A Business Trip to Billings, Montana

I am frequently asked what it is like to fly a 2003 Beechcraft Bonaza A36 on business across the country. So, on a recent trip out to Billings to attend the Annual Meeting of Stillwater Mining Company on whose board I serve, I decided to capture a few moments in pictures.

The entire "album" contains about 50 pictures with captions and can be found by clicking: Billings Trip Album.

The trip took me from Leesburg to DuPage on the first leg. Then into Sioux Falls and from there to Billings. I left about 8:30 AM (EDT) and arrived in plenty of time for dinner with my colleagues in Billings.

The trip meant flying through a front with lots of rain. An instrument approach into DuPage was down to about their minimums. Sioux Falls was beautiful as you will see below. Billings had rain and required the ILS approach.

Coming back after the meetings on Thursday, I left Billings at 3:30 PM (MDT). I planned to spend the night in the Chicago area for a meeting on Friday morning. That was fortunate not only because arrival in Leesburg would have been very late, but as it turned out Northern Virginia was being pounded by a storm containing massive amounts of rain and even a few tornadoes.

It was a beautiful flying out of Montana back to Sioux Falls and then into DuPage for the night.

Friday morning, Leesburg was right at minimums when I left DuPage, but improved during the 3 hour flight. I flew the LOC 17 approach and broke out for a circle to land that gave me a nice shot of my home base airport.

It was a great trip that took N836CF nearly 3,000 nm with just over 18 hours of flying.

I hope you enjoy the photograhs. And, if you are interested in more information about the route of flight, you can find that by clicking on FlightAware.

Switch to Potomac Departure

Here I am departing from Leesburg Airport. It was a beautiful day in Northern Virginia on Wednesday morning. It turned out that this was best weather I would see over the entire trip.

Scanning the Panel

It was beautiful on departure from Leesburg, but most of the trip was flown in actual IFR conditions. You spend a lot of time looking at the panel. Here, N836CF was at 8,000 feet enroute to DuPage. The Garmin is getting weather from XM showing we are about to cross the front. It was smooth but I encountered a great deal of rain.

Cleared for the Visual Approach into Sioux Falls

Without a doubt, the nicest approach of the trip was into Sioux Falls over the downtown area. Of course, this was the only visual approach of the entire trip!

Billings Airport

From Sioux Falls, I flew to Billings, MT where the Stillwater Mining Company board had it's Annual meeting. The good people at Edwards are very helpful when I arrived in time to make it to my dinner on Wednesday.

They had my Bonanza ready to go the next afternoon to start the trip home. I flew back to Sioux Falls and then to DuPage where I spent the night.

A Beautiful Flight East

After climbing to 11,000 feet out of Billings enroute to Sioux Falls, I encountered some beautiful sights.

To see the whole album, click on Billings Trip Album....

DuPage Airport

After arriving Thursday night in rain and low clouds, N836CF was ready to go the next morning on a beautiful day. The DuPage executive terminal has the nicest facilities I have seen in a general aviation terminal...including the Kitty Hawk Restaurant which served a great breakfast.

Cleared Direct to Leesburg

Not long after leaving DuPage, Chicago Center cleared me direct to JYO. The Garmin shows I have 441 nautical miles to go in 2 hours and 45 minutes to reach Leesburg.

It was a nice smooth trip and especially helpful that the visibilities lifted while I was flying to JYO.

Circling to Land back at Leesburg (JYO)

I returned on Friday to a rain soaked Leesburg Airport. The ceiling had been about 500 feet, but lifted as I approached from DuPage. I broke out on the LOC 17 approach about 1,800 feet and circled to land on Runway 35.

Back to the Hangar

After traveling almost 3,000 nautical miles in three days, N836CF is going back into the hangar until the next mission.

Again, to see all the photos from this trip, go to Billings Photo Album.

Enjoy!

Over the Shenandoah Valley

Friends invited us to a Pig Pull at their home along the Shenandoah River near Woodstock, Virginia. I was so taken with how beautiful the area was, I returned the next day in the Bonanza to shoot a few aerial pictures. The little white spec just above the river in the lower left is the tent where we enjoyed a wonderful birthday celebration with roasted pig!


To see more (including the pig) go to: http://www.kodakgallery.com/clfgallery