It was one of those perfect autumn days. The leaves were brilliant gold against a cobalt blue sky. The air was calm and warm. I was outside doing seasonal cleanup chores (ugh) and after the 10th small plane flew over my house, I declared it was too nice a day to be earthbound.
Flying on a day like today is so much better when it’s shared. I got out my list of “volunteers” who said they would like to fly with me someday. Ah ha! My neighbor Pete hasn’t been up with me yet. And as an added bonus, his son who’s friends with my daughter wanted to go too. Cool.
The plan was to fly my typical “spontaneous” route. East to Harlem Valley, then north a little past Pawling VOR. Turn west to the northern foot of the Shawangunk Mountain ridge. Head south and run along the eastern ridge at about 2,000’ past Mohonk Mountain House and the lookout. Turn east and head over New Paltz, then just north of Illinois Mountain (to avoid a 2000’ MSL tower!). Turn south and follow the Hudson River past the Railroad and Mid-Hudson Bridges and Poughkeepsie. Once south of Poughkeepsie, turn back east to Dutchess County Airport [POU]. It’s a nice pattern that takes about an hour. The valley is always pretty in all seasons and its depth allows us to be pretty low and stay out of the way of any cross country traffic.
Pete was itching to take over the controls. So once we got over Harlem Valley and got the plane trimmed up, I let him have the controls. He grabbed the wheel with both hands. I tried to convince him that he just needed his right index finger and thumb, but it worked out. He didn’t over do it. For the next 30 minutes, Pete did shallow turns to follow the meandering valley – all the while trying to hold his altitude. He had an ear to ear grin the entire time.
About this time, the kids stated to settle down too. They were gazing out the window and enjoying the last of fall’s colors. This was the first time that I carried three passengers. So you could say this flight had a triple sharing bonus!
By the time we got to “The Gunks”, as we locals call them, the sun was low and dramatically enhanced the texture of the ridge. Pete was ready to return to being a passenger/tourist so I took the controls back.
We meandered back to the airport and landed on runway 24. As we were tying down, we were treated to a spectacular sunset. It was a perfect end to a perfect end-of-day, done with the chores, have fun with the kids event.
Do you have a “circuit” that you frequent?
Related Posts:
