As Easter 2013 comes upon us, plans started coming together for our week. Danelle, our oldest daughter, was heading out with another teacher from The King's Christian School to take a dozen kids on a missions trip to Northern Ireland. An exciting opportunity for her and for the kids she is taking. Lynn was off for the week for Easter Break, although we call it Spring Break now. So, we watched the weather and as the Friday came closer the chance to fly was looking better and better. Thursday morning I stopped over to check on N926GZ. With a new starter and a new battery, I was exciting about taking her on a cross country trip. Our plans were to fly Friday morning from South Jersey Airport, KVAY, down to Farmville Regional Airport, KFVX, in Farmville, VA. My dad and step-mom would be able to meet us there and visit with us over lunch. After that, we would take a short hop over to Lynchburg Regional Airport, KLYH, in Lynchburg, VA. A trip that we have made many times before.
Friday morning came looking bright and brilliant. On our way to the airport I called for a standard briefing and everything looked great. With full tanks from the day before, we had 84 gallons of fuel which would be more than enough to get us down to VA and back. A thorough pre-flight and a short time to load up the luggage and all the gifts for the youngest daughter and we were ready to go. After a quick call to my dad to let him know we were coming, we started up and taxied out to runway 8. 926GZ jumped right off the runway with just Lynn and I, some luggage and full fuel and away we went. I quickly called to McGuire for flight following who proceeded to switch me to Philadelphia approach. The sky looked clear as we headed south with the city of Philadelphia off our right.
As we moved south, I could see some clouds starting to appear below us. A quick check on Easton weather showed there was a solid layer around 6000' and things still looked good down in Farmville and Lynchburg. The flight was uneventful and full of sights. Lynn enjoyed her reading, while I monitored all the instruments and kept a careful watch.
Airspeed began to increase as we flew further south. The clouds began to break a little and more and more parts of the ground came into view. By the time we got down to Pautuxent, we could actually see the airport and prepared to turn towards the south west. Now I knew that the wind would be less favorable and the clouds seemed to be rising a little. It wouldn't be long before we began to climb to try to stay on top. By the time I reached 7,400' we were still watching clouds go by. Further west, the clouds began to break up a little and I made the decision to drop down below the clouds. A quick call to ATC and we began our descent. Once below the clouds the air was clear but oh so bumpy. Lynn was really good in holding on to her book, while I slowly descended into Farmville.
Winds seemed to be changing a little as I made the decision to swing in for base for Runway 21. As we made our approach to 21 I saw the windsock out of my eye and realized that we were drifting in with a slight quartering tailwind. Well, with 4500' of runway, we had plenty of room to just ride the drift until 926GZ settled down and we sweetly rolled off onto the taxiway. Dad and Susan were waiting at the terminal and in no time we were sitting down at Charlie's for lunch. Lunch was wonderful and then we prepped to take the short trip over to Lynchburg. As we launched off runway 3, we turned west and I realized we were in for a bumpy ride over to KLYH. Staying at 2,500' we bumped along until Lynchburg Tower gave us a left base to runway 22. Crossing over the Liberty Mountain and turning left base over the campus of Liberty University was just a spectacular view. With 7,100' of runway we had plenty of room to settle down and roll off the taxiway and over to Freedom Aviation. Arrived in Lynchburg with a stop in Farmville in just 2.5 hours of flying time. Another great trip and looking forward to a great weekend with my daughter and my mom.
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