Flight to Cortland and Hamilton

I flew the Cessna down to Cortland in the morning. There were a few things I wanted to bring to my son David and I also wanted to see for myself the body work he has been doing on his BMW. He is only a mile and a half from the airport so although a car was offered for me to use, I really felt like walking. It was already getting warm, but it turned out to be an easy 30 minute walk.

Cortland Airport (N03)

Leaving Cortland I was feeling a little warm, so with the window open I climbed in a 800 fpm thermal then made a cruise climb to 6,000' putting me over most of the clouds. Here the air was smooth and cool for the ride over to Hamilton.

It was great to visit with everyone and to see all the gliders being flown.

As always if anyone wants the full resolution of any of these images just let me know and I'll send them to you.

Visit with Iroquois Soaring at Hamilton

This was my first cross-country flight of the year. It was a beautiful warm day and perfect for a flight with the doors off to make a visit with my friends at Iroquois Soaring in Hamilton.

The club has been much more active in recent seasons with new members adding to the enthusiasm of the already great bunch that have been with the club for years.

Though it seemed there would be plenty of fuel for the flight and maybe a couple rides with friends I was visiting, I didn't want to fly the last leg staring at the fuel quantity on the panel display. So it was either bring 2-stroke oil and buy aviation fuel at close to $7.00 /gal at Hamilton, bring the 5 gallon gas can and walk to the gas station just off the airport property or, bring a my own non-ethanol fuel along for the flight. I chose to bring my own.

With 10 gallons in the airplane tank and 3 in my 5 gallon can securely belted into the rear seat I climbed to 3,000' and headed southeast to round the Syracuse Class C airspace before turning a little more easterly towards Hamilton.

Settling in to a leisurely 50 kt cruise at 4,700 rpm I relaxed and enjoyed the above normal temperatures that allowed me to remove the doors for clear view of Central New York below.

Crossing RT81 just north of Lafayette looking south

Once my wheels leave the ground, I am already where I want to be. I'm not in any hurry to arrive at my destination, however I needed to remind myself of that after seeing that my ground speed was only 41 knots due to a 10 kt SE wind at 3,000'. This meant almost an hour for the leg to Hamilton. Almost as long as by car, but way more fun.

Cruising along I  divide my time between watching the earth move slowly below, watching for other traffic and picking fields in the event of an engine failure. We are so fortunate here in CNY. From a reasonable cruising altitude there are many to choose from. So many, that I always say you could close your eyes and the odds are pretty good you will end up in a farmers field.

Airports of course would be the preferred place to glide into and there are quite a few around. Unfortunately many are not on the sectional.

This one just SW of Cazenovia

 Just NW of Hamilton

I arrive at Hamilton and time my entrance into the pattern to fit with traffic already there. I fly a pattern 500' above the field instead of usual 800-1,000' and much closer in. This keeps me out of the way of the faster aircraft, makes fitting in with fast moving planes easier, and places me along their line of sight as they look towards the runway on downwind.

Approaching Hamilton from the west

Looks like Phil walking the wing of ISAs 2-33

Arriving at Hamilton I found Phil working on his SHK, a beautiful wooden 17 (?) meter sailplane that is almost ready to fly. After visiting and catching up we took a short ride in the Challenger with Phil up front to get a feel for how my plane flies.

It does fly a little different from a Cessna. With its ailerons stretching the entire length of the wing they generate a lot of adverse yaw. Turns are made leading with the rudder. Try rolling in with just aileron and the plane will bank, but the drag of that large aileron hanging down into the wind will pull the wing back causing the plane to make a slipping turn.

After our flight I spent a little time watching the glider operations. Brett was towing, Greg running ground operations and Andrew giving rides in the 2-33.

Andrew gave his passenger a thorough briefing on how things work and what to expect on the flight. Greg helped get the passenger belted in.

Andrew piloting from the rear. The front seat, where both students and rides sit has a few that is...breathtaking!

Brett towing in 18L with Andrew and a ride in the 2-33. Greg running wing.

I had to include this shot. The smiles everyone wears says it all.

Turning base to final for the grass along RWY 17.

Soaring was good this afternoon, as I expected from my up and down ride over to Hamilton. I think I overheard Andrew say that after release they climbed in lift to 5,000'.

I miss flying with ISA. Someday when my schedule and time permits I will be back flying with the club.

Time to head out. I add fuel from the 3 gallons brought over with me it's off to Airlane Enterprise (1H1)  

The flight over was beautiful with great visibility I could see into the Adirondack Mountains with its peaks jutting up into the blue sky as well as Frenchman and Dunham Islands on Oneida that is just north of my turn-point.

Approaching Syracuse airspace I had to descend from my comfortable cruise of 3,000 to 1,600' to remain under the Class C airspace. Now I am only about 1,000 above ground and constantly keeping track of the land-able fields below. For the most part of this leg there was always somewhere to glide into. However, one stretch near the west end of Oneida wasn't so generous. But the engine was running smooth and temps were in the normal range. It was only a few minutes, but as always it seemed like forever.

Soon Airlane came into sight and I circled for a picture before landing to the east on the E-W runway. Ray, the owner, came driving out on his ATV as I turned to taxi up the N-S runway towards the hangar to warn me of an area ahead that was still quite soft. I just parked right where I was knowing nobody would be landing on that runway.

After a visit with Ray I headed back out under the Class C on a line just north of Onondaga Lake, over Camillus Airport to Marcellus. With a slight diversion to fly over my Camillus home, where I spotted my wife working in the garden.

