Twenty-Two Months to Groton

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
30 Aug 2014	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - GON (Groton, CT) - SDC	5.6	1330.8

Better Late Than Never

Darrell and I launched from Le Roy in Warrior 481 on a beautiful October day in 2012 with a twofold objective. My primary goal was cross-country instrument practice and, indeed, within five hundred feet of breaking ground, I went under the hood to navigate solely by instruments. Groton, a small Connecticut seaside town, was our destination. Several of my friends and former coworkers from Kalamazoo relocated there after UberCo restructurings in 2005 and 2007. Thus, my secondary goal was to take a break from instrument practice to visit with some treasured friends at lunch before returning to Le Roy.

October 22, 2012: Post carburetor fire at Columbia County Airport in Hudson, NY

We never made it.

In the following weeks, I tried to reschedule, but these attempts were all scuttled by poor weather. After two tries, both of which ended in cancellation, I felt like Lucy convincing Charlie Brown to kick the football, then pulling it away at the last minute. I gave up for 2012 and promised my friends to try again when the weather improved.

To my great sorrow, my friend Dave in Groton succumbed to cancer in early 2013 before I could reschedule a visit. Dave brought a keen intellect and kind, gentle manner to everything he did. He is dearly missed by all who knew him. In 2012, I exchanged several messages with him while he was undergoing treatment and hoped to be able to provide support in person.

Sometimes, life moves too fast for even an aviator to keep up.

The idea of a return trip to Groton did not lay fallow long. In early 2014, the idea was revived by a geographically diverse trio of friends from Groton, CT; Rochester, NY; and Columbus, OH. I do not know for certain who deserves credit (or blame) for this plan, but it went something like this: Brenda (who reported to me in Kalamazoo, but now lives in Columbus, OH) could drive to Rochester, NY to visit with me and Stacey (another Kalamazoo expatriot and good friend) and, together, the three of us could fly to Groton and visit Leslie (my former supervisor from Kalamazoo). And, of course, there were several others in Groton whom I wanted to see, so it would be a nice reunion of sorts. After all, I had been planning to make the flight anyway, why not bring more folks along?

It was a good plan. I was in.

Guest Photographer

Photo by Stacey

Brenda flew right seat while Stacey sat in back and occupied herself with taking pictures on her iPhone (which I tweaked slightly before posting here).

Photo by Stacey

Brenda adapted well to her role as copilot. It was not the first ride in Warrior 481 for either of them, but Brenda's last flight was a ten minute hop from South Haven, MI back in 2005 before her kids magically (from my point of view) turned into teenagers. Stacey has flown with me many times. Neither of them have actually undertaken a flying journey by light aircraft before, however. This was new ground.

Photo by Stacey

Our direct route to Groton carried us on a southeast heading over the Finger Lakes.

Photo by Stacey

Southeast of Syracuse, we crossed over the top of a cloud deck that remained in place until we reached the ocean.

Photo by Stacey

Over the Catskills, there was enough of a break in the undercast to reveal the mountains.

Photo by Stacey

We were assigned a new routing that took us east to PONEE intersection, then southeast to Groton.

Photo by Stacey

After the complex re-routes I managed around Washington DC two weeks earlier, this made for a trivial change.

Photo by Stacey

Bradley Approach descended us from 7,000 feet to 5,000, putting us into the clouds. We popped in and out of them for a few minutes, experiencing some light chop. Neither Brenda nor Stacey are particularly squeamish, but both commented that the view through the windscreen of a white wall approaching at 130 miles per hour was a little disconcerting.

Photo by Stacey

Photo by Stacey

Descent to 2500 feet put us just below the cloud bases. We were already on a heading that lined us up for runway 15 at Groton. Closer to shore, the ceiling dissipated altogether. On final approach, we flew over New London and the Thames River.

FlightAware track from Sodus to Groton

An Enthusiastic Welcome

I rolled the Warrior onto the pavement at Groton in one of the best landings I have made all year. It is always nice when that happens with an audience. The tower controller was quite friendly, providing a progressive taxi to the Mystic Jet Center even though I really did not need it or request it.

Amidst the ground crew emerging from the Mystic Jet Center to marshal us to parking was a diminutive figure who, even from a distance, was obviously bursting with energy. The word "firecracker" came readily to mind. "And that would be Leslie," noted Stacey.

I first met Leslie in January of 1999 when I had dinner with her before interviewing for the scientist position in Kalamazoo. A few years later, she became my direct supervisor and championed my first promotion. She started me down a path that eventually led to my developing a niche expertise for which I later received worldwide recognition. Leslie did a great job of aligning my interests with corporate objectives. I am fortunate to have had many supervisors over the years who were invested in my well being. Leslie ranks highly in that pantheon. The last time was saw each other was in the fall of 2005.

Waving enthusiastically, Leslie took pictures while we shut down and I secured the airplane. "This is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me!" Leslie declared, videoing us as we emerged from the Warrior. We received a heroes' welcome in Groton.

After a round of hugs were exchanged, the lineman from Mystic commented, "I keep wondering if I should ask you for your autographs." Clearly, Leslie had been talking up our arrival to the FBO staff before we ever landed and they were uniformly amused by her enthusiasm.

Lunch was at the Harbour House in Mystic. On the way, we passed Mystic Pizza, the basis for the 1988 Julia Roberts film. The last time I set eyes on it was in January 1999 while making the rounds on interview trips to various places that eventually led me to Kalamazoo, MI. I had declined the opportunity in Groton and, a few years later, declined another. I felt strange being back there.

