First flight from northern VA?

Ok, this is a strange thing to ask, but I am looking for inspiration for my first trip as a certificated private pilot. I passed my practical last weekend and I have an aircraft reserved from 8 to noon on Saturday morning. The problem is... I am looking for a good place to go. I wish I could fly somewhere for lunch, but I need to be back home for family reasons (kids sport event). So I guess I'm maybe looking for a fun place to go, grab breakfast and fly back home.

I am based at HEF in northern Virginia and I think anywhere within an hour would be fine in terms of getting there without rushing, grabbing a breakfast and then coming back home. Anybody know of any good places for coffee, breakfast maybe pie that are at an airport I could travel to in about an hour from Manassas?

 

How about Frederick, KFDK?
Good restaurant right on the field. Breakfast lunch and dinner I think. Lots of stuff to do down town and around.

 

LOL, my first answer was going to be First Flight (KFFA) but its closer to two hours away.

CGE is the go-to breakfast/Lunch spot over our way, and still only 71nm away from HEF. Kay's is in the terminal, and always good (and busy).

Tangier (TGI) is an interesting spot to check out for a quick trip.

Hummel Field (W75) is walking distance to an oyster bar and a German restaurant (open for dinner) across the street.

West Point (FYJ) is fun on the weekend to watch skydivers, and they have a courtesy car. Try the crab muffins at Diggs Seafood, just a bit over a mile down the street.

Hanover (OFP) has a courtesy car and a few spots to eat nearby as well, if suburban Richmond is more your speed.

 

The weather may be O.K., keep an eye on it.

 

Cambridge MD. Nice flight across the bay. Excellent breakfast. In fact, my plan is to go there myself Sat am. https://www.facebook.com/kaysattheairport/

And congrats! Wide wide world.

 

Thanks, everybody! Yes, so many choices. Love it. I think I may try Cambridge for breakfast. It is far enough away and across the bay so it feels like a longer xc than it really is. And they have breakfast! Which is important. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Pugs, maybe I will run into you there! I'll buy you a slice of pie.

Thanks to everyone for the tips. It is really a wide wide world now and it's a bit overwhelming... so many places to explore now.

 

KMTV......1:20 from KHEF.

Great restaurant, cheap fuel. Still in VA tho so can’t color in a new state ​

 

Sticky Buns in Easton
Charley's in Williamsburg

 

My favorite website to track down where to go next when I don't have any where to go.

http://fly2lunch.com/

 

Sad....I'm based there and never set foot in the restaurant...

I'll second KMTV, they open at 1100 and have some good food at very reasonable prices.

http://www.fly2lunch.com/restaurant.php?rest_id=5009&home=MTV

On the way out, just hop over to Rockingham Co-Shiloh (KSIF) for a T-N-G (like 3 minutes to the southeast) to get another state added if you haven't landed in North Carolina yet.

Brian

 

KLNS and KJGG have restaurants, but both are lunch or later.

 

A successful POA hookup this am at Cambridge for breakfast with DeeLee as well as a Beechtalker. Great breakfast and a stunningly nice day to fly (gotta love temps in the 50's at 2K) but Potomac App was slammed and had to hold prior to getting back into the SFRA to Montgomery.

Looking forward to meeting up with more of you "men you meet on the internet" as my wife puts it.

 

Pleasure meeting you too.
Dave

 

Dangnabbit! Flew right over this event (Twice!) taking a friend to Elizabeth City. Next time.

 

And there are lots of options on where to meet up. Count me in.

 

Millville has a pretty good diner, as does Cape May. Ocean City, NJ, but it gets slammed weekends with locals. I stopped at Hammondton NJ for a load of fresh-picked blueberries, for the bride and the diner was closed, but the FBO guy said it was good. MQS has a nice diner too.

A little further, but VAY makes a pretty good omelet, and Rueben Sandwich.

 

Great time Saturday morning meeting up for breakfast at Cambridge! I couldn't have asked for a better first flight. Great flight, great food and really great folks. I got back home and spent the rest of that evening trying to figure out the next place to go.... So if anyone in the DC area is heading anywhere this coming weekend and wants to meet up let me know. I was thinking about Williamsburg (JGG) or maybe the beach (OXB ocean city or GED Delaware Coastal then over to Rehoboth Beach) for lunch.

