Reflection 2024: A Grassroots Year

Twenty Years of Adventure

Twenty years ago, I became an aircraft owner. It was not something that I dreamed of even as a student pilot and two decades on, I sometimes struggle to grasp the reality of it.

I did not visit many new places in 2024, but my time machine returned me to many favorites. I flew for pleasure, for work, for family, and for fellowship, with the Warrior taking me to a scientific conference in Philly, to a funeral in Michigan, to Boston on a family vacation, to a family gathering in Georgia, and to several excellent destinations with other Williamson Flying Club members. Warrior 481's wheels even sampled five different grass runways in 2024, which is more than usual.

As 2024 disappears into memory, I am grateful for the good fortune to fly, for the aerial sights offered by the amazing Earth, and for the wonderful people involved in each adventure. As the year closes all too soon, it is time again to reflect on the previous twelve months and share some of my favorite images / moments of 2024.

The Photos

Warrior 481 at the Bradford County Airport (KBFD) in Bradford, PA on Jul 26, 2024.
(Not previously blogged)

South Manitou Island Lighthouse in Michigan on Aug 4, 2024.
("Adventures in the Mitten | Part 5, Manitou Aerial")

Returning to the Williamson Sodus Airport from Philadelphia, PA on Apr 19, 2024.
("Is it Ever Sunny in Philadelphia?")

Downtown Boston and inner harbor on Jul 9, 2024.
("The Flying Bear Goes to Beantown | Part 3, Three if by Air")

A Sopwith Camel pursues a Fokker DrI Triplane over Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome on Sep 22, 2024.
("Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome: A Temporal Anomaly in the Hudson Valley")

Whiteface Mountain and Lake Placid in Lake Placid, NY on Oct 5, 2024.
("Lake Placid Leaf Peepers")

A partial glory over a frigid Sodus Bay, Sodus, NY on Feb 3, 2024.
("Glorious")

Cloud surfing in northern Pennsylvania on Apr 19, 2024.
("Is it Ever Sunny in Philadelphia?")

The Pru, Christian Science Plaza, and Symphony Hall in Boston on Jul 9, 2024.
("The Flying Bear Goes to Beantown | Part 3, Three if by Air")

Sunset over Rochester, NY on Jun 10, 2024.
("Lights of Home")

Statue of Liberty on Jul 21, 2024.
("Seventh Time is the Charm: The Skyline Route")

Bass Islands in Lake Erie on Oct 11, 2024.
("The Key West of Ohio")

Ground fog over Elmira, NY on Oct 19, 2024.
("Benton 2024: Big Fly-In, Short Runway")

The wonderful symmetry of a rotary engine at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome on Sep 22, 2024.
("Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome: A Temporal Anomaly in the Hudson Valley")

Ferry flight from Rochester to Sodus after a weather diversion on Jul 11, 2024.
("The Flying Bear Goes to Beantown | Part 4, Going Missed")

Art deco elegance of the Chrysler Building in New York City on Jul 21, 2024.
("Seventh Time is the Charm: The Skyline Route")

Warrior 481 parked at the Lake Placid Airport (KLKP) in Lake Placid, NY on Jul 5, 2024.
("Mountain View")

Nine Mile Nuclear Power Plant on the shore of Lake Ontario in Oswego, NY.
("Glorious")

Brace Cove in the fog near Gloucester, MA on Jul 9, 2024.
("The Flying Bear Goes to Beantown | Part 3, Three if by Air")

North Sandy Pond on the east end of Lake Ontario on Feb 3, 2024.
("Glorious")

Empire Bluffs (lower right) and the Sleeping Bear Dunes (upper left) on Aug 4, 2024.
("Adventures in the Mitten | Part 5, Manitou Aerial")

Peak of Whiteface Mountain with Lake Placid in the background on Feb 4, 2024.
("Always Have an Out")

Downtown Boston including Two International Place and the Custom House Tower on Jul 9, 2024.
("The Flying Bear Goes to Beantown | Part 3, Three if by Air")

Action shot: Tom and Alicia depart Benton Airport in their PA-28-180 on Oct 19, 2024.
("Benton 2024: Big Fly-In, Short Runway")

South Manitou (foreground) and North Manitou (background) Islands in Lake Michigan.
("Adventures in the Mitten | Part 5, Manitou Aerial")

Dramatic lighting over the Catskill Mountains on Sep 22, 2024.
("Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome: A Temporal Anomaly in the Hudson Valley")

Perry's Victory & International Peace Memorial, Put-In-Bay, OH on Oct 11, 2024.
("The Key West of Ohio")

Mackinac Island, MI beneath haze from wildfire smoke on Aug 3, 2024.
("Adventures in the Mitten | Part 3, The WFC: Williamson Fudgie Cyclists")

Autumnal flanks of Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid, NY on Oct 5, 2024.
("Lake Placid Leaf Peepers")

The emerald edge of Block Island in the Atlantic Ocean on Jul 14, 2024.
("Voyage to the Little Island of the Gods")

Elegantly tapered wings of a Stinson Reliant at the Father's Day Fly-In at Genesee County Airport.
("A Gift of Time")

The Governor Mario M. Cuomo / Tappan Zee Bridge spanning the Hudson River.
("Seventh Time is the Charm: The Skyline Route")

Clouds parting just enough to reveal the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport.
("Adventures in the Mitten | Part 6, Tailwinds and Tornadoes")

A circular rainbow over eastern Ontario, Canada on Sep 21, 2024.
("Rarefied Prismatic Air")

The People

2024 was an incredible year to fly with my favorite people, whether I've known them for years -- their entire lives in the case of The Bear -- or met them mere moments before flying together. 2024 so epitomized this for me that I wanted to feature a few examples of the people from 2024's flying adventures.

