A New Favorite at an Old Favorite

Piqued

"What's happening in Lake Placid today?" 

With six aircraft travelling together to the remote Adirondack destination, we captured Boston Center's interest. Of course, it was nothing more than our annual(ish) Williamson Flying Club trip to one of our favorite destinations. Happens all the time.

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
24 Sep 2022	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - LKP (Lake Placid, NY) - SDC	4.0	2535.2

Fall Outing

Flying with me was Justin, who had served as an college intern in my research group during the summer of 2022. It was his first time in a light aircraft. In addition to Justin and me in Warrior 481 were Ed and Jeff (a student pilot) in Four Four Papa; Mike and Scott in Eight One Six (whose transponder stubbornly broadcast the wrong beacon code throughout the outbound flight); Tom and Alicia in Two Six Romeo; Mike and Joe (student) in a PA-28-180 whose tail number escapes me; and Paula, Steve, and Brian (student) in Nine Four Romeo.

Off the Williamson Sodus Airport and eastbound along the Lake Ontario shore.

About to cross Henderson Bay.

We went the long way around by following the Lake Ontario shore first east, then north, and rounding the north side of Wheeler Sack Airforce Base and its active R-5201 restricted area. The approach to Lake Placid from the northwest is over flat, but still significantly desolate terrain.

When approaching Lake Placid from the flat plains surrounding the St Lawrence River, the Adirondack Mountains seemly erupt from nowhere to encircle our destination.

Isn't it the worst when the propeller ruins an otherwise perfect photo?

Justin, Tom, Alicia, Ed, Jeff, Mike, Mike, Steve, Paula, me, Scott, Brian, and Joe.

Justin and I were the last to arrive. We gathered with the others for the mandatory group photo, then set-off for Big Slide Brewery and Public House.

Pretty little Pipers all in a row. (Except for 481, because we ran out of tie-downs.)

"Are you all from the Williamson Flying Club?" queried an airport staffer. "It seems like whenever we have a large group of airplanes arrive together, they're from the Williamson Flying Club!" We have a reputation!

All the WFC aircraft parked on the ramp beneath the Olympic ski jump towers.

As always, Big Slide served up a fantastic lunch. I got "Mer's New Favorite" (Bake Placid focaccia, Meier's Snye pepper cheese, pulled BBQ chicken thigh, pickled red onion, bacon, and chipotle mayo). I liked the idea of ordering a new favorite while visiting an old favorite. The "Kiel-bano" was a popular choice that day (New England style brioche bun, Harmony Hills kielbasa, smoked bacon, dill pickle, maple mustard, Dutch Knuckle cheese), but I am not a fan of pickles.

We worked off our meals by walking into town. It was great! Tom gave it two thumbs up.

Ooof. That's "bad". You know it.

Photographer unknown.

My favorite photo of the day was not taken by me. It featured Scott demonstrating that it really is possible to be taken seriously while wearing Spandex.

Mirror Lake always evokes such serenity.

After departing Lake Placid, we diverted eastward to explore Whiteface Mountain.

Turning back toward home, we passed north of Lake Placid where the eponymous cinder block shaped lake was visible.

Once back on frequency with Syracuse Approach, the controller offered his kudos on our precision flying by noting that all of our ships were spaced exactly fourteen miles apart. Tom offered that is was due to lots of practice. Ed commented that it was because he and I made a detour around Whiteface before turning toward home. I suggested that it was "pure dumb luck". I think my answer was closest to the truth.

Back in familiar territory near Sodus, I turned the controls over to Justin who got his Top Gun moment for the day flying shallow circles over Sodus Bay. Not having given many first-time rides during the height of the pandemic, it was great to get back to the business of putting smiles on young people's faces.

Sodus Bay, just east of the Williamson Sodus Airport.

There is not much to be said about flying to Lake Placid that I have not already expressed before. But I always enjoy visiting the Adirondacks and sharing the experience with first time visitors.