So this evening turned out to be a great night to finally make it over to Marthas Vineyard. Cam and I departed Hanscom at 5:40pm and headed south towards Needham. With the miserable traffic on Rt. 128 below us, this really does seem like the best way to travel. The winds were light and variable, and the ride turned out to be suprisingly comfortable as we targeted the waters ahead. Our route took us over Norwood Aiport, then down towards Taunton and Mattapoisett. We got a chance to get a good look at some big jets coming in from the East towards the 4s at Logan Airport too! As we approached Buzzards Bay, Providence Approach decided to terminate out flight following; but with the Vineyard visible in the distance just beyond Woods Hole, that was no problem. (Although I did climb a little bit to give us a little more distance between us and the cold waters below.)Calling into Marthas Vineyard from 10 miles out, the controller cleared us onto the straight in for runway 15. We made the approach, and after a "pogo-stick" landing, I turned off on taxiway alpha and headed towards the approach end of runway 24 for departure via the controllers directions. The Vineyard was slow, and another pilot even commented on the radio to the controller about how the declining economy must be causing huge problems for the little guys wanting to fly to the islands.
Taking off, we made a left turn out and I headed out over the water so that we could fly over the famous Katama Air Field and beautiful South Beach. We overflew the beach, then I turned inland for a photo of the large grass strip below. Next time that will be my destination!! Now heading north, a quick check of the GPS and we were on our way back over the "open water."
The trip home was pretty fast, as we were making about 115 knots of ground speed. We crossed Buzzards Bay down at 2,500' before climbing to avoid the Delta airspace around New Bedford (EWB). The visibility was diminishing and combined with the sun setting below clouds in the distance, we were in a race to get back. While I can legally fly at night, I would have needed 3 landings in the past 90 days in order to take passengers up. Never-the-less we had plenty of time before the 8:15 sunset. Our flight took us first over New Bedford, then Taunton, before turning back in towards Norwood and the Rt. 128 loop. Once again passing Needham and the Needham towers, we were cleared onto a right downwind for runway 11 behind another couple cessnas. I started my approach pretty high, but by the time Cam got the camera up and running, I was back on the glideslope. The video of the landing is included below, enjoy!!
Who Wants to Go Flying Next???
