Mid-winter flight to Lake Ontario

A beautiful mid-winter day. After an unseasonably cold first half of the winter, things have moderated  quite a bit. Our snow melted with heavy rain and 60+ degree weather a couple weeks back and since then there hasn't been too much on the ground. So, with a bit of a thaw we are able to fly!

Originally I was planning to fly to Watertown, NY to check out the ice on Lake Ontario, but as I approached the lake skies were hazy to the north along the eastern shore. Not very good for photography. Also, I discovered the ice was gone! So instead of going north along the lake, I flew west to Fair Haven then south to Skaneateles where I made a fuel stop.

 Phoenix, NY

Nine Mile Point on Lake Ontario

Oswego, NY

Sterling Creek to Fair Haven

Fair Haven

Weedsport

Ice Fisherman on the north end of Otisco Lake

East Hill School and ski hill in Camillus

Lake Ontario and ADS-B "in" with Raspberry Pi

Finally, an opportunity to try out my $100 ADS-B set-up in the air.

I'm using a Raspberry Pi and USB radio receiver to WiFi data to ForeFlight on my iPad. Though I have been able to see traffic while on the ground, weather can only be picked up once in the air.

I'm not sure how high I was when the signal was first received but leaving the pattern at 800' my screen indicated "1 tower". Even though most of the flight was below 3,000 there was always a signal from between 1 and 3 towers.

Originally, the plan was to fly north along the shore of Lake Ontario to the mouth of the St. Lawrence near Cape Vincent and photograph lighthouses and ice. But, skies remained overcast and hazy with the forecasted clearing today not arriving until after I had landed and put the plane away.

In spite of the clouds and haze, flying up to Ontario was worth it. Along the way I played a bit with the weather and traffic displayed on my tablet, and on Lake Ontario there were some interesting patterns in the ice.

My first look at traffic as I headed to the western corner of Oneida Lake. Here two aircraft are displayed to the east of Syracuse Hancock. One 200 feet above my altitude and another 2,100 feet above.

Zooming out a little later in the flight shows aircraft over Rochester and Utica. Touching an aircrafts' icon opens up a box with more information. Though most of the time I had airports displaying ceiling information, here airport temperatures are being displayed.

For now my unit is only receiving from aircraft transmitting on 978 MHz. Later this week I'll complete the picture and add a second receiver that will bring in 1090 MHz on which most airliners broadcast their information.

Oneida Lake with ice as far as I could see into the haze

A meandering creek near Port Ontario

Port Ontario and dark tannin water flowing into Ontario

Nine Mile Point power station

Ice drawn away from the shoreline by the south winds.

I couldn't get over the size of this repeating pattern made by eddies as ice carried by winds and current moved out into the lake from west of Oswego

Oswego

On the way back I found that tapping on an airport brings up its complete weather information

Onondaga Lake ( for my fellow Yacht Club members )

Marcellus airport and the town beyond.

Mike Murphy (who also belongs to OYC) departing in his Piper Tri-Pacer

Williamson-Sodus and Oswego

It is late April and the first Sunday fly-in pancake breakfast is still weeks away. Looking for somewhere interesting to fly with my father I decide to head northwest to Williamson-Sodus, an active airport about 25 miles east of Rochester, NY along the shore of Lake Ontario. From there we could follow the shoreline east to Oswego before turning back south toward home.

Even with sunny skies, a northwest flow of Canadian air is keeping mid-day temperatures from rising past the upper 40s. This cool breeze also brought some bumps with good thermal activity south of the lake and a bit of a headwind to keep our groundspeed down on the outbound leg.

Apple's most recent update to iOS for my iPad carried with it a bug that prevents navigational software such as Garmin Pilot (which I use), Foreflight and others from using the GPS information from external sources. Since my new iPad mini 2 does not have a built-in GPS I have had to use my Android phone that contains a GPS and can also communicate with my Dual XGPS150. The plus side to this is that my phone stayed charged, I could see my panel around the smaller phone and weather radar and winds were visible on the map screen of Garmin Pilot through my data plan.

Garmin Pilot on a Samsung S4. Viewing the Navigation page. 

 One of the great things about flying along at only a couple thousand feet are all the interesting things that you come across. Look close, better yet, click on the image for a larger size.

From a distance the lake seemed to have a foggy look to it, as I got closer I realized it was a reflection of the cloud layer above rather than some low level atmospheric condition over the water. Departing Williamson a little later I found the atmosphere was clear enough to see the Canadian coastline across the lake.

As we returned to the plane after a cup of coffee, a gentleman pulled up in his car with a big smile and saying he has a 1964 Cessna 150. Ours is a '65. Both have 360 windows and a straight tail (the way God intended a 150 tail to be...) 

We talked about our planes and he took our picture.

Williamson-Sodus (SDC)

Chimney Bluffs just a few miles to the east.

Living on the edge!

Fair Haven Bay and the State Park on the left 

Looking east over Oswego

Fulton

Me and my Dad 

(And yes, I am aware I need to work on a better face for the camera!)

2013 Rose Fly-in - EAA Chapter 1017

For almost 20 years Chapter 1017 has had a fly-in at Rose airport about 5 miles south of Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario.

It is a relatively small event attended by club members and a few visitors who fly in and camp for the weekend. I didn't camp but flew up from Marcellus on each of the three days during the event. Not that I need an excuse, but it is a great excuse for some flying.

The atmosphere is perfect for a relaxing visit with other club members and meeting with visitors. There is a camping area under a grove of trees with plenty of room for RVs or tents. Water and bathroom facilities are available on-site as well as picnic tables under a tent for visiting or eating. Breakfast, lunch and dinners are prepared on request and priced very reasonably.

After months of rain, the weather pattern changed leading up to the event giving us pretty good conditions right through the weekend. Winds were fairly light and high clouds Friday and Saturday limited the sun's heating making afternoon temperatures tolerable and cutting off thermals for very smooth flying.

(Click on images for full resolution)

The town of Rose with the airport in the background Friday afternoon.

Shortly after my arrival, Gerd, Bill and Guy arrived. This was Guy's first X/C in a Challenger and as you can see he is pretty happy.

Four Challengers in a row! 

We are fortunate as there are 5 Challengers based at Marcellus

Charlie Tyler checking out my re-drive.

Murphy Rebel

Another nice way to cool off...

Saturday's Flight

On the way to Rose I made a brief diversion to circle over the site of a wedding later in the afternoon on the shore of Otisco Lake. My partner in a Cessna is also the Town Justice of Marietta and she was performing the ceremony

Michael, who is also a Challenger owner came along for the ride. Skaneateles Lake is in the background

A group of kayakers on the Seneca River near Howland Island Wildlife Area

A nice turnout as we arrive on Saturday afternoon

Camping out of an Aeronca Champ

Downloading navigational software

Time for stories and jokes along the flight line...

Campground panorama

Sharon has spotted someone...

Dinner time. 

Here our chef is preparing a couple "Charlie Tyler Double Trouble Burgers"

Demonstrating XWing Pro

Flying home. Smooth as glass!

Sunday

Youngster getting a ride in a trike.

CGS Hawk flying north.

On the way out I took the long way back and flew north for a bit along Sodus Bay and over Chimney Bluffs State Park before turning southeast and continuing my climb into much cooler air above the clouds.

Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario

Chimney Bluffs State Park

Cool and smooth above the clouds for the ride back.

A very nice weekend. Thank you to all the members of EAA 1017 for all your hard work making this annual even happen!