February 4, 2012 - Form Practice & Lunch at Smoketown

The weather was actually better than it looks here for today's Dragon Flight formation practice at Carroll County Airport (DMW).    It wasn't too cold  - mid30s - and the air was very smooth.  I was lead, Jolly was 2, Lawbreaker was 3 and Chef was 4. 
  
We met at 0830, briefed and are about to mount up. 
  

Getting ready to taxi out.

That green and silver RV-8A isn't with us.  It's just another RV that taxiined in.  I see RVs wherever I go these days.  And they are always flying, not tied up with cobwebs on their struts. 

  
We practiced hard for about an hour.  I put the formation through all our moves:  turns in finger four, diamond  and close-trailformation, cross unders, echelon turns, horizontal and vertical breaks, follow the leader:  including - my favorite - the Lufberry Circle, and of course, lots of rejoins. 
 
We landed back at Carroll County and debriefed.  Jolly had to leave, but Mugsy showed up.  We took off with Chef in the lead and practiced some more on the way to Smoketown.   I was #4 this time which meant I had to work pretty hard to stay in formation!
  
Here we are, safe on deck at Smoketown.  I've only landed here once and that was in the Citabria.  They have not one, but two restaurants, a short walking distance from the airport.  We had a nice lunch. 
  
Smoketown's big claim to fame is that the Cessna 152 that busted the Washington Defense Air Defence Zone and caused the capital building to be evacuated is based here. 
  

Snow flakes were drifting down as we came out of the restaurant. 

We checked the weather for the transit back home and it looked fine -- 10 miles vis, high ceilings -- but the reality was quite different.  We were actually flying through some heavy snow for a little while.   It cleared up once we were south of the Susquehanna. 

  
Mugsy stopped at Essex Skypark for a few minutes before continuing on.
  
Mugsy on the takeoff roll.
  
A good day of flight.
  
 
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