Between work, weather and life in general I haven't had a chance to go flying since October when I went to Niagara Falls with the Millins. I recently installed an engine preheater and some other new items and was eager to test them. The forecast for this weekend was sunny, breezy and cold with highs in the 20's for Saturday, then rain on Sunday.
I decided that I needed to get up and out. Friday night I called my friend Garrett and he recommended a restaurant at Williamsport, a place in the mountains about 100 miles to the west. It sounded good to me, so we agreed to meet at the hangar at 11:30. I went out to the airport and plugged in my new heater system and threw a blanket over the cowl.
The next morning was as clear (and cold) as forecast. The engine was nice and warm. It started on one turn of the prop - what a nice improvement. We headed west at 4,500. The picture above is our view to the west as we climb out. Note the clouds on the horizon.
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Here is a view to the North. Visibility was great, the ride was smooth, but we had a 40 knot headwind.
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I had the heater on full, but I was still glad for half gloves and warm socks. This was the first nice day in a long while and everyone seemed to be up flying. Check out all the black boxes indicating traffic on the right GRT screen. Click on the picture for a better view.
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After about 70 miles, we encounter that cloud bank visible on climb out in the first picture. It is a thin but solid undercast with smooth tops. It was like flying over sand dunes. Very pretty.
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It looks much colder up in the mountains, with snow still covering the ground.
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We descend through a hole in the cloud deck, then circle around a large mountain ridge. We are now in the valley where the airport is located. We call the tower and are told to report midfield downwind for Runway 12. The airport is located toward the center of the picture, near the end of the ridge. We are about to enter our downwind leg and make two lefts, landing back the other direction, with the ridge off our right wing.
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We stuff a blanket in the NACA ducts, then exit the ramp to walk over to the restaurant in the airline terminal. The plane looks small and lonely on the big ramp.
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The restaurant is nice, with a good view of the ramp and the mountains beyond. There is French jazz playing on the stereo and, well, a description doesn't do it justice. Check out the next video....
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Quirky to find this here in the mountains. I have to say the ambiance was great, it was comfortable, and the menu looks terrific.
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We order and the food comes out promptly. I got a bowl of crab bisque and a pulled pork sandwich. The bun, fries, and pork are all homemade and are amazing. This place is a great lunch stop.
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As we are walking back to the plane, a Challenger business jet is being towed past it to the general aviation terminal. We have to start up and follow it down there to refuel. Unfortunately, my home airport has the highest fuel prices in the region. By filling up here, I will almost pay for the trip in fuel savings.
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We taxi down to the GA area and fuel up. While I am waiting inside to pay, the pilot of the Challenger comes in. Turns out that they are heading back to Chicago. We compare the difference in performance between the Velocity and the Cessna that Garrett usually rents. Our flight today took 35 minutes. It takes well over an hour in a Cessna. The Challenger jet has terrific performance in takeoff, cruise and landing. The pilot is justifiably very proud of it.
We walk out to the ramp at the same time. As he walks past us toward his jet, we are pushing the Velocity out onto the ramp. I lift the nose to point the plane in the right direction. I yell "Bet you can't do THIS with your plane! " which cracks him up.
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We hop in, go through the checklist, program the nav system and call ground. We are cleared to hold short at Runway 12. You can see the pilot boarding his passengers on the jet. He waves as we taxi past. Nice guy.
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We pop up through a hole in the clouds and proceed on course at 5,500 and 182 KTAS.
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It gets clearer as we proceed toward home. Check out the ridges and the mountain top airport we pass on the way.
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Here is a quick in flight video as we proceed toward home.
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One more quick 360 degree pan to show what it is like cruising along in a Velocity at 200 mph.
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After a really bad approach and a remarkably smooth landing, we are back at the hangar only 36 minutes after we left the mountain airport. This was a lot of fun. When you can travel at these speeds, you have a lot of options for a $100 hamburger trip. Thanks again to Garrett for the recommendation and for acting as copilot/navigator.
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