Here’s my “how I spent my summer vacation” essay…
One of my former Instrument students took a job in New York and asked me to accompany him across the continent to help move his Diamond Star DA40. What pilot or CFI could refuse such a request?! We began planning the trip about a month in advance, carefully watching weather patterns especially in the week prior to the proposed departure date.
Diamond Star DA40 … from CA to NY! |
We departed San Carlos (KSQL) at 6am one morning with an aggressive goal for the first flight leg: 4 hours to the Salt Lake City area. After an uneventful trip across the Sierras and Nevada desert, we were looking at the Great Salt Lake and deciding that we could make it farther. Fuel burn was better (less) than expected, winds were favorable, and our bladders could wait another hour – so, onward to Rock Springs, Wyoming (KRKS). Hobbs time 5.0.
Departed KRKS with another ambitious goal of Omaha, Nebraska. No thunderstorms were building so it was entirely possible (although a long day of flying). Well, somewhere over Nebraska we again decided to press onward – beyond KOMA all the way to Des Moines, IA (KDSM). Another 5.2 hobbs logged, in uncharacteristically clear, calm midwest afternoon skies. A quick dinner and early lights out after a long day.
Downtown Chicago – Lakefront Tour |
Day 2: Des Moines to Chicago where we overflew Midway (KMDW) and then up and down the lakefront a few times, on a picture-perfect day in the midwest. Then eastward over Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. All the while- smooth air, no clouds. We lucked out. We ended this day by circling Niagara Falls (KIAG) and crossing the border into Toronto, Canada (CYTZ) after exercising our knowledge of the now-required eAPIS border crossing requirements (fun stuff!). This day was about 8 hobbs hours, made possible only by amazingly good weather and two pilots sharing the workload.
Day 3: Toronto to Buffalo (KBUF) to clear US Customs, and then just a couple hours more to New York City! One word: WOW. We flew the published Hudson River corridor on one of the most spectacular weather days I have ever seen on the east coast. Not only up and down the Hudson, but with a Class B clearance from LaGuardia tower, right over central park @ 2000′ and down the East River and around to the Statue of Liberty! Just. Completely. Amazing.
After NYC we took the plane to it’s new home at Danbury, CT (KDXR) and called it a day. The next day we did some sightseeing over Connecticut and Massachusetts (Martha’s Vineyard, lunch in Nantucket). Then I stayed in NYC for the spectacular July 4 fireworks show. Flew home on JetBlue and their main attraction (the DirecTVs) weren’t even working for the entire flight. Boooo.
This was an amazing few days of flying and an extremely rewarding experience. Look for a bunch more photos on my website at www.gregwest.com very soon.
Let’s go fly! If you live in the SF Bay Area, contact me for your flight instruction needs – from beginner to advanced. I specialize in instrument instruction in glass cockpits (Garmin, Avidyne) and in high-performance aircraft (Cirrus SR22).