September 25 2013 - Roundtrip to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
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When I first learned I had to go to Raleigh-Durham for work, I thought of flying the RV. I did a little investigate and quickly discovered it would be both cheaper and faster flying the RV than commercial. Oh -- and do I even have to say this -- it would be more fun as well.
The weather department did their job well, and Wednesday morning I was off. I passed over this sailing ship -- a Bark, a Berg, a Packet? -- out in the Bay. Back in the day hundreds of ships like this would have been transporting cargo and passengers all over the Chesapeake Bay.
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On top of Bay Bridge Airport which has a nice, big airplane parking area.
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| Looking back at the Bay Bridge. |
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Passing over Ragged Island. The single house on the island has its own private airstrip. Not too shabby!
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| Cruising down the western side of the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia (DELMARVA) peninsula. |
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| It's always good. |
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| Then climb up to 4,500 feet or so to jump over the Bay and the Norfolk area airspace. |
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Looking south at the entrance to Hampton Roads and the big U.S. Naval Base.
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Raleigh-Durham International Airport (KRDU) is a good-sized airport with Class C airspace. It has two long parallel runways: one 10,000 feet and one 7,500. A third shorter runway - 3,750 feet -- is perpendicular to the two long ones. About 20 miles out or so, I checked in with Raleigh Approach who vectored me in to the shorter runway 32. No pattern, Approach just brough me in for a long final. I was switched to tower just before landing.
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I do my homework when flying into an airport like this, so I knew where I wanted to go -- TAC Air -- and how Ground control would get me there. I had an airport diagram to refer to.
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Parked out in front of TAC Air. The TAC Air facility was upscale, and the service people were very friendly, even though I wasn't flying a multi-million dollar business jet.
A short cab ride later, my workday started, before noon.
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The next morning, it was back to the airport.
Taxiing by a Southwest Airlines 737 -- playing with the big boys.
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| The Tower asked me if I could do an intersection takeoff on the 7,500 runway. No problemo. |
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I checked out an interesting reservoir lake north of Raleigh before climbing high.
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| I flew by this neat, private grass strip on the lakeshore. |
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Big Dam.
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| I climbed above a broken layer and scooted for Norfolk. |
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| I flew the same way back home I did flying out. Here I am flying by Newport News Shipbuilding, now owned by Northrup Grumman. The aircraft carriers USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and USS John F. Kenndy (CVN-79) are currently under construction. |
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| Looking across Hampton Roads, you can see the piers where the U.S. Navy ties up its big iron. |
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Crossing the Bay with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to the right.
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I remember staying at this resort place with my parents about 45 years ago or so. It's now known as the Sunset Beach Inn and Grille.
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| Back up the Delmarva peninsula, about to cross back over the Bay to Essex Skypark. |
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| And there is Essex Skypark. Look how green the trees are. Soon they will be turning colorful. |
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| This is how they look a month later. |
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