Slow Teleportation

I made good use of my pilot's license today.

I woke up at five and got myself ready to go.  Drove 10m to the airport and preflighted the airplane. Took off before dawn and picked up my IFR clearance airborne while looking at the glowing Charlotte skyline.

From there it was a 2 hour flight to Gaithersburg (which was the closest airport the government will let me fly into for my Washington D.C. destination).  Got my rental car and drove the hour or so into town.  Attended the meeting and then drove in a bit of traffic back to Gaithersburg. 

At 5:45 PM I was cranked up with my IFR clearance in hand and taxied out to the runway.  2.5 hours later I was landing at home and putting the airplane back to bed after having watched the sun set over thin clouds in North Carolina.

It was a 15hr day, but had me traveling 750 miles to get somewhere far away and back in time to eat dinner at home.  Amazing.  Hard work, but amazing!

This was my first time flying into the SFRA (restricted airspace around DC).  You have to be extra careful doing that, as one false move has an F-15 escorting you to land somewhere you really don't want to be forced to go.  But for IFR flying, it was basically a non-event.  The big thing when IFR is to NOT start squawking 1200 on the transponder at any time.  ATC helped me remember that as they released me to land, so that was super helpful, but there was no way I was going to screw that up.

Same issue when leaving, you have to get your unique squawk before you take off, and get in contact with ATC in a timely manner.

IT worked quite well, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit on edge through the time I was in the SFRA.  I've read too many stories about pilots temporarily losing their license and/or getting fined for screw-ups there.

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