Raleigh Executive Jetport (TTA) to Danville Regional Airport (DAN) and back

My latest flight was from Raleigh Executive (TTA) to Danville Regional (DAN). It was a great flight, took Emily's cousin, Ian, with me. It was the second time he's ever been on a plane, and I think he had a good time. Ian was in control of the camera taking these pictures. The full set of pictures can be found on my Flickr page.

Our Route

We got up early and made the drive to Sanford. It was cold and frosty, so when we got to the airport we had some work to do. It was foggy too, so we had time to kill anyway. The plane's wings were covered in frost, and any pilot will tell you rule #1 of winter flying: don't fly with ice on your wings. Not only does it interrupt the airflow over the wings and decrease lift, it also adds weight to the plane that you don't need. So off it comes.

Step 1: Turn the frozen side of the plane towards the sun so it can begin to melt it. You have to be careful because the already melted part (what was already facing the sun) will freeze again if it's below freezing.

Step 2: If the sun isn't working fast enough or it's not able to melt shady areas, fill a milk jug with hot water and pour it over the ice to melt it.

Step 3: Hopefully it's above freezing by this point, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is up in the air. If water stays on the wings after takeoff it could freeze again. Not too terribly likely, but if you want to be cautious you can dry the plane off before taking off. We opted for overly cautious and dried it off.

Fog and Frost

As I said, this was Ian's second time in a plane. His first was a night flight from Chicago O'Hare (ORD) to Raleigh-Durham International (RDU). Needless to say, he seemed pretty excited.

I'd say he looks excited.

We went around the pattern once, which is my way of making sure everything is working before taking my wife's cousin 5,500' in the air.

View of Jordan lake from the pattern, looking north.

Our route took us between Durham and Burlington, near Mebane. Shortly after leaving the pattern I contacted Raleigh Approach for flight following. We crossed I-40/I-85 a few miles to the east of Mebane. Those of you that are familiar with that stretch of road will recognize the weigh station in the following picture.

The weigh station on I-40/I-85 east of Mebane from 4,500'

Once we got north of this point we were able to see more and more snow left on the ground from the storm almost a week before. It was the first time I had ever seen snow from the plane, so it was exciting to me. About 20 miles out from Danville Regional the controller handed me off to Washington Center. I wasn't on with them for very long since we could see the airport from about 10 miles away. Once we had visual contact I canceled flight following and switched to the unicom frequency.

The wind was calm but the person who answered me on the unicom when I made my initial position announcement said that other traffic had been using runway 2. Even though there was no other traffic around I decided to follow previous traffic and use runway 2. It worked especially well because I wanted to check out the runway before landing, and pattern entry to runway 2 from our location would warrant flying over the field. NOTAMs that morning said that thin ice had been reported on the runway, which is why I wanted to check it out before landing.

Setting up to enter the downwind for runway 2,
the left most runway, using a teardrop entry.

From 500' above traffic pattern altitude I could see that the runway was dry except for a small area of moisture on the opposite end of the runway from where we were going to be landing. Also, the air temperature was well above freezing at this point and sunny, so I decided it was safe to land.

Turning final put us right over the Dan River.

Final to runway 2 at Danville (DAN)

Once we landed, we taxied back to runway 2 without getting out, and made our way back south in the direction of TTA. Once airborne, I contacted Washington Center and, once again, requested flight following. Shortly after radar contact was confirmed we were handed off to Raleigh Approach for the remainder of the flight. We initially climbed to 5,500', but were asked by the controller to descend to 4,500' for traffic. I assume because my route took me through the approach path into the active runways at RDU. I was happy to comply.

It was a gorgeous day. Really clear with the exception of a haze layer (picture below). The cold clear air and the snow on the ground really made for a nice view. Can't wait for the next trip.