Sunday, April 17, 2016

Breakfast with Bob

Mary and I had a busy Saturday driving around to flea markets and antique shops pickin'.  We came home with a few new prize possessions. Today we wanted to get out and fly, okay, I wanted to get out and fly and my Bride was nice enough to join me.
The plan was to head out for breakfast so with a quick post on Face Book Bob C responded. Jeff D and the Woodbine crew were headed out but no decision was made by the time I launched. Once in the air Woodbine selected Cape May but do to the packed house diverted to Georgetown, Delaware Coastal.

Bob and I swapped text messages and decided on Millville, N.J., just about half way between us.  Sixty-five miles for me and forty-five for Bob.  Of course Bob enjoyed a great tail wind heading south east while Mary and I trudged along at eighty-five knots...Ughhh. We finally made it to MIV and crossed midfield for the left down wind runway ten. I made a super smooth landing so I felt better about the flight. As I taxied in we passed an absolutely gorgeous P51. In case you're wondering...of course I stopped in the middle of the taxiway and took a few shots.
Picture taken by Bob C
Millville was just as busy as cape may. Verna's Flight Line restaurant had a twenty minute wait but we sat and caught up and the time flew by. The eats were very good but due to a full house we waited a bit longer then the typical fast service. Mary and I wanted to see Bob's plane since the recent paint job. The paint scheme was beautiful and they did an awesome job laying down the colors.
With hugs and handshakes we said our goodbyes the walked back to 08Romeo. I taxied out to runway ten and launched for cape may or in the general area. I wanted to cross the Bay at sixty five hundred and enjoy my turn at the tail winds. Sure enough as we climbed the ground speed followed right along. Soon we were cruising along at one hundred forty knots....yes!
I made my position calls as I crossed RT54, ten miles out then RT90 five miles out. I had monitored the jump plane as he booted out his passengers at ten thousand feet, I was looking for silk. I swung out a bit wide and entered on a forty-five for the left down wind runway two and confirmed visual on two chutes. I slowed down and extended the pattern then turned for final as the first jumper landed. By the time I was over the numbers the other jumper had landed near runway three-two approach end, all clear. I made another nice landing, long, since the jump plane was on my heels.
Before
After
I did manage to over fly my work site in Lewes, DE and took a few shots. Here is the before and after to show two weeks of progress.

3 comments:

Chris said...

If the weather down there was anything like it was up here, it was truly a gorgeous day. I'm glad you got to catch up with Bob. It would be great to meet you guys for breakfast again one of these days.

Bob's Cessna looks fantastic. Maybe not as good as the P-51, but that sets the bar so high that it's not really fair to the rest of us!

I don't think I realized previously that there was skydiving at your home base. This is one thing that I have not been around much and I still find myself uncomfortable around jumpers when we're in the air at the same time.

Gary said...

The wx was perfect!

We should plan to meet up, maybe a run to Williamsport will work out. If it's early enough I can also make a stop at Wilkes-Barre.

The jump plane does a great job calling out time to jumpers away and position reports. The pilot is really good on the radio and working out pattern timing. It's always fun watching the jumpers circle in to land. If you're on the ground it's a blast listening to them scream and holler in excitement. They are all crazy folk!

Anonymous said...

Trying to figure out where the Mustang is from. The N number dosent show up, but it certainly has been photographed around the country. Charlie (N57)