Sylvia's Journal

It could not have been a more perfect day for our long awaited trip down Long Island and up along the West side of Manhattan over the Hudson. The skies were clear, albeit it hazy, and winds calm all along the route. Bill had spent hours and hours preparing for the trip, giving me more or less a free ride. With fuel calculations, a map of New York, a list of intersections, timing and VOR radials in hand we set out at 8:30 AM.

I flew the first leg from Beverly over Bedford, Hopedale, and Groton (CT) where we crossed the water to Long Island to Brookhaven for a fueling stop. Bill took the controls there so I could enjoy the views and take pictures. From then on we had to fly low, under the radar so to speak, in order to stay out of JFK’s airspace. We circled in a wide arc over the water from Jones Beach to Sandy Point in New Jersey and watched the big planes come in and out of JFK overhead.

From Sandy Point we headed straight towards the Hudson River. At that point you don’t need a map anymore because the route is obvious: over the Verrazano Bridge, past ‘The Lady’ and from there straight up the Hudson River along the west side of Manhattan. We saw the construction at Ground Zero, flew right over the Intrepid and over the George Washington Bridge. I had forgotten that Manhattan is only 14 miles long and so it came and went quickly, even though Bill tried to fly as slow as he could (90 knots with one flap down). One of the things that struck us most was how much green there was all along the trip, even in Manhattan.

Near the Tappan Zee Bridge the Hudson widens spectacularly and Connecticut’s low hills stretch out into the far distance, a beautiful sight. We spotted the Sing Sing prison, located on prime waterfront property and a little further north turned east towards Danbury for another refueling stop and a chance to stretch our legs. I flew the remainder of the trip home, over Hartford, Marlboro and Bedford, now familiar territory. We touched down in Beverly nearly 6 hours after we left. We had been flying for nearly 5 of those. I added another 3.3 hours to my cross county log. I am about 17 hours shy of reaching the milestone of 200 hours of flying time. That celebration will have to wait until after our return home from Kabul.

Although I had not flown for nearly 6 weeks, I felt very confident and comfortable on the controls and was reminded, once again, why I wanted to fly in the first place and why I was never discouraged by the accident. The freedom of getting to beautiful places without being stuck in traffic (we saw a lot of that below us, on bridges and highways) and in very little time is what makes flying so appealing, even the trip to the destination is enjoyable. After two years I am ready to take non pilot passengers on cross county trips, including Axel, although I don’t think it will happen quite yet. When we come back from Kabul I will take some intensive lessons, pass my bi-annual and find a share in a plane so I can do more of what we did yesterday.