An Unplanned Adventure

This past weekend turned out to be a blast, yet nothing that happened had been planned.  My original plan was to drive up to my father's house in the Catskills to visit with him and my sister Carole who is in America for the month of August from her home in England.  I took a suit with me as I planned to drive my father down to Summit, NJ on Saturday to attend a funeral and then drive him back up the Catskills the same day.

Well, my father wanted none of my assistance.  Even though driving is a struggle for him, and a round trip drive to Summit and back with a funeral in between would make for a very long day, he insisted on doing it himself.  He fears that if he starts giving in to offers of driving assistance, he will quickly lose his mobility entirely.  He left Saturday around 11am and Carole and I just crossed our fingers that everything would turn out OK.  She and I decided to run to town to get the fixings for a gourmet dinner -- swordfish steaks, fresh corn-on-the cob and Russet potatoes.  We got back to the house around 2pm and the afternoon was spent reading and reminiscing about our childhood.

As we were beginning to get dinner started, I received a phone call from my partner telling me he was done with the airplane for the weekend.  Due to unfortunate timing during her previous visits, Carole had never gotten a chance to fly with me.  I asked if she would be interested in taking a flight the next day and she jumped at the chance.  We decided to eat and then drive down to my house in Bedford that evening, take a trip in the morning on Sunday and then I would drop her back off in the Catskills in the afternoon.  Our meal was fantastic and we hit the road about 7:30pm.

The sun was low in the sky as we left, but it was still quite warm.  I had the top down on the M3 as it was a beautiful summer evening for a drive.  The road along the Delaware River from Barryville to Port Jervis is a two-lane winding affair that is wonderful at highlighting the superior handling of the BMW M3.  Since we were not in a hurry, I decided to avoid highways as much as possible and take the scenic route home. After a brief ride on 84 East and 17 East, we took the Bear Mountain Parkway to the Bear Mountain Bridge and then route 202 and route 35.  Traffic was light and we made it home in about 2 hours.

Kelsey and Dave Flynn at Sand Bar & Grill

My daughter Kelsey and her boyfriend were there when we got home and the four of us decided that a day trip to Martha's Vineyard was in order.  We left the airport around 11am and arrived at MVY around noon.  The flight was made in "severe clear" conditions with unlimited visibility.  I think Carole truly enjoyed the ride.  We took the public bus to Oak Bluffs (only $2) and had lunch at the Sand Bar & Grill. We toured the streets and shops and got ice cream at the Carousel Ice Cream shop where a "child size" cone is two large scoops -- I can't imagine what the "large" must be.  It was time to head back to the airport for our trip to Sullivan County Airport (MSV) to drop off Carole. My father and about 25 locals met us at the airport.  The locals were a Hasidic group that come up to the Catskills from the city on weekends and enjoy bringing the children to the airport to watch planes. They get very excited about arrivals and they made us feel like we were important!  Very funny.

We arrived back at White Plains airport around 6pm and headed immediately to a neighbors barbecue for some of the best pulled pork and spare ribs I've had in ages.  It was the perfect end to a fantastic weekend!  And totally different than I'd thought on Friday -- perhaps that added to my enjoyment.

Oshkosh 2010

For the second time in two years, I went to EAA's Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  It was fantastic!! Airventure is the largest gathering of airplanes and pilots in the world.  It is always the last week of July and since 1974 has been held at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, WI. What makes the experience so special for me, other than seeing every type of airplane in the world and seeing every vendor of pilot supplies and seeing every big-time airshow performer, is the people.  Everyone at Airventure "gets it."  It is the only place where I don't feel like I have to explain why I fly small planes; where everyone stops talking and looks up when they hear an aircraft engine; where the entire population (this year estimated at 535,000) is just as crazy as I am about general aviation.  It's my Mecca.

Last year, I camped with my aircraft in the "North 40" at Wittman Field.  This year, a group of Socata owners got together to rent 2 adjacent houses in a nearby neighborhood.  Having a private home instead of a tent as my base of operations made this year much more pleasant. As readers of the blog know, the Socata Owners Forum is a very active web site with members from all over the world.  Well this year at Oshkosh, I got to meet many more of them from around the globe.  Five of our Australian owners came as a group and three members from the United Kingdom came as well.

The Aussie's are a raucous bunch -- both on the web site and in person.  They love to laugh and are quick to start ribbing each other or anyone else they encounter.  Much alcohol was consumed, many stories were told and all the friendships were strengthened. One Brit came by flying commercial to Washington, DC and then joining a DC member in his TB-21 for the flight to Oshkosh, but the other two Brits had an extraordinary adventure getting to Airventure.  These two flew their TB-20 from Nottingham, England to Oshkosh, WI via Scotland, Iceland, Greenland and Canada without any ferry tanks!! That's 5+ hour legs over the open Atlantic Ocean!! What a tremendous testament to their piloting skills and to the capability of the Socata TB-20 aircraft. You can read about the entire trip at www.nottinghamtooshkosh.com

My own trip to Oshkosh was not nearly as adventuresome but was still a thrill for me.  I left White Plains airport around 8am on Tuesday, July 27th with my friend and fellow pilot Rick Felty. Our flight plan took us northwest across New York to Dunkirk and then directly across Lake Erie into Canada.  We proceeded across Canada, flying over the southern tip of Lake Huron and then into eastern Michigan where we landed in Marlette.  The trip to Marlette took 3:20 were we got some fuel and some lunch.  We then took off heading due west over Michigan towards Ludington and crossed Lake Michigan at 8,000 feet into Wisconsin.  Our arrival into Oshkosh was made in marginal VFR conditions so since we were on an instrument flight plan, we were able to proceed directly to the airport and land.  Rick is a professional videographer and photographer and had all his equipment with him.  Below are two links:  The first is Rick's pictures from the week and the second is a video of our arrival into OSH.  He used three separate HD cameras and an audio recorder to capture the arrival and then edited the material all together into an extremely professional video.  I hope you enjoy watching as much as we did being there!

http://rickfelty.squarespace.com/oshkosh-2010-pics/oshkosh-2010/

http://bit.ly/9SX9hP