Lunch Flight to Maryland

We decided to fly to Maryland for lunch with our friends Garret and Kathryn. The Runway Restaurant at Hagerstown (KHGR) is very good and we hadn't been there in a while. The weather was clear but windy. Of course, the forecast was for a 14- 20 knot headwind the whole way.

Here is a shot of our departure from runway 29 at Chester County Airport (KMQS).

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Here are some shots from the trip over. Visibility was very good. There was a headwind as forecast and some light bumps.

View to the north

Crossing the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg

Great visibility on our route of flight. Beautiful.

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The visibility got even better as we proceeded on course. 

View of the screens from the back

Winglet view

View over the canard

Nice sunny lake

Winglet reflection and clear to the horizon

Crossing the ridge near (but not too near) Camp David

Our destination comes into view

We call the tower and set up for a straight in approach

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We pull up to the Ryder Jet Center next to the restaurant, shut down, order fuel and head inside. That's when we discover a flaw in our plan- the restaurant only serves breakfast on Sunday and closes at noon. Darn.

The friendly guys at Ryder offer us a free airport courtesy car and  a recommendation for a local restaurant. I am tickled. This sounds fun. It turns out that they have a fleet of 7 matching red courtesy SUV's. They hand us keys to number 6 and don't even ask for a license or insurance, pointing out that I'm leaving my plane with them, which is security enough for them.

Parked on the ramp

Our gang at the Jet Center

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Sure enough, the restaurant is only a few minutes away.  It is a nice place with good food and even has live music at lunch. Perfect.

Our airport courtesy car from Ryder Jet Center

Selfie at Hoffman's Restaurant in Hagerstown

Me and Nancy

Cathryn with the musicians in the background

Nice menu

Kathryn and Nancy

Garret ready to chow down on his crab omelette

My Maryland crabcake sandwich and sweet potato fries.

Happy pilot

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After lunch, we pile back into our courtesy car and head back to the airport.

Best kind of car - free.

Pulling into Ryder Jet Center

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I have to mention that Ryder has the most luxurious bathrooms I've ever seen in an FBO. Nancy got this shot of Kathryn in the girl's room. The men's room is equally posh.

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Loaded up and ready to go, we call the tower for clearance to depart. 

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Here is a video of our takeoff from Hagerstown. 

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View as we climb out and turn on course after departure from Hagerstown.

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On the way home, the visibility was even better and the air was perfectly smooth so we opened it up a bit and cruised along at 200 knots. We could see Philadelphia from 65 miles away.

We could see forever.

Patchwork quilt of farm fields

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As we were flying along, Nancy noticed that we were making a "sun dog". This is like a bright spot where your shadow would be on the ground. See if you can see it in this video.

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With a tailwind and true airspeeds of between 195-200, the flight home took only 34 minutes.

182 knots indicated and 201 knots over the ground - almost 240 mph.

View as we are on final approach for home.

We taxi to the hangar past a very rich Michigan fan's plane.

It was a fun outing. We had some nice sightseeing, found a new restaurant and got to go really fast. I'm looking forward to the next outing.

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