
Gary's Flight Journal - Our Flying Adventures
The realization of a boyhood dream... Private Pilot July 17, 2006 - Instrument Rating August 19, 2010
Monday, May 23, 2022
4-Day Get-Away Plans

Monday, May 16, 2022
Annual Review: The Cost
Monday, May 09, 2022
Annual 2022








Sunday, May 01, 2022
Lunch in St. Michaels MD
Friday 4.29
The ladies were catching up on the phone when they agreed we should meet up Saturday to do lunch and enjoy the forecast for beautiful weather. Mary and Nahia had a good laugh and decided to leave the planning details up to the men. A good halfway point would be St. Michaels MD with us flying into the Easton Airport, KESN, just fifteen minutes from downtown.
Saturday 4.30
After a quick breakfast I remembered I needed to reserve a car at Easton. I called and locked in a Ford Taurus for our transportation. Securing a rental is a better deal then paying for a taxi to and from town. I completed my typical flying day ritual of weather and NOTAM checks then packed a few items in the flight bag. The plan was to keep it simple today.
We rolled into the airport and I dropped Mary off for her morning walk, minus the Ziva diva. I continued on to the hangar and completed my preflight. I tugged 3 Tango Charlie out onto the ramp as Mary emerged from the back of our hangar. In unison we said great timing.
Winds favored runway one-four and we launched for our flight west. FlightAware detailed a twenty-eight minute flight with fourteen knot headwinds. The ride was bumpy until we climbed through three thousand feet, finding smooth air just one hundred feet higher. I wanted to stay below the R-4006 restricted area base of three thousand five hundred feet, which kept our route direct.I contacted the Easton tower at ten miles out with the current ATIS and my intentions. Tower cleared me for a straight in for runway four. I found this odd since I was approaching on a perfect right base. Tower changed things up and directed me to the right base, much better to keep the flow. I made a floaty landing and touched down a bit firm, definitely not my best.
I secured the plane while Mary took care of the rental car paperwork. When I entered the terminal a man approached me and asked about what plane I flew in. I responded I was flying the commander and the conversation went on from there. The gentleman, Jeff, was getting back into flying after 28 years away and he and his wife Vanessa were plane shopping. I introduced Jeff and his wife to Les and he checked out his Sundowner then we took a peek at my Commander.![]() |
L-R: Les, Nahia, Mary and me |
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Gnocchi in Marinara Sauce |
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Lobster Ravioli |
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Les with the photo bomb |
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A beautiful Jag |
Saturday, April 23, 2022
Meeting the Pilots of the MSP
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AugustaWestland AW139 |
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Getting Vince to Atlantic City
It’s been a crazy few days here at the beach. My 2003 ML 320 left me stranded for the first time, at least it was in the driveway. It was sad to see old blue on the hook but she’ll be back good as new. Mary had to drive me over to the airport so I could preflight and return to pick me up when I returned.
3 Tango Charlie had forty-seven gallons on board which will cover the missions needs. With the preflight completed I got the fan turning and taxied for runway two-zero. The ride at three thousand was smooth with good tailwinds. I picked up flight following with Dover Approach as I closed in on the Waterloo VOR.I decided to cancel flight following north of Dover and contacted the Wilmington Tower. My first instruction was to enter right base runway nine then was switched to right downwind runway one-four. No problem, a nice landing and short taxi clear to FlyAdvanced.
Vince was at the gate with his brother, kudos to Joey for pulling off the surprise. Vince and I saddled up for a flight to Millville Airport for breakfast before we would head to Atlantic City.
I taxied out following Vince picking up our taxi instructions and once cleared we launched to the south east. Vince took controls and did a great job flying and lining us up for the downwind runway ten. We transferred controls and I made a nice landing despite the gusty winds.
I taxied to the south parking area across from the restaurant and was ready to shut down when we both agreed Verna's Flight Line Restaurant was closed. I saw an Ops vehicle and asked them on the radio if they knew if the restaurant was open. Ops did a drive by and confirmed our suspicions.
Well that shot the plan all to hell. We taxied back out and headed to Cape May, KWWD. I was lined up for runway one-nine and made a long straight in with a good landing.
The Flight Deck Diner parking lot was crowded, but the ramp was empty, we secured a front row spot. We were quickly seated, passing on the two counter seats, instead, selecting the one table just inside the door.
Breakfast was excellent and once finished we made our way back out to 3 Tango Charlie. Once belted in and the fan turning Vince and I reviewed our plan for ACY. First the taxiway diagram and then weather so we worked through our arrival and potential taxi to Signature.
We taxied out to runway one-nine and launched for our short trip north up the coast. I did pick up the current ATIS then flight following with Atlantic City Approach. One bit of traffic was called out, passing overhead, a massive C5, very cool!
Once the traffic was clear we were handed off to the ACY Tower. There were two military aircraft, KC10 Extenders aerial refuelers, doing touch and goes so wake turbulence was a concern.
Once cleared to land I made my way to the numbers for runway one-three and with gusty winds pulled off a good landing. I followed the taxi instructions to Signature and pulled up as directed by the lineman. I did not shut down, and had to wave him away as Vince exited to the rear of the plane. The lineman motioned for me to come in and I shook my head no and motioned I was heading out. Vince confirmed they wanted to charge me a ramp fee, what a rip off. I used no services.
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Coast Guard Helo just off the coast |
Once cleared to takeoff I climbed out as directed, runway heading up to the assigned sixteen hundred feet. The tower handed me off to approach and I was immediately turned on course and given my altitude of three thousand.
I headed home across the Delaware Bay reflecting on a fun day flying with a great friend and someone who seems more like family. It’s been fun to watch Vince grow up since our first flight back in January 2010.
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Spinner Polish
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BEFORE |
It reminded me of cleaning our silverware from Mary's Grandmother, although never that dirty. The lighter blue rag on the right was for clean and buff, it too had some discoloration.
Total time was under fifteen minutes and it didn't give my arthritic shoulders much pain.