July 18, 2013 - Boy Scout Jamboree Fly-over
The Boy Scouts were having their 2013 National Scout Jamboree down in their brand new Summit Bechtel Reserve complex, near Beckley, West Virginia.   It runs from July 15 to July 24.  AOPA volunteered to do some aviation-related things for them including a fly-over.  Dave (Pablo) Hirschman, an AOPA Senior Editor, organized the flyover and asked a bunch of us to participate.    So on Thursday, I took the day off, flew to Frederick in the morning and rendezvous with everyone in front of the AOPA building.  Pictured here:  Pablo, Lawbreaker and myself.
   
And pictured here:  Jolly, Clogs and Chef.  Plus the AOPA Cessna Grand Caravan.  It's been a long time since we've been able to get this many RVs together for a formation hop in the Mid-Atlantic area.
   
A closer look at the AOPA Grand Caravan.
   
The Grand Caravan was the lead.  Pablo was lead for Chef and Lawbreaker.   I was lead for Jolly and Clogs.   Here we are just about to take the runway.  It was kind of neat being a flight of seven.
   
And the view from the AOPA Grand Caravan.   Photo by Shannon Yaeger.
   
After takeoff, it took my flight a long time to catch up to the Caravan.    There's an old saying in the Navy:  a stern chase is a long chase.
   
Pablo's flight was on the right side.  My flight was on the left side.  The Grand Caravan was the apex of a big V.
   
Cruising in route formation.
   
A shot from the Grand Caravan of  Pablo's flight in close echelon formation.
   
My flight on the left side.
   
The plan was to land at Raleigh County Memorial Airport (KBKW) in Beckley, West Virginia.  We would meet Mugsy there, have lunch, and brief the noon flyover.
 
But ... this is aviation.  No plan survives contact with the enemy.  In this case, the weather.   The forecast had called for an overcast at Beckley, but it was supposed to burn off before we arrived.   While enroute, I checked the METAR report on my onboard XM Satellite weather, and Raleigh County had a solid overcast at low level.  The airport was IFR.
 
As we approached, we began seeing the low overcast.
 
We continued in to Raleigh County until we were overhead.  It was starting to break up but just not enough for us to get through and land.  The Grand Caravan continued on and landed at Raleigh County under instrument flight rules.   But we wanted to remain visual so we did a little form practice, then headed northwest to Yeager Airport in Charleston, WV where the weather was clear.
   

Yeager Airport has Class C airspace around it.  It was kind of interesting leading a formation while talking to Charleston Approach but it went fine.  The formation practice and procedures paid off.

We did a 3-ship overhead break.  Here I am turning downwind on the break.    You can see the runway is on top of a plateau.
   
We were all surprised by how big an airport Yeager was.
   
Pablo's flight lined up in front of the FBO.
   
And my flight.
   
The FBO building.
   
We had a quick lunch in the terminal.  There would not be time to land at Raleigh County, so  Pablo thoroughly briefed the flyover here.  We even walked through it out in the parking lot.  Then we taxiied out as a flight of six.  I wonder what the tower thought of our six little planes snaking through the big airport.
   
Pre-flight runup.   Pablo was lead, Chef was #2, I was #3, Clogs was #4, Lawbreaker was #5 and Jolly was #6.
   
Hi Mom!
   
 
Waiting for some A-10s to land.
   
It was a challenging flight both for lead and wingmen.  Pablo had to navigate to the Summit which he had never seen before.   There were cumulous clouds to deal with en route.  Finally, it was a little turbulent which made the wingmen have to work hard.   Obviously, I wasn't able to take any airborne pictures of the form flight.   We did a couple of passes, followed by a break, individual low passes, a rejoin and then another final pass.
 
The complex is centered around a lake.  To the right of a lake is a big grass amphitheater.  Those blue and orange things to the left are tents!
   
This is what we looked like from the ground.  I am the dark plane with no smoke.    (Yeah, I know, I need to install a smoke system)
   

A better shot taken from the ground.
   

When the flyover was done, the rest of the guys headed home and I headed to Raleigh County.

Overhead Raleigh County.
   
On downwind for landing.
   
Parked in front of the FBO next to some big boys.
   
The FBO building which includes a restaurant.
   
A friend from work parent's live very close to Raleigh County Airport and he asked me to get an aerial shot of their house.  That's it below.
   

Departing for home, I leisurely checked out the Summit complex.

Approaching the complex which was made possible by a 50 million dollar donation from Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr.  which is the largest charitable donation ever made to the Boy Scouts of America.
   
 The Summit complex is the permanent home of the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree.  It has 10,600 acres.  But it is adjacent to the New River Gorge National River Area which has 70,000 additional acres for the Scouts to explore.
   

The National Jamboree is held every four years.   50,000 scouts, volunteers and staff attend for ten days of fun and adventure.

The complex was divided up into sections. Each section had its own tent color:  green, blue, red, orange, yellow.
   
A close look at the amphitheater area.
   
 
A good look at the lake.
   
Then it was time to head for home.  There were big clouds around but nothing serious.
   
 
A possible thunderstorm building to the north.
   
I took the south-eastern route around the Washington DC airspace.  Over the Eastern Shore I took pictures of some interesting houses.
   
 
   
Here is my flight path according to SPOT.   We took the northern route going to Beckley, WV and I took the southern route coming back.
   
   
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