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. 

Early Season Flight

The field still felt a little too soft to drive on so I parked by the main hangar and walked down to mine. The air temperature was just below freezing with a 10-15 kt NW breeze. 

This was my first opportunity to fly since mid January. I've been watching the 10 day forecast for over a month now and always it predicts a sunny, above freezing stretch sometime in the following week. As the following week arrives, the good weather moves to the next week. 

Today was nice. The rest of the week is forecast to be cloudy with snow showers. But "next week", good weather....

I thought the line of snow/grass so perfectly aligned with the shade of the hangar was interesting.

Looking south towards Otisco and Skaneateles lakes.

The village of Skaneateles as I pass over a snow shower with the snowflakes below reflecting the sun.

Climbing through this large break in the clouds for a look to the west across the town and northern end of Skaneateles Lake.

Descending and looking south at Otisco Lake, still frozen.

Marcellus Airport in the foreground. Syracuse, Onondaga Lake and in the distance Oneida Lake

A short break from winter...

As I ended the 2012 season I hadn't expected to get in the air again for several months. 

Our little airport is no longer plowed and my hangar opens to the south. With lake effect snows carried on NW winds, the front of my hangar gets quite a bit of drifted snow. Adding to this what collected on that side of the roof then slid off into a dense pile, I started off winter with 4-5 feet piled up. 

Even with enough of a thaw to clear the runways I expected it would be too much work to clear space for the doors to swing open and roll the plane out. I was comfortable with taking a break over winter. This is something that I've been doing for the past 15 years flying gliders with a season that runs from late April through mid November. The winter is a good time to catch up on other things and save money for flying season.

On a vist to the airport this afternoon to plan out some pre-season work on the plane, I found that the pile of snow blocking my doors was down to about a foot tall. With only a little shoveling I was able to roll the Challenger out. 

The engine started easily and with light winds out of the SW I headed off for a short ride. The runway was firm and in good shape with only a trace of snow in spots. 

The air was smooth but a little hazy below 3,000'. There were low clouds to the south and east. 

I initially headed west into the sun and a 25 kt headwind. My Challenger climbed strongly in the 30 degree air at 50 mph indicated. 

Clouds over the Finger Lakes to the south added to an already beautiful view. To the left is Otisco Lake which is the furthest east of the 11 glacial formed lakes. To the right is a section of Skaneateles Lake.

Looking east with Onondaga Lake and the city of Syracuse. Beyond that and under the clouds is Oneida Lake.

Looking west across the Finger Lakes. Skaneateles, Owasco, Cayuga, Seneca lakes reflecting the late afternoon sun.

 Marcellus Airport during a welcome January thaw.

I flew for about 25 minutes today. This was a nice treat for me as I hadn't expected to fly for another month or more. 

Winter is returning as I write this. A cold airmass is flowing across NY will be dropping daytime temperatures into the teens and single digits at night. This cold air blowing across the much warmer and ice free Lake Ontario will start up our "lake effect". Hopefully we won't get too much snow out of this!

Challenger Take-off Video

Recently I few over to Airlane Airport (1H1) near Clay, NY. Airlane on Skyvector.com
It is privately owned, but open to the public.

In the past I had eyed this airport and made a few passes, however the field looked a little soft so I never landed in my Cessna 150. It has been a relatively dry fall so I decided to check it out in the Challenger.

Circling I could see that the northern 2/3 of Rwy 01/19 looked a little wet so I decided to use 01 and hopefully stop short of the soft sections.

Airlane

Crossing the road and slipping over the power lines I was well into the flair as the ground dropped away faster than my Challenger descended. As the runway leveled out I was able to touch down and and get on the brakes stopping with about 100 feet of good dry grass remaining. While 100 feet may not seem like much, a Challenger approaching at 45 mph and touching down in the low 30's with a 200' ground roll, 100 feet is a 50% margin. 

The owner Ray Florczyk II came out to greet me. A very friendly and chatty guy, he is happy to share his peaceful airport with visiting pilots. He cautioned me to overfly the runway after a period of rain before landing. As with a lot of these small airports we need to use some common sense and accept responsibility for our decisions and the risks.

My Challenger II at Airlane

I thanked Ray and said I would be back in the spring to take him for a ride in the Challenger and also get some pictures of him flying his Aeronca Champ.

That evening I received an email from him with a link to a video of my take-off. I edited it in iMovie and this morning posted it to YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxboPlyfuPI

Afternoon Flight to Williamson-Sodus

Election day. After a cup of tea and visit to the polling station, I head over to Marcellus Airport for some flying. At first I wasn't sure where I wanted to go but decided on Williamson-Sodus. It would be after 3:00 by the time I was in the air and last weekend we set the clocks back. Dark comes surprisingly early now.

Williamson-Sodus was only 36 miles to the NW and there should be plenty of time for this flight.

Climbing out I started to level at 4,500', but by the time I had fine tuned the trim and throttle I had drifted up to 5,000' in this eager to climb ship. Cruising along at 5,000 rpm and low 60's mph, it quite cool in the plane and I was really happy I didn't give in to my desire to take the doors off for photography. While not bad in the afternoon sun and calm winds on the ground at 40 degrees, at altitude it was likely in the low 20's!

The atmosphere was quite hazy below me, but the air was very smooth. I relaxed and simply enjoyed the view along the way.

West of Weedsport, NY the sun reflects off the Barge Canal

Ten minutes out for Williamson-Sodus I began my descent. This worked out great as just ahead there was an increasing cover of clouds at about 4,000'.

Descending through cloud height

Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario

I wanted to do some photography along the shoreline but decided to wait until after a short stop. I would stay lower after departure and fly east along the lakeshore. Besides, I had my descent roughly timed to put me at the 500' pattern altitude that seems to work best in slow aircraft like this.

Turning final for rwy 10

It was about 4:00 when I landed. As you can see from the shadows a few moments earlier while on final, the sun was already quite low. A quick visit to the office and a shot of my plane which is already taking on the flattering, but in this case uncomfortable glow of sunset, I am back in the air.

After a circle of the airport for a photo it is obvious there isn't going to be time to fly along the lake. As I turn on course with an indicated airspeed of 62 mph (55kts) see my ground speed is only 48 kts! Yes, that's only a 7 kt headwind but seeing such a slow speed is unsettling. Normally I'm quite happy to sit and watch the Earth slowly move below. One of my favorite sayings is "The sky is where I want to be and when I arrive at my destination the fun is over".

The sun is now quite low in the sky. My Garmin Pilot app indicates about 45 minutes to Marcellus. That would be after 5:00. When does it get dark? Yesterday it was about 5:20 and it was dark, but it was cloudy too.

I up the rpm to 5,500 and get near 70 (mph) There is always an opportunity to land at Weedsport. That is only about 9 minutes from my destination so if I make it that far then only if it is almost pitch black would it make sense to stop there.

I watch shadows grow, valleys fade into shadow and finally the glacial drumlin hills are no longer in the sunlight. 

Cross Lake and the Belt of Venus rising in the sky.

Final glide into the pattern at Marcellus. Car lights along Rt 5 and the city of Syracuse in the distance

I can now see I will make my destination. There won't be much time to spare but there will be plenty of light to see. I turn on my strobes and lower the nose.