Prospects for Sunday 07 Oct

[markc]

Seems like that front to our north is supposed to blow through
tonight and early tomorrow AM, with some weak NW to N flow
behind it. High Rock day? Take a gamble on the Sac?

MarkC

[dbodner]

Thinking High Rock

[Danny Brotto]

People, there's a TFR up from Saturday morning through mid-day Monday around Camp David. In addition on Sunday morning from ~ 9:00 am through ~ 12:30 pm, there's a 30 mile TFR up aroud Emmitsburg.

Let's hope he's had his fill of the place for next weekend's wine tasting opps, I mean HR Fly-in.

Danny Brotto

[hepcat1989]

We wouldn't want to disrupt the pisshead's, I mean president's, weekend.
I wonder if the new president will be as skitsey as George is when we fly our slow moving gliders at High Rock. I wonder why that is?
Geeze, Shawn.

[markc]

The forecasts for tomorrow seem stronger than they were,
and I'm starting to think that the Sac might be worth a try.

NWS hourly is calling for NNW@10 on the surface, from 1pm
until 3pm.

And if you've got Columbus Day off, a long drive tomorrow
might not be too bad...

Whaddya say?

MarkC

301-807-5414

[Danny Brotto]

The "new" president won't likely have any effect on the size of the TFR; presidential security will. It's a balance between what the security wants and what practical airspace protection allows. The only thing we can hope for is that the new president is a sociallite rather than a woodsy-guy and prefers DC to the wilds of the Catoctin mountains and stays away on weekends.

Danny Brotto

[markc]

Second thoughts about the Sac... I can't see doing that drive in the hopes
that the WSW will come around to N.

But the Pulpit's forecast has been back down to NW@5-10, and it's a
much shorter drive

Anyone up for giving that a try?

MarkC

[Danny Brotto]

I'm at the regionals at Fairfield and there is some talk that the TFR will expire early this afternoon; that's sooner than officially anticipated. This makes HR in the afternoon a definite "maybe". Check flight service and I'll post here when/if I hear something positive.

Danny Brotto

[carweill]

I'll consider the pulpit if there is critical mass


Carlos

[markc]

Mike Lee and I are heading for the Pulpit. When I talked to Carlos,
he seemed *almost* ready to go too, though he's hoping to hear
that at least four pilots are definitely going.

Anyone else? I think it's going to be pretty good out there today...

MarkC

[carweill]

Heading to Pulpit

ETA around noon

Carlos

[mcelrah]

Late, but jumping on the Pulpit bandwagon. Slow start after late return from Seagull Century. Matthew finished about two hours ahead of Sallie and me.
- Hugh

[markc]

We came, we set-up, we sledded... Light winds (5-10) out of the WNW
when I got there at 12:15, which then switched to NW with occasional
very N cycles by 2pm. And the progression was more northerly as the
afternoon went on.

We waited through the WNW because of overcast, hoping that the sun
and thermal cycles would overcome the increasing N cross. But that
wasn't meant to be...

Mike flew twice, Carlos and I once. On the PGs were Matthew,
Ellis, Karen, Hugh, and Florent. Lots of multiple-flights among the
PG crowd, but they weren't doing much better. I think Matthew
was briefly above for one of his flights.

Still, it was relatively cool up in the mtns, and there was a good
sunset + cold beers. Can't beat hanging out with flight-addicted
friends!

John M arrived late, along with a class of students. Didn't hear how
their day at Kirschner's went, but hope it was a good one.

MarkC

[Matthew]

Hey-- I got 10 minutes on one flight and 10 minutes and over launch on the second flight.

Matthew

[markc]

Oops, sorry, I meant to say that the PGer's skied-out and collectively kicked-butt!

[markc]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that six of us headed to 'Barley and Hops',
a brewpub south of Frederick off 270 that Mike L turned us onto a while
back. I had a great fusili pasta with an alfredo + sundried tomato sauce,
with lump crab and shrimp. Whoa, that was good!

As was the beer and company. Ellis has lots of good stories about her
trip to Belgium (17+ hours of flying in nine days!!!)

MarkC

[dbodner]

You all did better than if you'd flown High Rock. The local TV news reports that several pilots (GA?) were detained for violating restricted airspace. I noticed the Hagerstown paper last Sunday ran a headline about pilots violating P40, as well. I guess the Secret Service is out to make a point.

