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                             Virginia Beach, VA

                                  

                                   By Don Miller

                                   Columnist                  

 

The Millers recently returned froman especially nice short trip to Virginia Beach, Va.  Don was scheduled to attend a Lifelong Learning Conference sponsored by Old Dominion University in

Newport News. The forecast was favorable for the conference timeframe, so we elected to travel in the 172.

 

The 172 has become a family friend, and it should have a name, like Fred, but it doesn't.  We traveled in "the 172".

 

The conference was to start at 5 PM on Sunday, so I filed for an IFR flight plan to take off at 09:30 local. We were off at 09:35 with a heading of 080 degrees and a midpoint stop at Martinsville (MTV). I had drawn a 50 mile circle around the midpoint of the GPS direct route and researched the gas and food availability.  MTV seemed the clear winner in overall points.  Having a strong 9,000 foot wind at our backs, the estimated time in route was 1:45 per the DUATS computer.

 

Arrival was not quite as expected, as it was race day for the local stock car track. The 100 X 5002 blacktop was surrounded by a beehive of activity and business jets. All the hangar taxiways were filled with twins and all the open blacktop was filled with small business jets. I would guess 50 twins and 35 jets parked with more coming in. Landing and parking was no problem, and after topping off "the 172" was towed to the south 40 and put on the grass unceremoniously (but deftly).

 

The next surprise was the Runway Cafe located on the other side of a 4 inch wall from the FBO lobby! A very nice 11 AM to 3 PM lunch room with an upscale ambience. The menu and table service was excellent, considering the situation (small regional airport with

traffic about equal to DKX during the week). We ordered lunch and watched the traffic on the apron through a wall of glass.

 

The remainder of the trip was smooth and as expected into Chesapeake Regional Airport just west of Virginia Beach. Service and fuel prices were acceptable, but not outstanding. Our Avis rental compact was no-where to be seen. After some helpful assistance from the FBO staff, the replacement car was on its way. Since we had to wait for delivery, they chose to provide a full size car for the compact daily price - $18.50

 

The conference was to end at 1:30 PM on Tuesday however, after talking to Flight Service that morning, we decided to check out early and leave the hotel after the morning concurrent session ended at 10:15 AM.

 

The route back through urban streets had gone cold on, thus taking 45 minutes to drive versus the inbound time of 30 minutes. A signal of things to come.

 

Time off was 12:35, yuck. The skies were relatively clear with scattered at 8,000 and broken at 15,000.  The wind out of the SW was variable between 25 and 40 KTS! Our ground speed to MTV was between 43 and 75 KTS.  After lunch at our favorite airport cafe, we were off again to DKX.

 

This leg ended at 5:40 PM in Knoxville. The last 150 miles was in mixed IFR and MVFR and occasional showers. We broke out under the overcast about 40 miles out at 4,000. Just enough weather to keep it from being boring. Photos of the jets, cafe and FBO attached. "The 172" averaged 8.1 GPH, not bad for an old bird.

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Want to read more from Don Miller?  Check out of his other columns.

Got a comment, question or suggestion for future article? eMail Don.

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