Another great little adventure in my Challenger II. I flew for 2.9 hours and burned 6.9 gallons for a GPH of 2.38. 

Flight to Lake Placid, NY

For the past couple weeks I've been waiting for a opportunity to visit with a Canadian soaring clubs' Wave Camp in Lake Placid. Jeff in VA, Phil in Hamilton, NY and I were all trying to coordinate trips so we could spend some time together there.

After a dry and hot summer, this fall has been cool and moist. As weekends approached weather would move in late in the week making it difficult for Jeff to fly up and also giving doubt to the soaring conditions during the weekend.

This weekend with showers Friday morning and forecast again by late Saturday, Phil asked if I would be interested in riding up with him. Phil has a beautiful and meticulously maintained Cessna 140 with 100 hp. It climbs about 2-1/2 times as fast as my '65 Cessna 150 and cruises much faster than my Challenger II, and well suited to flight in the High Peaks.

I could drive over to Hamilton. It is about 1:10 from my home in Camillus. Or I could fly fly over. Driving to the airport, getting the plane ready and the flight over at ~65 would only take an hour and thirty total. So flying is the obvious choice!

Leaving work the night before early with a couple hours of vacation allowed me to get about 5 hours sleep and wake at 8:30. However, half asleep as I climbed into bed I set my alarm for 8:30 PM rather than AM. Luckily, I woke just before 9, grabbed my stuff and headed out. I discovered that Saturday morning at 9:10 is not the time to want coffee from Duncan Dounuts. Passing it, there was a double line of cars backed up to the road. Fortunately, just across the street there is a MickeyD. I really need my caffeine fix in the morning. Trying to call Phil I realized his cell number wasn't in my phone.

The Challenger was checked and readied the day before so within a short time I was climbing in the 30 degree air heading southeast to round the Syracuse airspace before turning east.

Looking SW across Otisco and Skaneateles Lakes

Skies were blue and the air crystal clear with visibility at least 100 miles. Winds aloft were out of the south and I needed a noticeable correction with my 62 mph cruising speed at 3,500'.

At 37 miles this was going to be my longest flight yet in my new Challenger. Previous flights had all been within about 10 miles as I sorted through a few minor issues with this 'new to me' plane. In level flight through smooth air I was finally able to relax and simply enjoy the great view out the challengers' huge clear doors.

So many interesting things to see along the way!

Approaching Hamilton (VGC) I kept my eyes scanning the sky. Not only was it the weekend and a beautiful day but it was also "Homecoming" weekend at Colgate University and that means jets and turboprops at an otherwise quiet airport. The only aircraft other than a couple Cessnas in the pattern was a Aircoupe that overtook and passed me a few miles out like I was standing still.

At Hamilton, Phil had offered me use of his hangar to keep the Challenger safe while we were gone. After some help squeezing its big, fat and not too high wings over his car, we loaded up and headed northeast over Utica towards the hills.

Once you leave the Mohawk Valley the land rises up and becomes almost solid forest and lakes for the next 90 miles. There are very few options for landing, unless you have floats. For this reason I decided that if I were to fly the Challenger to Placid, and I will someday, the best route would be a longer route around the Adirondack Park. From Syracuse I would fly north to Watertown, then turn northeast to Gouverneur and Potsdam before turning southeast at high altitude. Something like that would add about 50 minutes to the flight but would keep me over mostly farmland for all but 40 miles.

Blue Mountain with the High Peaks ahead on the left.

Blue Mountain is a nice day hike. It does get a little steep towards the top but the reward is a fire tower on the summit that gives a great view for many miles around. It isn't a long hike and can easily be done in an afternoon. Blue Mountain trail map

Looking northeast along the route towards the High Peaks. Whiteface Mountain is in the distance center left. 

From a distance it appeared that the peaks had cap clouds. As we approached we could see it was snow! Only four weeks before I was camping and hiking here in pleasant Fall weather.

Algonquin is about a quarter of the way in from the left. Giant in the center back. Marcy, the highest point in NY on the extreme right side.

Crossing the mountains and descending into Lake Placid with Whiteface in the background.

Olympic ski jumps from final

On final. Note the displaced threshold. This is needed as the approach to runway 32 is right over  significantly higher terrain. After what seemed like skimming the treetops on base leg, we looked high on final. However Phil was right on the money, touching down shortly after the threshold.

Once on the ground Phil topped off the tanks and after a quick visit to the FBO office we walked along the taxiway, then next to the runway to the approach end of the runway where the glider operation was based.

We visited with our neighbors to the north for a while and shared a few stories. 

Cessna Bird Dog towplane

Duo Discus on take off roll

After watching a few landings and departures it was time to head back to the 140 for the flight home.

We did find some lift approaching the hills...

 Phil, one of the best pilots around.

Early in the day it seemed there was so much time. As we departed there was already cirrus moving in from the west ahead of an approaching warm front. Thickening as we headed southwest into alto-cumulus the cloudcover made for a beautiful sky and also softened the sun in our eyes.

Back in the lowlands. Griffiss Airport, the Barge Canal and Oneida Lake. We thought the reduced visibility below the clouds in the distance was haze. As I discovered returning to Marcellus, it was drizzle.

Phil's Cessna 140 and my Challenger II

Flying home I ran into a some drizzle. Not enough to wash the plane, but enough to realize that rain comes in the hinge on the windshield. Some gap seal tape should take care of that.

Back home and tucked away in the hangar. 

Ready for the warm sunny weather forecast later in the week.

Thanks Phil for inviting me along to share this with you!