Memorial Day Lunch and Sightseeing Down the Shore

Memorial Day weekend in Pennsylvania was absolutely beautiful. We were kind of booked up except for Saturday. We decided to fly to Ocean City for breakfast. Our friends Curt and Cindy were already staying in Sea Isle just to the south and agreed to meet us for lunch at 12:30.

I told my wife Nancy to meet me at the airport to be wheels up at the airport at noon. The above shot is our departure at exactly noon. Thanks Nancy!

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Here are some en route shots of our 30 minute trip. I can go direct in about 20 minutes if Philadelphia Approach clears me through their airspace, but the traffic on the display showed planes everywhere. I decided just to detour south around Wilmington. We did 175 knots indicated the whole way. We couldn't open it up all the way due to turbulence.

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Here are some shots of my beloved Grand Rapids Technologies EFIS screens en route.

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We cross over the bay, drop to 1,500 and slow to 100 knots. We call to announce pattern entry for right downwind for runway 24.

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Here is a video of the landing at Ocean City.

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Curt has ridden in the plane before, but Cindy has never seen it. She tries it on for size and agrees to go for a sightseeing ride after lunch.

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After a quick lunch in the terminal, we head out to the plane and strap in. Nancy agrees to stay on the ground to get photos and video.

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We taxi down and do a quick pirouette for Nancy and then take off. The idea is to cruise low along the beach to take some pictures of their shore house.

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We take off, turn over the bay, pass over the bridge at Townsend's Inlet, then turn north towards Sea Isle. We drop to 300 feet, cruise up the beach, then do a 2,000 fpm pull up and turn inland. We repeat, then wander back to the airport. They really enjoyed it.

I have learned that less is more on a first flight and this pays off when Cindy announces that she really enjoyed the flight and wasn't nervous about the idea of taking trips with us any more.

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We say goodbye and take off for home.

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Here is the whole approach and landing from pattern entry to hangar door to give a sense of what it's like to come home from a trip in your own Velocity.

Next post in a week. We will be attending the AOPA fly in in Frederick, MD on June 6. Stop by to see us if you are going.

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