[CraginS]

[quote="dbodner"]You all did better than if you'd flown High Rock. The local TV news reports that several pilots (GA?) were detained for violating restricted airspace. I noticed the Hagerstown paper last Sunday ran a headline about pilots violating P40, as well. I guess the Secret Service is out to make a point.[/quote]

The double TFR over the area was due to W spending the weekend at Camp David plus being the speaker at a firefighter award ceremony in Emmitsburg Sunday. The four GA pilots detained were on their way to a special fly-in day at Hagerstown Airport. Pretty much a perfect storm for pilots not paying attention and getting hammered (properly so) by both FAA and SS.

[CraginS]

Today's WashPost has an article on what happened

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... =sec-metro

Full text below.
A couple of highlights -
1. One of the F-16 intercepts took place right over the airport - instant air show!
2. Whining from the chair of the Leesburg Airport Commission. JEEZ! Is he not a pilot? Does he not know how easy it is to call WX Brief and check NOTAMs? Or that even VFR pilots are supposed to do that? And there is "I just don't understand what they're doing with all these bureaucratic regulations. They haven't convinced me there's a threat from these little airplanes."

==
Bush's Visit Takes Wind Out of Antique Airplane Show

By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 8, 2007; B05

Nice day for a flight yesterday.

Unless you were headed to the annual Hagerstown Fly-In in an antique plane without a radio and your flight plan took you directly over restricted airspace in Maryland where President Bush was attending a memorial service.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, from about 9 a.m. to noon yesterday, a dozen planes crossed into the no-fly zone, a temporary restriction of 30 aeronautical miles on the airspace that included Camp David and Emmitsburg, the site of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial.

So the North American Aerospace Defense Command began dispatching fighter jets.

Four planes were escorted out of the area by F-16s, said Master Sgt. Anthony Hill of NORAD. They landed at nearby airports, where Secret Service agents followed up with the pilots, said Kim Bruce, a Secret Service spokeswoman.

Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the FAA, said the agency will also interview the pilots. "They could face penalties including suspension of their pilot's license," she said.

Meanwhile, at the fly-in, some people were wondering where all the planes were. Suddenly there was a roar outside. Everyone was staring at the sky, where a little propeller plane was buzzing along, with an engine that sounds about like a Volkswagen, and a sleek fighter jet was flying circles around it.

It was hair-raising, said Tracey Potter, owner of Hagerstown Aircraft Services. "The F-16 is an evil, menacing scary sound, and at the same time -- amazing," she said.

The pilot had to be terrified, Potter said. "I can't imagine what the feeling would be when that fighter aircraft is screaming around you. If he decided to squeeze a couple of rounds off, he'd blow your airplane right out of the sky."

As it turns out, the fly-in, which benefits two nonprofit groups, the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Hagerstown Aviation Museum, and offers free plane rides for kids, was happening at the wrong time and place.

At Hagerstown Regional Airport yesterday morning, an announcement explained to the crowd what was happening. Most people were amused, Potter said.

But some pilots were annoyed by the rules.

"I think these TFRs [temporary flight restrictions] are poorly coordinated, poorly publicized and not very effective," said Dennis Boykin, chairman of the Leesburg Executive Airport Commission, who avoided the event because of it. "It's not that I'm unpatriotic, not that I don't believe my commander-in-chief is special. I just don't understand what they're doing with all these bureaucratic regulations. They haven't convinced me there's a threat from these little airplanes."

Brown said that if the pilots had been using radios, they wouldn't have been in the no-fly zone to begin with. She said the FAA has worked closely with pilots' associations to reinforce the need to be aware of restrictions put in place for safety.

"Pilots are supposed to check the notices to airmen that we put out that are in effect for the area," she said.

The fly-in often brings in well over a hundred visiting aircraft. This weekend, about 20 planes visited, said Potter, who spent more than six months organizing the event, getting insurance, coordinating schedules and so on, only to learn about the temporary airspace restrictions. "It really killed our event. . . . It's a real kick in the head."

Then again, they did get one spectacular plane to visit, Potter said: The F-16 was the high point of the weekend, for sure.

[hepcat1989]

SAD!
Shawn.

[hepcat1989]

I'm at the regionals at Fairfield and there is some talk that the TFR will expire early this afternoon; that's sooner than officially anticipated. This makes HR in the afternoon a definite "maybe". Check flight service and I'll post here when/if I hear something positive.

Danny Brotto

Danny, I was on my way home from Greencastle, PA this afternoon(monday) and had seen 3 sailplanes circling. Pretty cool man! I didn't know if one of those was you or not. I sure would like very much to give that a try with you sometime. Looks like some HIGH PERFORMANCE!
Peace, Shawn.

[hepcat1989]

At 4:20 I had seen another sailplane over I.81 between Newville, PA. and Shippenburg PA. Circling. That's 4.
Happy Columbus Day!
Shawn.