On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 11:48:21 -0500, David Rind
wrote:

2) I'm thinking of flying to Tipton (FME) to get near Bethesda.
Anyone have opinions on this airport? GAI seems to have gotten
a lot of negative comments on AirNav, though if the weather is
bad I'll probably go there instead. (I miss being able to fly
into College Park!)

I fly out of FME (as a renter) and it seems pretty good to me. I
haven't had the chance to land at GAI, so I don't really know how to
compare.

3) If I fly into the Washington ADIZ IFR, can I cancel in the air
when I have the airport, or do I need to cancel on the ground? How
does switching over to the CTAF work if I'm supposed to be maintaining
communications with ATC while in the ADIZ?

I don't have my IFR rating, so I'm not entirely sure how the IFR part
works, but...

Basically, for us VFR pilots, as soon as we depart the pattern
(leaving the ADIZ) you check in with potomac approach. I assume that
this is exactly analogous to how IFR pilots would do it. As for
coming in, basically, call out to the controller that you have the
'field in sight'. He will then release you from his frequency and
then you are free to communicate on the CTAF. DO NOT SQUAWK 1200. He
will say 'maintain beacon code till you're on the ground' probably,
but if you squawk 1200, you will, be, um, in a bad place.

I assume that if he sees you doing anything else besides going
directly into the pattern and dropping off radar, you will, once
again, be in a bad place.

I *assume* for the IFR guys that if you choose to proceed VFR in VFR
conditions, you would cancel in the air. If it is IFR conditions all
the way down, then I guess you would do what you normally do...

aw