Flying in MD

[Scott Lowrey]

Looks like I'm moving from MN to MD. I'll probably be living in or
very near Germantown, so I have a choice of three airports I can use
to finish my instrument rating: Gaithersburg, Davis, and Frederick
(GAI, W50, FDK) in order of increasing distance.

Other than trading the relatively free skies over the midwest for lots
of traffic and big fat ADIZ, what can I expect? Any mountains nearby
I can get experience with? How's the weather in the winter? Anything
to say about the three airports and their flight training services?

I can look all of this up but it's funner asking you. :)

-Scott

[Peter Duniho]

"Scott Lowrey" > wrote in message
om...
> [...] Any mountains nearby I can get experience with?

Well, compared to MN, sure...there are mountains. The Appalachians mainly.
They aren't as high as the Rockies, Cascades, Sierras, etc. but certainly
are large enough to provide examples of all the usual mountain flying
issues.

> How's the weather in the winter?

Warmer than MN, but can still get pretty cold. Rain, sleet, and snow are
all possibilities. How long the snow sticks around depends a lot on the
season. Sometimes it's there for weeks, sometimes it melts a day or so
after it falls. Nothing terribly unusual, IMHO.

Aviation-wise, the main thing is that it does get cold enough that preheats
will be necessary, and there should be plenty of flyable days during the
winter. Seems like you'll be used to the usual stuff, coming from MN.

> Anything
> to say about the three airports and their flight training services?

Sorry...I moved away before I started flying, so I don't have any personal
experience with the airports or businesses at the airports.

Pete

[Jay Somerset]

On 31 Oct 2003 12:12:37 -0800, (Scott Lowrey) wrote:

> Looks like I'm moving from MN to MD. I'll probably be living in or
> very near Germantown, so I have a choice of three airports I can use
> to finish my instrument rating: Gaithersburg, Davis, and Frederick
> (GAI, W50, FDK) in order of increasing distance.

GAI is a good choice, but harder to get into in IFR conditions (~600 AGL
minimums). FDK has an ILS (or will have again when they put 5-23 back into
operation. W50 is a short, narrow strip that mostly caters to taildragers
and has little in the way of amenities, and is harder to get to by car.

I would choose either GAI or FDK. GAI is a bit more of a hassle right now
as it is within the ADIZ -- FDK is not.

>
> Other than trading the relatively free skies over the midwest for lots
> of traffic and big fat ADIZ, what can I expect? Any mountains nearby
> I can get experience with? How's the weather in the winter? Anything
> to say about the three airports and their flight training services?
>
> I can look all of this up but it's funner asking you. :)
>
> -Scott

[aaronw]

>On 31 Oct 2003 12:12:37 -0800, (Scott Lowrey) wrote:
>
>> Looks like I'm moving from MN to MD. I'll probably be living in or
>> very near Germantown, so I have a choice of three airports I can use
>> to finish my instrument rating: Gaithersburg, Davis, and Frederick
>> (GAI, W50, FDK) in order of increasing distance.

I also recommend going to www.dcpilots.org and signing up for the
mailing list so you can get more information on the current DC flying
situation. A word of warning, however, the list is very narrowly
focused on DC aviation issues, and if you try to bring general r.a.p
issues onto it, you will get squelched awfully quickly.

aw