Shakedown Cruise to Connecticut

I decided to try again on the trip to visit my brother,Mike, in Connecticut today. The conditions were marginal here, but sunny and clear up there. The briefer told me I'd be fine if I stayed below 3,000 feet until New York so I decided to give it a go.

This is a 5 hour drive and I had it flight planned for exactly a one hour flight. I'm excited to see how this works. Nancy and the kids dropped me off and took pictures of the departure.

Here I go off to the departure end of 11 at Chester County.

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Nancy used the telephoto and got some nice shots of the departure. Wheels up at 11:30.

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Crossing the Hudson River and staying just outside the New York airspace. Cruising at 5,500 feet at 190 knots indicated.

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On the ground at 4B8, Robertson Airport, at 12:30 - exactly one hour stop to stop. Very cool!

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Robertson is a nice airport - very New England.

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It is really striking what a change one hour in a Velocity can make. There are still piles of snow up here!

Flying from cold Pennsylvania to the Bahamas next week is really going to be strange.

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Mike picks me up in a really sweet (borrowed) ride and we head back to his house for a visit with his family. This really beats 5 hours in traffic.

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The whole area around Canton is like one big New England post card. Spring hasn't really sprung here yet though.

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After a few hours, Mike gives me a ride back to the airport for a 4:30 departure and walks out to check out the plane.

I ask my wife to pick me up at the airport at 5:30. Here goes.

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Here is the view as I head South. The visibility is poor and the ride is very bumpy.

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Well, after tightening my belt as tight as I can and bracing my left hand on the overhead, I've still banged my head into the ceiling three times. I pull back the power a bit and continue at 180 knots.

As the ceiling comes down, I call the ATIS at Chester County. No wonder, the ceiling is reported at 2,600 with haze. I descend further and approach in bumps at 150 knots at 2,000 feet, then see the airport. I can see my wife's car in the lot below-better make this a decent landing.
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Touchdown at Chester county at 5:33. Only a few minutes slower on the way home.
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A couple nice shots of the plane taxiing in. These are worth clicking on for a good look at the new paint.

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A quick wave to the kids as I pass the terminal, then time to put the plane away. It was a nice trip. Two or three hundred mile daytrips are now routine. Wow.

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