Ocean City, MD
- Aircraft Year
- 1976
- Aircraft Type
- 112/A
- Reg Number
- N453TC
- Serial Number
- 453
We are headed back to Vero Beach. Vero has become or favorite go to place over the last few years. We have searched for a condo for two of those visits but with Ziva nobody would take a large dog.
This year we renew the hunt but we are also considering apartments. Mary and I have worked all the numbers and the easiest way to avoid an initial purchase cost with a possible land lease or HOA fees is to just rent an apartment. We even ran numbers to compare renting a pet friendly place for two or three months to the tune of 6-9k a month. For an additional 4k we would have our own place available all year round. As bad as my body feels when it gets cold I would be happy to head south in October and not come back until April.
The Weather Watch
Some of my go to weather pages have changed or gone away but I have been working on some new to me weather tools for my cross country flight planning. I always use Foreflights Imagery and MOS on the weather selection along with Windy, Aviation Weather Center, Weather Underground.
Sunday 3.10 Pre-Flight
It's the day before departure and I am going to complete my preflight and fuel sump. Total fuel on board for our flight south is 55 gallons. 3 Tango Charlie is ready to go and I'll turn on the preheats overnight for our planned departure of 8am.
Monday 3.11 Departure Day
Rise and shine we're on vacation! Well, almost. Bags were packed yesterday and the SUV is ready to go. Mary and I will make a breakfast stop at the local eatery, Abi's Diner. We have a few snacks and water packed for the flight.
Todays routing will be Ocean City (KOXB) to Mt. Pleasant SC (KLRO)for a fuel and go.
We departed Ocean City in very strong gusty winds and point for Snowhill VOR. As we reached the mid peninsula we were rocked by strong wind gusts between 40 and 49 knots at six thousand five hundred. I believe the gust actually pulled the gear door open which triggered a gear warning light. I slowed my airspeed below 130 and attempted to drop the gear, no luck. On to the check list and remember to fly the plane. I tried shaking the gear down and still no luck with multiple cycles. I canceled flight following with Potomac approach and diverted to Accomack.
I needed to loose altitude so I circled around and worked my way down to a safe altitude and activated the auto pilot for heading and altitude to perform the emergency gear dump. I heard and felt all three gear drop with the nose gear needing a bit of a shake. Finally three green confirmed.
I contacted Accomack (KMFV) operations to ask for a gear check as I made a low pass with a visual confirmation. The gear was down, now I hope it indeed was locked. Mary and I talked about what if situations when she asked if the gear isn’t locked then what. Awkward pause, then we’re done flying because it will belly in. I felt her anxiety with just her look. My bride said, trying to ease tension, I’m done flying if that happens, me too.
It seemed like a long flight back to OCMD. I tried multiple times to have OC Ops give me one more confirmation but nobody answered. Did I mention the gusty winds? It was a serious ride em’ cowboy landing. I held off and somehow gently rolled the mains on followed by a nice wheelie, gently letting the nose gear touch. We were still rolling on three good gear.
I tucked 3 Tango Charlie in the hangar and we decided to drive to Vero Beach FL. I haven’t made this drive in forty years, but I was up for the challenge. After switching vehicles from my 2003 MB ML 320 to our 2017 MB GLC300 we were on our way, it was 10:30.
Two fuel stops with one fast food stop coupled with the second gas and go we were back at it. Fifteen hours later we arrived at our hotel, on the beach, in Vero at 2am.
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PS I like the FF checklist!
