Pedal-Rama 2012

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
8 Jul 2012	N21481	5G0 (LeRoy, NY) - FZY (Fulton, NY) - DSV (Dansville, NY) - 5G0	2.6	1056.1

Kristy, The Bear, and I set out for the EAA pancake breakfast at Oswego County Airport in Fulton, NY.  Because the direct course takes us through Rochester airspace, I always contact Rochester as soon as possible after departure from Le Roy for flight following.

Rochester was unusually busy this morning and we climbed to our cruise altitude of 5500' before successfully establishing two way communication with them.  At this point, we were actually above their controlled airspace, but I think it is rude to fly low over controlled airspace without a proper introduction.  As we crossed over downtown at 5500', we had an unusual perspective (for us) of the city in which we were high enough to actually see the entire Inner Loop.

Key landmarks like Frontier Field and the Kodak Tower passed off the port side of the Warrior.

Crossing over the Genesee River, we could see Bausch & Lomb Place along with the Xerox and Chase Towers.

As usual for a fly-in morning, Oswego County was busy.  We fit into the flow of traffic, number three to land behind a Bonanza and a Cessna Centurion.  When a lightweight experimental taxied onto the runway in front of the Bonanza on short final, the Bonanza aborted its approach and broke out of the pattern.  I expected it to circle around and rejoin the traffic pattern, but we never heard it on the radio again.  Obviously, the Bonanza pilot decided that pancakes were not worth messing around near aircraft that pull into traffic without looking.

We landed softly, but kind of flat.  My last landing was in a Schweizer 2-33 and I obviously internalized "do not flare" better than previously thought.  I provided a wind advisory to an inbound WACO biplane.  I am not sure where the airplane is based, but it is gorgeous and really classed-up the airport while it was there.

Breakfast was excellent as always, particularly the french toast (did I detect a hint of cinnamon there?).  But there was no denying that the famous pedal planes were the real drivers for our visit.

The Bear had all three of them to herself; paradise for a little aviatrix.

Though The Bear took a spin in the Ford...

...the Mustang was what really held her attention this time.

Look at that steely gaze.  Obviously, she had "Jerry" in her sights.

The Bear zoomed around the ramp, drawing smiles from those milling about.  I thought back to her first pedal plane flight, when she was too small to reach the pedals.  Now, she was almost too big to fit in the cramped wooden cockpits.  Next year, she might not fit at all.

She was having so much fun that neither Kristy nor I pointed this out to her.

Sorry about that bright sunshine, Little Bear.  My primary instructor used to say that the trick to managing the sun while flying was to not look at it.

After pedaling her legs off in the pedal planes, she announced that she was hungry again.  Breakfast was over and the EAA folks were already packing up the hangar.  Taking a page out of Darrell's playbook, I suggested a roundabout route home via Dansville so that we could stop for ice cream.

It probably comes as no surprise that my family embraced this suggestion enthusiastically.  As for me, well, I got to do a little more flying!  I even remembered to flare when landing at Dansville and Le Roy.

It was a full morning of flying for The Bear and I both.  Life is good.