 

Home base is here at OXB, I got wheels if you all decide to meet here. GED breakfast is, ok, lunch is much better with a BLT and a cup of Maryland crab soup.

Sorry I missed Cambridge, would have enjoyed catching up. Nothing beats the sweet tea at Kay's! Just get there early and beat the locals or you will be standing in line, especially on Sundays.

 

Bring the L-19 instead of the Bo' next time Dave! I'd love to see it. Would also like to see your new Commander Gary. It's on the possibles short list along with a 177RG when it comes time to buy.

The one thing I've realized with "just over for breakfast" is to just go ahead and write off the rest of the day. I had to get back for a 1230 teleconference on family farm business and it was a rush between having to hold prior to the SFRA, wiping down the plane, seeing the FBO for a fuel receipt since the pump didn't print....

 

I was probably one of those slamming Potomac App...I was up practicing approaches at Easton from 7 to 9. Heard a guy try to get his SFRA clearance from Easton tower.

I fly out of W29 (Bay Bridge). Give us Eastern Shore pilots a heads-up and you'll get a whole gang of strangers-from-the-Internet-now-friends to join you. It would be great to meet Gary (GMascelli) because I enjoy reading about his adventures. Maybe he'd even put us on his blog. Instant Internet fame!

 

Infamous..... maybe

Thanks for reading our blog!

 

I'll try. I don't need much of an excuse to fly it.
Dave

 

And we've got to check out your new ride!!!!

 

I think we are settling on a trip to OXB. Weather looks pretty good so far... the wrinkle is this will be my kids' first trip with me, so I'm trying to pick a pretty calm day to fly. I can handle fairly strong winds and I don't mind turbulence by myself, but I don't want the kids to get a bad taste. @GMascelli any local knowledge I should be aware of flying into OXB regarding tricky crosswinds, etc? Never flown to the beach before... this is actually only my second destination flight after getting my Private.

 

KOXB has two runways, so it kinda takes the fun out of crosswind landings...

Let me know when you guys pick a date/time and I'll stumble in with the Travel Air...just not this weekend since we are traveling up to Rochester, NY for a couple days.

Brian

 

good point about the two runways... yes, I guess that takes some of the fun out of it... my kids will be happy. I'm taking my kids up at HEF on Friday evening for a few laps around the pattern so they can get used to the aircraft - it will be their first time up with me. If they are ok with everything, then we plan to leave around 8 Saturday morning and get to OXB just after 9 (according to current wind forecasts).

I think we will just grab a taxi or uber and head for the boardwalk for breakfast, then walk around for several hours. The kids will want to do the rides which I imagine open around noon or soon thereafter? Probably grab lunch, maybe some more rides and games then head out around 1600 to come back home. Don't know if we will hit the actual beach or not... last time I remember there aren't many (any?) places to change clothes and shower sand off. And we are only staying for the day.

I'll call the FBO about tie-downs for the day, but anybody know if that's ever an issue during summer (especially labor day weekend)?

 

It can get busy on the ramp but they will find you a tie-down space. I would get a price for a taxi/Uber then ask Don, at Express rental located right there in the terminal.

Other then the jump plane and meat bombs OXB is your typical airport at a Prime location, so make good position calls and you will be fine.

 

26N is one of my favorite airports because I can walk to the beach and boardwalk without having to pay for transportation. It's a hike up to the boardwalk, but my wife and I like long walks. But it's only like a 10 minute walk to the beach. Also a great little diner there, albeit pretty busy in the summer.

Anyhow, 26N can get kind of swirly with NW breezes or an onshore wind.

 

(Just re-read this and it's a bit TL/DR... so sorry)

Headed out to OXB today with my son and daughter. Unfortunately, we had to turn back about 10 miles SE of HEF because my daughter's stomach was hurting... as far as I can tell, not flight related, but who knows. I asked Potomac for a 180 and headed back. My son ended up driving her back to my wife and the comfort of home. After my wife telling me I better keep my plans and head to OC, I filed a new SFRA flight plan and headed back out.

Amazing flight. Was either controlled by Potomac in the SFRA and when out I had PAX flight following the rest of the way. Amazing views of the Chesapeake Bay and the flat land between the bay and Atlantic. Restricted airspace was cold today, so I was able to go at 3,500. Really neat views of Ocean City, MD on the way to the 45 for left downwind for rwy 14. I think I was so engrossed in the coolness of it all, I lost track of my downwind spacing and I also made my base turn too early. I went to OC as a kid and was just so thrilled to be flying so close to it... Anyway, was a bit high on approach, but corrected ok and had a pretty stabilized approach. Caught a nice xwind from the south, but did ok with it to bring it in safely.... ok with a bounce (not a bad one, was handled with a shot of power and 14 is so long I was able to do well even after the bounce). Still not a perfect landing, which I hate. I guess I am becoming a perfectionist, here.

Great folks at OXB. Had to call them up to ask where to park (FAR away!! but it's labour day so no worries). Parked and got out and just loved the ocean air. Caught a $10 lyft to the boardwalk, got my daughter a t-shirt and had an amazing crab cake sandwich and fries at a Harrison's Harbour Watch (great views of the inlet and all the boats going out/coming in).

After lunch, another Lyft back to the airport. Uneventful, but just amazing flight back to HEF. Ceilings came down a bit from the 4,500, but it's kind of fun dodging clouds instead of just using the autopilot to hold heading.

To reward myself upon landing, I went over to one of the flight schools across the field and picked up the set of Lightspeed Zulus I wanted. I realized on this long-ish xc that the DC 14.3's I was using just don't do that great of a job drowning out the engine noise. So what the heck, right? I mean, I pretty much just went for a $400 crab cake so what's another $850 + tax.

With each of these longer flights, I become more and more addicted to this. I never imagined when I set out to learn to fly that I would catch the flying bug like this. Honestly, the rest of this Labor Day weekend is going to be downright boring after this. I am honored to be part of this group of people who have earned the right to be called pilots. A bit melodramatic I know (and I'm ready for all the PoA flak! Don't care...) But all the hard work, training and studying has really paid off - I couldn't be happier with this passion!

Thanks for listening. TL/DR, I know.

 

Glad you had a good time! It's beautiful from the air and even better on the beach. My plane was taking a break today after three straight days of flight training. I also had to run my CFII over to Salisbury to catch his flight back to the Boston area. Sat around the house most of the day watching football, I know, what a bum.

You will really like the Zulu's, I have had mine for at least 8-9 years. I just sent them back to lightspeed and they refurbished them and sent them back, all for $100.

 

Is the car rental place in the terminal still run the same way. Before the days of Lyft, they would give me a car during the day for a $20 bill.

 

Don is still there, in the terminal.

 

I thought about renting a car instead of using lyft/uber, but then I would have to park. And that parking lot at the end of the boardwalk was p a c k e d. I glanced it walking back from lunch. This is definitely going to be a regular place to fly. Really easy to get to from HEF, even though it looks a bit scary on the sectional. I am used to the SFRA and all the B airspace shelf so that wasn't a big deal and the R-4006 was cold so I was able to go at my desired altitude (which was 3,500 anyway). I may try GED next since it is close to Rehoboth which is where my family does our annual beach trip... Now just have to convince my wife to fly with me...

 

This thread isn't old enough to be a necro-post so I'll just post here.

Anyone interested in a POA breakfast flight to DELMARVA or PA somewhere on 15 Sept? I have a 182 reserved with no particular destination in mind and the last one was fun.

Long range wx says some rain am but who knows at this point.

 

Sunday is bad for me due to a kids sports thing in the morning and then a different kids sports thing in the afternoon. My window wouldn't be wide enough to do a flight other than go somewhere, land, takeoff and come back. Would hate to rush lunch or just to hang out like we did at breakfast at Kays. But keep me in mind for future trips to meet up. That was a great time!