Sunday, October 30, 2016

Breakfast with my Bride

It was a lazy Sunday morning and until the Woodbine gang started texting the group I had no clue where to fly.  Woodbine went back and forth about a few different airports, some an hour and a half flight one way, others a short hop.  I asked Mary if she wanted to take a short flight, enjoy the sunshine and nice temps and get breakfast while we are at it. She agreed, so off we went to get 08Romeo out of the hangar.

We tossed around a few locations and finally decided on the forty-five mile trip west to Cambridge, KCGE.  Always good eats! 08Romeo was fueled and ready to go and I had turned on the pre-heats this morning knowing I would fly somewhere today.

There was some activity at Ocean City, mainly the jump plane and it's anxious participants. I had the fan turning and we taxied out to runway three-two for departure. The flight was smooth with a bit of a head wind, but it was enjoyable. As we crossed Salisbury the ADS-B alerted us to traffic off the nose and eleven hundred low, we had visual on a Coast Guard C130. 08Romeo pushed on across the Nanticoke river and soon I was making position calls for CGE. 
I did get a screen full of traffic to our east, I honestly thought it was the group of RV's that frequent Cambridge. I knew they would want to do their landing routine and grand arrival but they eventually worked their way passing behind us. I made a nice landing and taxied clear, making our way to the new ramp. The RV group was already on the ground so the gaggle flying behind us was not them...the new ramp was full. As we walked into the terminal a few more planes landed.

Once inside we had to leave our names for the waiting list, it was twenty-five minutes. Time passed and we were eventually seated by the front windows facing the ramp. One by one the RV's departed followed by a few high wings and other aircraft. Mary and I ordered our breakfast and we were getting hungry. I had eggs and bacon and my Bride had eggs benedict. By the time we finished up we were both stuffed.
We made our way back out to the ramp and noticed a few people checking out our ride, 08Romeo. I looked  at the plane behind us and it was a Sierra, pretty much a Sundowner with retractable gear. Sure enough it was the pilot and passengers from the Sierra checking out the plane. I introduced myself as the Sundowners pilot and we enjoyed a nice chat about both planes. The Sierra had new paint and interior with a nice panel. The owner said he used to belong to the Beech Aero Club but cant seem to log back in. I would pass on his concerns to our president,JP, and he would make contact.
We saddled up for the run across the tiny first state to the Delaware Bay and Lewes Delaware. Great tailwinds pushed us across in a hurry seeing ground speeds of 133 knots. I orbited the work project for a few minutes between 1500 and 2000 feet in order to get a few updated shots of progress on the ground.
From Lewes we pointed direct Ocean City and enjoyed the ride with a beautiful view of the coast. The only traffic in the area was one plane heading north up the coast, opposite direction, and over Ocean City the jump plane was busy. As I crossed midfield to enter the left downwind for three two I heard two minutes until jumpers away.  I would have 08Romeo on the ground and clear in plenty of time. Mary helped me push the plane back in the hangar and I cleaned the sacrificial bugs we collected on todays flight.

4 comments:

Jim and Sandie said...

I think it's so fun that you and your bride just take off for breakfast. A great start to your day.

Gary said...

I'm not big on short hops but it keeps me flying. It's always fun with Mary on board and Cambridge has great eats!!

Chris said...

Great to see you and Mary out together on what sounds like a beautiful morning! My last flight was Friday night after dark because that was the best weather I was going to get all weekend.

Gary said...

Chris,
After dark?? What is this flying after dark you speak of? With the time change and having any hope of flying after work I am forced to get night current. Ughhh....I do not enjoy 'landing' at night, the flying part is fine.