Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Live, From the First State

The IFR Pilot is resting comfortably at the Hampton Inn in Dover, Delaware. It was a bit of an adventure getting to Dover, DE:

4:00 leave office
4:30 arrive at local international airpot
4:40 get half naked to prove I'm not a terrorist (editorial: remember when jet travel was glamorous, not borderline demeaning)
4:50 purchase snacks (editorial: remember when you used to get more than 2 small packages of peanuts and a cup of pop?)
5:00 arrive at gate and secure place near the front of the eventual "Group B" departure line
5:50 get called to board
6:00 get allowed on board
6:30 pushback, 10 minutes late
6:32 takeoff
7:16 landing at BWI
8:00 rental car secured
8:20 on the highway
8:40 wish I could see what the Bay Bridge looks like, but it's very, very dark out
8:50 bored, start calling friends on the cell phone, thank goodness for the ear piece
9:30 first wrong turn, quickly corrected
9:45 second wrong turn, not so quickly corrected
10:00 hotel located confirmed
10:10 dinner location secured
11:00 check in
12:00 got to bed

When it should have been:

4:00 leave office
5:00 arrive at The Home Base, preflight and fuel Mike Hotel
5:30 takeoff
8:00 land in Delaware
8:30 taxi drops me off at hotel
9:00 dinner secured
10:30 bed

Oh well. In retrospect, it probably would have been safe to make the flight today. We burst through the clouds in about 15 seconds and were on top until the undercast completely dissipated. Better luck next time.

By the way, Delaware is very, very flat and sparsely populated.

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