THE ENGLISH ARE JUST WEIRD As well as driving on the wrong side of the road, the English have ‘spotters’ clubs, that run around airports, noting to each other excitedly what types and N#’s of aircraft they’ve seen; just like spotting rare birds.

Recently, since Jake got a jellyfish sting, I was researching a bit online; and found the English had crossed into a new realm.

The English have jellyfish spotters clubs.

That’s right, they write to each other about the “more than two dozen 18 to 21 cm blue Icthia Cornwallis jellyfish that washed ashore on Sheepshead Entrails Estuary!”  (I made that one up).

I’ve concluded the English are just weird.

OH YEAH, THE ADIZ  A lot of pilots all around Washington DC are now facing F16s, blackhawks, and deadliest of all, those scary FAA Administrative actions.  Ooooo, that’ll stop a bad guy.

And to those who think ‘squawk and talk’ will provide ATC an early detection of a ‘pilot deviation,’ (like 911), I have to ask, a deviation from what?  VFR ops wander the sky.  (That, by the way, is the basis for the weird rules in the 30 mile TFRs).

So it would be reasonable to summarize that there remains a bit of confusion and misunderstanding out there.

YOU UN-CLEARED WEENIES GET OUR SYMPATHIES  For the nearly 300 pilots that have already been cleared at Potomac Airfield, we keep wondering how difficult it must be for the rest of you.

For us that have clearance, it’s simple, and we never worry about that stuff, because use positive IFF that actually means something, and by doing some very simple, cool stuff, we get no delays, direct routing, and clearance through all the confusion.  Since we are known-friend, by virtue of the security clearance, we can come and go.

In our Potomac world, it’s much easier; but first, ‘ya gotta get cleared.

At Potomac, if you’re a good guy, we’ve made getting cleared quite easy.  If you’re a bad guy, we offer you (without your knowledge) little gray cars following you, and nice fellows with binoculars watching your movements from a polite, discrete distance, guaranteed!

FOR YOU UN-CLEARED WEENIES  To help the great unwashed, un-cleared masses out of your foxholes, I make the following magnanimous offer:  Get cleared (free at Potomac!) and move your aircraft to the field, and for a limited time, I offer the following additional, optional incentive:

THREE MONTHS’ FREE TIE DOWN

But with the following condition:  To get three months’ you must identify over what entrance the following words may be found:   “For ye shall hear the truth And the truth shall set ye free.”

Hint: If you see these words on the way to work, know you will be in good company based at Potomac Airfield.

Of course, this question has relevance, as does its answer.  If you figure it out, and you are worthy (requiring a finely tuned sense of irony and humor; NOT being a terrorist, and some basic flying skills), then you should find the answer amusing.

Once you get cleared in, we’ll show you some tricks of the trade that are not in SFARs or NOTAMS, and you’ll probably laugh out loud at the relative confusion you’ve been tolerating to date.

Call me with your answers, and to cash in 301 248 5720  bigcheese@potomac-airfield.com

(And no, this is an incentive for new aircraft to move to the field and get cleared, not for you stingy bastards already based here!)

LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION As everyone ought to know by now, Potomac is about 15 minutes drive from downtown (!) and even less from Old Town Alexandria and Northern VA.  You can’t get any closer to where you live and work, and that’s a good thing!

WHAT WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN  Potomac has always been an exclusive country club for owners of smaller GA aircraft.  That’s always been our vision, because that’s where I would want to base my own Skythrasher.  And so I do!

From a pilot’s standpoint, when I had a helicopter at Hanscom AFB, I never enjoyed being in a pattern with fifteen aircraft, or on final between a Lear and a Hawker.  Even worse, every so often a controller-trainee was getting a ‘FAIL’ grade.  Not friendly and not my idea of fun.

To make using Potomac easy, we also have two instrument approaches, GPS and VOR.

From a ‘birds of a feather’ standpoint, we’ve always had an odd group here.  When we started this vetting thing two years ago I suggested to the security folks that perhaps 50% of our pilots already had top-secret clearances.  After a bit I cranked that number up to 95%, and then even higher.

Because we have a relatively short runway (2600 ft, below and clear of that ‘scary’ Class B airspace), if a pilot was a weenie about talking with ATC, or wasn’t sufficiently on their game to be comfortable with our approaches, they never based here anyway.  It’s really not that hard.

On the other hand, pilots who DO fly out of Potomac can operate anywhere, even the primary students in the flying clubs at the field.  Call it the GA Top Gun, Red Flag, or Red Gun, or Top Flag, or whatever.  Not scary, not dicey, just a cut above.

Even prior to ‘911’ our location and characteristics tended to clean out the riff-raff  (Not to be too much of a snob about it).

So I invite you to go to our website and get a sense of what really happens; and then apply for clearance, if you are up to it, and then you will find out how really easy it is for pilots, at least those cleared at Potomac.

ENDLESS SUMMER ENDS My fifth summer alone in DC, with Kelley and the dudes in Hatteras, just ended.  I’ve learned some useful and perhaps vital survival tips:

1.  If you have quickly eaten two frozen chicken pot pies, do not, under any circumstances, have a third.  The results are immediate and nearly irreversible.

2.  A complete box of Frosted Flakes, and 20 oz of pickles, should not be combined into a single meal.

3.  If you stop watering your wife’s flowers, they will eventually turn brown and their leaves will fall off.

4.  Continued watering of the leafless brown plants has no visible effect.

5.  Your wife, upon her return, will notice those leafless brown plants.

I welcome you to enter my world, it’s a gas!

David Wartofsky