Archive for the ‘VFR Flights’ Category

Yet another of my NYC skyline flights in the NY class bravo. This time we brought the camera with us using a new camera mount. I am not happy with the footage (too much vibration) but it’s still worth watching.

I did my best to capture all of the communications (even the parts that make me twitch) like not reading back my class bravo clearance. Read the rest of this entry »

Not a perfect flight but still worth watching and learning from. Shows what happens when you are used to flying out of fields with 4000 + long runways. It didn’t help that 20 + members of the flying club were watching from the picnic area to the east of the runway. Read the rest of this entry »

Back in September of 2009 I “followed” a fellow pilot and aviation blogger on Twitter not really thinking much of it. Soon after, Todd from www.myflightblog.com responded with a message that his wife’s family lived near my airport and was wondering if I would like to go flying someday. As with just about any pilot, I agreed.

Fast forward to November of 2010. Todd sent me another message, he mentioned that he would be in the area visiting family and was wondering if we could go flying. Read the rest of this entry »

On Monday 6/7 my friend and fellow flying club member Stephen asked if I would like to fly to Hamilton NY for dinner on Friday night. As I am always looking for a chance to fly under the hood and check out new places I agreed.

The original plan was to leave work and head directly to the airport but since I left my camera and change of clothes at home I stopped by the house on the way. As soon as I got in I saw my son. I was hoping to avoid running into him since he always makes me feel bad about flying without him. What can I say, he loves spending time with his daddy and his daddy loves spending time with him. Sure enough, after checking with Stephen to make sure it would be ok to take my son I quickly got him ready and ran to the car just in time for rush hour traffic!

On our way to the airport I called Stephen and asked him to get the airplane ready. I wanted to fly IFR on the first leg since there was an overcast layer at about 4000 feet. As I pulled into the airport Stephen informed me that he was still waiting on fuel and on top of that my overcast layer was quickly breaking up. Read the rest of this entry »

(UPDATE 5/15/2010) During the days leading up to this trip I had been working on my planned flight to London Ontario Canada for the Diamond Aircraft Factory tour with the Republic Flyers. I had even canceled this flight at one point so I could stay an additional day in Toronto.  Unfortunately due to a strong low to our north witch was bringing with it 40+ knot headwinds, low IFR conditions and embedded thunderstorms I had to scrap that flight (see flight to Canada not to be for more information).

The night before, a cold front came through which cleared the air of the thunderstorms but also brought with it stronger surface winds. As the flight neared it became obvious that I would have to contend with some wicked winds at least during our return trip, so the day before I called Ed and asked his comfort level with flying with his niece on a windy day. He assured me that she was a veteran flyer and bumps have never been an issue. I also knew that my son responds well to bumpy air (he falls asleep) hopefully he breaks this little habit before becoming a pilot himself.

Read the rest of this entry »

My Son Steven and I have now logged about 6 flights and I figured it was time to do a bit of writing on the subject. From about the time my son became old enough to hold a toy airplane he has been fascinated with flying. Sometimes I think he is more interested in airplanes than I am. I just hope his interest doesn’t wane as flying becomes more and more “routine” for him. My wife on the other hand has never really caught the flying bug. There was a time when she “unenthusiastically” flew with me almost every weekend but at that time I was a new pilot and her dislike for small planes was confirmed on more than a few bumpy summer afternoons Read the rest of this entry »

My first flight in a Helicopter.

While attending EAA AirVenture 2009 I decided to check out the Bell 47G helicopters flying above our camp site every day. So I headed over to the EAA museum. Paid the $40.00 and waited my turn for the flight.

As I was waiting I thought to myself… No one knows that I am taking this flight. I hope we don’t crash! Just then I ran into my friend Dwight.. Read the rest of this entry »

My flying club 150th aero flying club had our annual picnic at Andover Aeroflex airport 12N on Saturday 6/12/2009. The weather was bad over most of the state so flying our planes up to the airport was out of the question, but I did get the chance to take some shots of the Piper Cubs making their trips around the pattern using my new Cannon HF s10. If you live in the area and would like to check them out follow this link to the Andover Flight Academy. Read the rest of this entry »

I haven’t flown an airplane since being laid off from my job of 9 years in early May. So I finally decided to get back up in the air. Maybe flying would dispel my “I don’t have a job” funk.

The plan was to depart from Morristown KMMU and make the short trip to Alexandra Field N85 for some landings and then play it by ear. The weather in the northeast has been a bit unsettled to say the least, so when I woke up Sunday morning to rain I wasn’t surprised. Hoping that the weather would improve I moved my reservation to later in the afternoon. Read the rest of this entry »

Introducing first time flyer’s to the world of general aviation has got to be one of the most rewarding benefits of being a private pilot. After my wife discovered Facebook (and in turn found all of her old friends) I decided to give it a try. It didn’t take long for me to find all of my old friends, one of which was my former next door neighbor Mike. The last time I saw  him (01/2001) I was only a student pilot.

Flight Details:

My preferred route for this flight is to depart Morristown airport KMMU and switch over to Newark Tower KEWR (127.85). (Newark has a low altitude frequency that is used for helicopters and light aircraft traveling in the Newark area, they are usually very helpful, Read the rest of this entry »

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.” Read the rest of this entry »

Uncle Tim is a photographer so there are bound to be some good pictures. He was also a CH-46 Crew Chef during the Vietnam War, so I don’t have to worry about him on our flights. A few bumps aren’t going to bother this guy that’s for sure.

Flight details:

Our former flight club president sent us the details of his method of flying from Morristown Airport KMMU to the Hudson River via the busy New York class bravo airspace. At first I was a little reluctant to give it a try but after flying around the south side of the surface vale of Newark Airport’s airspace and getting a little to close to more than a few very large aircraft I decided to give it a try. We departed Morristown Airport (KMMU) and contacted Newark Tower (127.85). We received a clearance into the class bravo airspace (@ 1,500) and were cleared overhead the runway 4 numbers at Newark Airport. Read the rest of this entry »