Our flight to Block Island RI

After hearing about Bolck Island from my flying buddy’s for the longest time I decided to check it out; so on Thursday 9/18/2008 we flew our Cessna 172N N3054E to Block Island Rhode Island.

A little about Block Island: (Block Island Tourism Council)

Block Island has long been a haven for residents and visitors who have found here a quality of life that recalls the pleasures of a life that is simpler, slower, and somehow, more carefree. It’s no wonder that the Nature Conservancy has designated Block Island “One of the 12 last great places in the Western Hemisphere.”

About the flight:

I am working on my IFR rating so I used victor airways; also, it kept me away from LGA (LaGuardia). The winds were out of the north so I didn’t want to get in the way of their departing traffic; besides after figuring in the winds, the total route time difference was only around 5 minutes each way.

Our route of flight:
KMMU –> FALLZ Intersection –> V3 –> Carmel VOR –> V347 –> CREAM intersection –> V34 –> KBID.
I used the Garmin 430 in flight plan mode; it is like driving a car with GPS. Combine that with flight following from our friends at New York Approach and it worked out pretty well. As you might have already heard, Block Island airport will test your crosswind landing skills. When I landed we had a 20knot crosswind at almost 90 degrees to the runway.

I filed VFR flight plans both ways (believe it or not I had never filed a flight plan before) no problem except I forgot to close my flight plan after returning to Morristown. I called flight service to make sure they weren’t looking for me; the briefer told me that they called the tower at Morristown to confirm that we made it back ok.

A video I made form photos and videos of our trip.

Tom at the KBID FBO (fixed base operator) was very helpful but remember to bring your own tie downs and Block Island does not have fuel. The landing fee at Block Island is $10.00, not bad considering that they do not benefit from fuel revenue. The walk into town is only a mile (if you go the right way). We sure didn’t, we ended up walking all the way to the north end of town before some locals helped us out. Good thing my navigation in the air was better than is was on the ground.

Once in town we grabbed lunch and rented motor scooters to buzz around the island ($65.00 per scooter for 2 hours but well worth it if you ask me). We got to buzz around the island in just a few hours. Lots of fun!

The total flight time TAC 2.9 including my time trying to figure out the GPS flight plan feature without the manual (missing from the plane). Besides the poor crosswind technique that I used during the landing at Block Island; the trip was a great success and I made up for the not so graceful landing at Block Island with a real greaser at Morristown.