Photo by our Harbour House waitress

At the Harbour House, we were joined by several others whom I had not seen in years. Standing from left to right are, Brian (who was a group leader at our Ann Arbor campus), Michael (Brenda's supervisor before she joined my lab), Leslie, and me. Seated are Brenda, Dawn (one of two recruiters who interviewed me at Indiana University in the fall of 1998 and recommended me for an on-site visit in Kalamazoo), Janice (who was also in my research group in Kalamazoo and flew with me in August of 2004), and Stacey. Half of the people in this photo have had a significant, positive effect on my career and the other half are just great people. Though we all worked together once, the assembled group is now spread across five different companies.

We chatted and reminisced, finally submitting an order to our beleaguered waitress after we had been there nearly an hour. There was a lot of laughing (yeah, we were loud) and good memories brought back to life.

"Whenever I came over to Kalamazoo, the Dream Team over here," Brian jerked his thumb at Brenda and I, "used to crack me up." When it came to sarcasm, Brenda and I were always simpatico.

Photo by Stacey

Our extended family has experienced a lot of change in the past decade, but everyone is still smiling.

After lunch, some of the group went for ice cream. When I pulled out my wallet, Leslie stepped between me and the cashier exclaiming, "oh no, The Pilot will not be buying his own ice cream!" I think this is a great rule to live by and should be written directly into the FARs (Federal Aviation Regulations).

Back to Life

Photo by Stacey

After five hours in Connecticut, we said farewell to our friends and boarded the Warrior. The FBO staff allowed Leslie to remain on the ramp, videoing our departure. We were held on the ground for longer than I expected; tower knew that our clearance had been changed from what I filed, but required several minutes to obtain it. We were cleared to depart runway 23, then direct to Barnes (BAF, a VOR in Massachusetts north of Bradley International), then Albany (ALB), then direct Sodus.

Photo by Stacey

The coastline was beautiful and I wished that I had taken opportunity to get some pictures, but Stacey covered this well.

Photo by Stacey

We passed smoothly through a ceiling at 3,000 feet on our way to an 8,000 foot cruise altitude. Breaking out above the layer, Stacey captured a photograph of a glory without even realizing it. Before reaching Bradley International, we were turned direct to Albany, shortening the route home.

Photo by Stacey

We were over clouds until we reached Albany. Though the ride was smooth, we fought a headwind that extended our flight time significantly from the two hours and ten minutes required for the flight to Groton. I preferred to arrive home by sunset, but had done a short night cross country the week before in order to be night current just in case I needed it. From the looks of things, I was going to need it.

Photo by Stacey

We were amused to discover that the curious rastering effect that causes spinning propellers to appear as parallel lines on iPhone cameras also applies to propeller shadows as well.

Photo by Stacey

Over Albany, our course turned directly into the sun. Brenda and I snugged our hats lower and flew on into the glare like actors in JJ Abram's retooled vision of Star Trek.

Photo by Stacey

I was concerned about weather at home. Via Stratus, I monitored thunderstorm activity west of Sodus. Most of the weather appeared to move off to the northeast over Lake Ontario, but the field was reporting gusty winds out of the south; not a great scenario for a night landing on an east/west runway.

Photo by Stacey

Through her iPhone, Stacey captured the developing sunset.

Photo by Stacey

Photo by Stacey

Photo by Stacey

Relief came when the sun dipped behind bands of clouds ahead. The larger buildups to the right were thunderstorms over Lake Ontario. I was reminded of the scene in Wrath of Khan when the Enterprise engaged in blind "submarine warfare" with Reliant in the Mutara Nebula. Portions of the soundtrack echoed in my mind.

Photo by Stacey

Finally, the sun reached the end of its trek across the heavens.

Photo by Stacey

Photo by Stacey

Photo by Stacey

Photo by Stacey

As shadows swelled across the landscape, I visually located the airport beacon and received clearance from Rochester for the visual approach into Sodus. The automated weather system was calling winds out of the south at six knots and I cancelled IFR.

I joined the pattern for runway 28, but the winds at pattern altitude were clearly much stronger than six knots. On a left base, the wind pushed us north of the runway before I could turn to final approach. Because the pattern was entirely unpopulated, I chose not to salvage the approach, but simply to transition into a left downwind pattern leg for runway 10 north of the airport. This way, turning left base put us heading south into the wind and slowed our groundspeed. I needed significant correction for wind on final approach and gusts rocked the Warrior as we reached treetop level. We alighted firmly on the upwind wheel. The trees around us were swaying significantly, their upper branches describing massive arcs through the nighttime sky.

Six knots...right.

FlightAware track from Groton to Sodus

We put the airplane away and headed toward home, where I learned that the rules about The Pilot not needing to buy his ice cream apply to late dinners, too.

Sharing

As I have commented before, flying the airplane is not merely a recreational outlet and intellectual challenge. It's a bridge and a wonderful way to maintain relationships.

As Kristy points out, not many people besides herself and The Bear have experienced a cross country flight in the Warrior (exceptions include Joe, Kent and Dan, the latter having flown with me to Reading, PA and Pontiac, MI). On this trip, Brenda and Stacey got the full general aviation experience: uncontrolled and towered fields; flight under, through, and above the clouds; easy and crosswind landings; day and nighttime flight - practically the full gamut (all that was missing was an instrument approach and a landing on grass). Both were still smiling when it was all done, so that's a good sign. That, or they were still amused by Leslie.

My only regret is that it took me twenty-two months to complete a 2.5 hour flight to Groton. As wonderful a bridge as the airplane can be, it was not enough enable a visit with Dave one last time.