I had left off last month in Newport, RI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T5Ix54ZNTQ on purpose - I new that would be sorta close to where Nels was starting us off for our "pilgrimage" to Meigs Field in Chicago. Rather than heading north to Norwood, I figured I could start from here and still hit many of the highlight spots along the way. My plane of choice this month will be a Piper Comanche in "Seventh-day Adventist Church" livery - I flew on something very similar on mission trips in Africa.
As of my departure on Sunday November 9th I wasn't sure if this was going to be a one or two-day trip to Chicago but I had a flightplan loaded into the GPS as follows: Newport, RI Bridgeport, CT Scranton, PA Ithica, NY Erie, PA Wheeling, WV Lorain, OH Ft. Wayne, IN Chicago via Gary, IN
I departed Newport just after "dawn" which is about 07:30 this time of year. I was half-tempted to use July weather but opted instead to keep with November and Real-World Downloads for this flight. After cleaning up I turned southwest to follow the coastline down to Bridgeport, CT. This Newport to Bridgeport leg reminded me of our FOTM in September 2006 when Hans asked us to fly the John Kennedy Jr. flight ... this time in daylight and the weather was initially clear and my time to Bridgeport was just 40 minutes. I did not land here but continued on toward Ithica, NY, 170 miles to the northwest.
This route passes me not too far from Scranton, PA where I had planned to stop for Nels' sake but after a week-long PC failure I ... sorta forgot to load in that waypoint. As I flew northwesterly the weather slowly deteriorated with wind, then clouds, then turbulance and finally lightning. My landing into Ithica, NY was surprisingly easy considering the crosswind!
I made this 170-mile jaunt in 1:13 minutes.At this point it was almost 09:30 - too early to call it a day. I fueled the plane, fueled the body, took a little "pit stop" and headed back out at 10:30. This time I flew west to Erie, PA, 173 miles. Weather was not better in that I had clouds and wind gusts and turbulance and lightning intermittently throughout the flight. With the wind, I was cruising at 5,000 feet and making 180 knots ground speed. ATC had me land runway 6, another severe crosswind situation - I should have asked for runway 2! Arrival was 11:45 which means 1:15 for 173 miles.
I stay in Erie long enough to eat some lunch and fuel the plane - on the ground 11:45 until 13:00, still pretty windy as I headed out, south along the lake shore and down into Wheeling, only 112 miles this time. My stop in Wheeling was very brief!
I arrived in Wheeling at 13:52 and was airborne again just after 14:00. I headed back north towards Cleveland, flying right over Burke Lakefront airport - yep, looks a whole lot like Meigs! Fly-over time was 14:30 and I continued on to Fort Wayne, IN. This time I was battling some weather and my ground speed was only 131! Only 163 miles to Fort Wayne but I didn't arrive until 15:13, 1:15 for 250 miles.
After an hour on the ground at Fort Wayne I was anxious to finish up, despite the weather - only 124 miles to Chicago plus a time zone change! I was thrilled to note that the heavy industries Nels noted for Gary, IN were there in FS too! Then, on to the goal of this FOTM - Meigs Field.
Extra Credit:
Next Stop will be Lebanon!
