Good Reputation

Happy Anniversary!

As we set out for brunch in Lake Placid that morning, I was celebrating a dual anniversary. Nineteen years prior, I launched in Warrior 481 from Guthrie, OK to bring my new airplane home to southwest Michigan. Exactly nine years later, I marked another milestone when I paid it off.

First Timer

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
12 Mar 2023	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - LKP (Lake Placid, NY) - SDC	3.5	2593.7

Schedules finally aligned for my friend and colleague Jeff to join in. After years of talking about it, he finally got to experience his first flight in a single engine airplane. I think he enjoyed himself in spite of the early morning. We departed my house at 7:20 am on the same morning we engaged in the annual springtime insanity of advancing the clocks an hour.

Avalanche

One of the challenges of this warm winter has been frequent avalanches from the hangar roof that block south-facing hangar doors. With the hangar being so new (fall 2020), the roof is still slick. Warm-ups result in a cascade of partially melted snow sliding off the roof and pancaking onto the pavement in front of everyone's doors in a dense, knee-deep, icy mass. It is heavy to move and difficult to chop through, especially if allowed to freeze overnight. Fortunately, I was at the airport the day before and cleared the area in front of my 40-foot wide door to expedite our departure.

I suppose that it is better to experience an avalanche at the airport than during a visit to the mountains.

Around 8:30 am and right on schedule, we launched as the second of four aircraft en route to Lake Placid for brunch at one of our favorites, Big Slide Brewery & Public House. Our aerial caravan also included Tom and Alicia in Two Six Romeo, Ed in Four Four Papa, and Dan in Eight Five X-Ray. Within minutes of departure we were strung along a line at 7,500 feet and receiving advisories from Syracuse Approach.

"Huh," I remarked to Jeff. "Usually a group of four airplanes like this would get a question from air traffic control about what was going on." Because those questions so often came from Syracuse controllers, I was surprised by their apparent lack of curiosity that morning.

Nuclear power plant in Oswego, NY

No Man's Land

We made the choice to track directly to Lake Placid through the cold MOAs south of Wheeler-Sack Air Force Base. Once northeast of Syracuse, there is little below but forest and small waterways without towns or roads.

As the Adirondack High Peaks began to grow from the terrain, I remembered how enthralled I was by them as a flatland pilot visiting for the first time in 2007. The wonder has never really worn off, even if my friends in Colorado tease me about the Adirondacks not being "real" mountains.

Closer to our destination, I diverted slightly north of the direct track to access Lake Placid through a notch in the terrain.

"Are you guys just headed to breakfast?" queried Boston Center.

As Tom answered in the affirmative, I nodded to Jeff.  "See? There it is."

We entered the valley that is home to Lake Placid with the distinctive shapes of the eponymous lake and Whiteface Mountain providing an exacting sense of place. I love this place.

Prior to our arrival, Adirondack Flying Service's ubiquitous yellow Cessna sightseeing aircraft took off. As the four of us announced our arrival at Lake Placid in rapid succession, the Cessna's pilot called, "Are you guys out of Williamson-Sodus?"

We have a reputation. Every mass arrival of Cherokees at Lake Placid is now generally assumed to be the Williamson Flying Club. This is the kind of reputation that I'm proud of.

As usual, we skirted around the Olympic ski jump towers in the airport traffic pattern before lining up for a near perfect landing on runway 32.

Tails 'n' Towers

Warrior 481 parked at Lake Placid with Dan in 85X arriving.

Lake Placid weather was still brisk at the tail end of winter and snow piles towered above our aircraft at the ramp's perimeter, but the bright sun shone down with unfettered warmth through a clear blue sky. 

We left our aircraft in sight of Lake Placid's famous "big slides" before ambling off to brunch. Our timing was good and we arrived close enough to opening to be seated immediately.

The Hangover Club

Crazy icicles hanging from the roofline of Big Slide.

As usual, Big Slide's brunch menu featured well-crafted meals with fanciful names and locally-sourced ingredients (like the massive breakfast club sandwich appropriately called the "Hangover Club"). Brunch was delicious!

Group photo: Tom, Alicia, Ed, me, Dan, and Jeff. Photo by Jeff.

It happened to be the birthday of our Florida-based aviator friend Pierre, so Ed took this selfie of us to show him that we were thinking about him. His horrified response: "Is that snow in the background?" Ah, Florida pilots...

Our fleet of aircraft.

Me, Ed, Dan, Alicia, and Tom with Whiteface in the background. Photo by Jeff.

Whiteface

Waiting to backtaxi runway 32 behind Eight Five X-Ray and Four Four Papa.

Despite our mass departure, Jeff and I turned northeast toward Whiteface Mountain while the others proceeded directly home to Sodus.

Lake Placid and Whiteface Mountain.

We climbed to the elevation of Whiteface's peak and circled the mountain before departing the area.

It was a beautiful, calm day filled with flight, friends, and wonderful food, a good day to be out flying. While the mountains are always striking in the winter, I am looking forward to seeing them in dressed in green on my next visit. Not only will it mean a change in perspective, but it will mean an end to those hangar avalanches.