Thursday, November 23, 2006

40 miles West of the Dulles


The one picture not taken near Dulles. En-route to Montreal FL250 on a beautiful fall (almost winter evening) There is a big high pressure sitting over the area but with the little bit of moisture left around we have had a stratocu layer about 2000 feet thick covering most of the province.


Just abeam Washington, DC about 65 miles directly west we pass by this slithering river. I guess it follows the path of least resistance and in this case back and forth was the easiest way to go. Pretty nice scenery though to keep your brain occupied while sitting at FL240 for 2 hours.


Again same area as before but from a different angle. I have spent the morning reading about Virginia and I think it has one of the most diverse geography and also the greatest history of the East Coast. Plus during the Civil war (1861-1865) Virginia housed the capital of the Confederate States of America. It is responsible for the first successful colonies in the New World and has also fathered many a US President.


Exactly where the picture was taken. To the immediate south east is LDN VOR or Linden. The magenta rings and the black spot in the middle is KIAD or Washington, Dulles International. We are about 20 miles from entering West Virginia which can be seen as a dotted line running northeast and southwest. Pretty bumpy flight today as there jet stream was heading straight south and then around Florida reversed directions 180 degrees and went directly north only about 300 miles apart. Picture a river having to do a 180 and 100 mph and change direction, you can imagine the water spraying everywhere. That's basically the same reason I have hit my head about 3 times off the roof on todays flight.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely amazing landforms there, FD. My Physical Geography books are long since gone so I'm struggling for less than obvious reasons for their formation.

I still say that you should team up with a geographer and produce a book. If I was ten years younger, I'd do it with you. Still, they're super pics and give me a lot of pleasure. Thanks.

PS My ex Flying Instructor frequently brings his students over my house for steep turns at 2000feet and I wave our Union Flag by way of salutation! Wings waggled in return! Anyway, one time he took a shot with his mobile phone camera and I was amazed at the detail!
Cheers.

Flyin Dutchman said...

Hey WY,

Good to hear from you ! I find that after I post I wait to hear what you think until I can approve of my pictures :)

There is a book that is published about Canada I think where the guy flies in a small plane or even an ultra light and gets photo's across the country. I need to make it part of my book collection. Next on the list is to buy a digital SLR to make up for my lack of skills :) Its kinda like having a great autoland feature. Everyone thanks you but its all in the hands of technology.

Next time get your ex instructor to drop it to 500 feet. Then there will be a lot more detail !

Cheers FD

Flyin Dutchman said...

PS you should check out my friends blog for some seriously awesome pictures...

lostav8r.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Will pass on the 500 feet - we have pretty intense military activity around here, Chinooks dodging trees and fast jets below 1000 etc. I don't want to frighten them off with my C152! I live between four MATZ and the bombing range!!

I'm really pleased that you're Shawn's pal, FD. When he went AWOL (AWithL really!) I gravitated to your blog. I still lust after flying a Caravan into Bronson Creek! Yeah - great pictures too. You both set excellent examples for what weblogs should be.
Cheers

Flyin Dutchman said...

Hey WY,

Thanks for the kind words as usual, you are too kind to us both !

The Caravan pics into Bronson Creek are pretty wicked. He gets a pretty good variety since he flies like 4 different types of airplanes !

Thank you again
FD