Sylvia's Journal

Rockland Country in Maine was not clear yet as we had hoped. The route allong the coast of Maine was so heavily fogged in that we had to change our plans for our long cross country flight. After listening to the weather forecast in the New England Region we decided to fly to Dutchess County airport, better known as Poughkeepsie. It is a name that does not roll of the tongue very easily and I kept tripping over the name all the way out there and back. But now, at 5 AM on Monday morning I can say it without a blink or a stutter. A useful acquisition!

I was a little flustered trying to prepare for a completely new route in just half an hour and was relieved that Bill was backing me up. We took off for Western Massachusetts and then Connecticut/NY yesterday morning. The sky was dotted with the most beautiful cloud formations that required much concentration on my part. I managed to stay under them, as is required when you fly by visual flight rules (called VFR). I felt quite secure having an instrument rated pilot sitting next to me, just in case. I took over more of the tasks that Bill usually does, like timing fuel tank use and the passing of way station points. However, I did not allow him to ‘just enjoy the ride.’ He still did the checking of our position on VORs and much of the radio work as well as the GPS programming. We are both still learning how to do it and often get to the desired screen without remembering the sequence, a rather frustrating hit-or-miss kind of programming. There is a program that you can download from the internet which is a Garmin 430 simulator; something I keep intending to do but there never seems to be a long rainy day.

It was a strange sensation to fly right by Bradley International Airport where large commercial aircrafts shoot up into and out of the sky like rockets when seen from the vantage point of our little putput. We trusted our eyes and the traffic control people that followed our little blip on their screen just like the others to keep us out of each others’ way and guided us safely across various busy and not so busy air spaces.

The landscape under us changed from heavily populated to heavily forrested as we got closer to Poughkeepsie. We scanned for fields, a good practice for the just-in-case emergency when a landingstrip is not in sight. With the prevailing wind from the West we noticed that all the fields were North-South and wondered why. We crossed the Connecticut River and the majestic Hudson River as well as some other smaller rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Bill has flown down the Hudson River, circled the Statue of Liberty and flew back up in the night sky some years ago. He said it was magical and promised to take me down that long VFR corridor some day. That may be the time when Axel is ready to fly with us.

As we put-putted back from the Hudson the winds began to get stronger. With the wind in our back we gained about 20 minutes on our time going out. In total we flew 3.5 hours which brings my cross county pilot-in-command time to about 29 hours. This is over half of what I need to have if I ever wanted to get my instrument rating. Right now I am not quite ready for that as I am focusing all my attention on (re)building my confidence. Bill is an awesome teacher and great cockpit companion.

Back home I changed from pilot gear into more festive attire to accompany Axel to a birthday party of a man named Richard who I did not know but who borrowed our party tent last year via Axel’s cousin Bonnie. Richard is heavily clued in to the Gloucester music scene in addition to owning a home with rolling lawns sprinkled with rocks and magnificent 270 degree views on the edge of Gloucester Harbor right across from Ten Pound Island. To our great surprise we actually knew some people and enjoyed the music, company and good food for a few hours. Back home we watched another episode with Helen Mirin as Chief Inspector (Prime Suspect) and, after viewing three episodes still don’t know who-dunnit. To be continued!