so Jann and I stood up and gave a talk and answered questions. The local 99's chapter was there also, and everyone was very friendly, nice, and helpful. They had homemade peach cobbler in an iron kettle over coals and homemade ice cream. I am going to sleep well tonight!

The word on the street is that many of the planes that departed this morning had to get IFR clearances in the air, thus disqualifying them from the race. The low ceilings were forcing them to go dangerously low, so they opted to go IFR rather than hit a mountain. Good choice.

Looking on the ARC website, it seems as if the majority of the teams have made it to Frederick, MD already. The rest of the teams are scattered around the other airports. I believe there are six teams here in Elkhart.

If you are wanting to listen to the arrivals into Frederick, you can get them from LiveATC here: http://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=kfdk. My guess is that most teams will be arriving in the late morning/early afternoon. The deadline to arrive in Frederick is 5:00PM tomorrow. We are planning to be wheels up by 9:00AM at the latest, so we should have a few hours of cushion to get there.

The weather for tomorrow looks fantastic. We may have a slight headwind, but nothing drastic. Skies are forecasted to be generally clear, with maybe a few or scattered layer at or around 4,000. I think that haze or morning mist may be a slight factor for the first leg, but nothing really crazy. It should all be burnt off by the time we get to Parkersburg.

Another benefit of hanging around for a day is that the crazies have gone on ahead! We should have lots and lots of room now to do our flybys, get fuel, and do our flybys to restart. No more airplanes on top off/next to/under us when we get to airports! Other than all of the ugly airspace around Frederick, MD, stress factors should be much lower on these two legs. Add to that a free dinner, a free hangar for two nights, free transportation, and we are sitting pretty!

We are going to fly high tomorrow, probably around 5,500 or 7,500 feet. For Ohio, the altitude is not that critical, but once we pass Parkersburg, we have some mountains to consider. Jann and I were speaking with a pilot that learned to fly in that area of West Virginia, and she said that she never flies over the mountains any lower than 7,500 on account of the mountain rotor activity. We are going to take her advice and climb up to 7,500 before we get near the mountains. That will also keep us on top of all of the class D airspaces between Parkersburg and Frederick. We want to keep it as simple as possible so we don't get into a conflict with Camp David or the Washington SFRA. I do not want to be escorted down.

Fun fact: the Washington SFRA is pronounced "suffer." A pilot from the area told me that. I thought that was pretty funny!

I was giving other racers a heads-up about OSU's practice area and the Columbus class C airspace. I wonder if the Columbus approach controllers' heads were spinning off their shoulders today! I think we will overfly them or ask them if we can transition through for tomorrow.

Time to pack up and go to bed. I don't want to be a zombie like I was this morning!