Kristy "has the conn" of the USS Enterprise in Ticonderoga, NY on Aug 24, 2024.
("Live Long and do the Batusi")

We have arrived! The Bear pays homage to Warrior 481 in Beverly, MA on Jul 7, 2024.
("The Flying Bear Goes to Beantown | Part 1, Busy Beverly")

With the WFC on the Mohegan Bluffs of Block Island, RI on Jul 14, 2024.
("Voyage to the Little Island of the Gods")

With Barry's Grumman Widgeon at Orange County before flying the NYC skyline on Jul 21, 2024.
("Seventh Time is the Charm: The Skyline Route")

The WFC enjoying lunch at Hangars Cafe at the Sky Acres Airport (44N) on Jul 21, 2024.
("Seventh Time is the Charm: The Skyline Route")

The WFC roasting on a hot National Mall in Washington DC on Jul 6, 2024.
("Hot Times in the 'Freeze'")

Kristy, me, and smiling faces of the WFC after pancakes in Piseco, NY on Aug 24, 2024.
("Live Long and do the Batusi")

400 feet above Lake Michigan at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Aug 4, 2024.
("Adventures in the Mitten | Part 4, Letting Sleeping Bears Lie")

With the Sopwith Camel victor of Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's WWI dogfight on Sep 22, 2024.
("Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome: A Temporal Anomaly in the Hudson Valley")

The KSDC contingent at the annual Benton Airport Fly-In and Pig Out BBQ on Oct 19, 2024.
("Benton 2024: Big Fly-In, Short Runway")

The Highlights

My favorite journeys in 2024 included:

• A vacation to Boston with family and friends, including a first time aerial tour over the city.
• Leading a WFC trip to Mackinac Island and the Sleeping Bear Dunes.
• Beaming back aboard the starship Enterprise in Ticonderoga, NY (WFC trip).
• Another successful sightseeing foray along the Manhattan skyline (WFC trip).
• My second excursion into the Washington DC Flight Restricted Zone (WFC trip).
• Return to Block Island, RI followed by dinner at Tobiko Sushi in Massachusetts (WFC trip).
• A solo exploration of Put-In-Bay, the "Key West of Ohio".
• After five years of trying (and failing), we participated in the annual BBQ at Benton Airport (WFC trip).
• We finally witnessed the WWI dogfight at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome (WFC trip)!

Unusual experiences in 2024 included:

• A partial engine failure and emergency landing over Keene, NH.
• Sharing the airspace with Air Force One for the first time (that I know of).
• Needing to fly two missed approaches at Sodus due to low weather. It was my first time going missed outside of a training exercise in a decade of being instrument rated.
• For years, Rochester was my planned diversion airport. 2024 was the first time I ever used that back pocket escape plan and I used it twice. The first instance was due to low weather on the return home from Boston and the second was due to winds exceeding the control authority of the Warrior at Sodus when returning from SurnameFest (not blogged). Thanks to Bob F and the friendly staff of AvFlight-Rochester for their hospitality in both instances.
• Landing on five different grass runways (Woolsey Memorial, 5D5; Basin Harbor B06; Shelburne, VT8; Benton, PA40; and Green, 4N7) in four different states (MI, VT, NY, PA) with three of them being new to me.

The Numbers

Hours flown: 176.8 / 2945.2 (total).

Hours in IMC: 8.7 / 87.8 (total), where IMC = instrument meteorological conditions.

Hours at night: 6.2 / 141.8 (total).

States Visited: 11. MA, MD, MI, NH, NY, OH, PA, RI, TN, VT, and WV.

Airports Visited: 12 (new) / 49 (2024) / 284 (total).

Passengers: 32. I am grateful to all of these people for joining me in the adventure of flight in 2024: Kristy, The Bear, Mark G, Dave P (safety pilot), Dan VH, Gilead B (safety pilot), Dave L, Tom C (safety pilot), Jesse S, Jiwon H, Ziad S, Steve S, Scott L, Alyssa L, Jamie O, Randal S, Noah S, Mike A (safety pilot), Ed C (safety pilot), and 13 members of the Williamson and Sodus communities who flew with me in Bold Warrior 816 during the WFC pancake breakfast.

Map of 2024 destinations as generated by MyFlightbook and Google Earth.

Thanks for reading and have a happy and prosperous 2025!

Green(e) is the Colour

Getting the Band Back Together

In mid-November, I instigated a common scenario. It went something like this:

1. I looked at the forecast and got really excited about the potential for a good flying day.

2. I sent a text message to Tom proposing a flight that day.

3. Tom said, "I'm in!"

I suggested Greene as a destination, a grass field tucked into the Chenango River valley 10 miles northeast of the long paved runways at Greater Binghamton / Edwin A Link Field. (Yes, that Link.) We have been hearing good things about Greene and the on-field restaurant Lippy's from our friend Dan, but had yet to make the flight there. 

Once Tom confirmed that he and Alicia were in, I started thinking about who might fly with me. Kristy and The Bear were unavailable. Remembering how well Alyssa got along with Tom and Alicia during our Mackinac trip, I invited her to join.

"Great!" responded Alicia when I shared this with her. "We're getting the band back together!"

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

In Search of Good Grass

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
17 Nov 2024	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - 4N7 (Greene, NY) - SDC	2.3	2938.3

Tom and Alicia chose a higher cruise altitude with more favorable wind and, even though Alyssa and I departed Sodus first, we watched their Cherokee 180 pass overhead with 2,000 feet of vertical separation.

When it comes to finding nice turf runways, Pink Floyd had it right with the title of their track from the 1969 album, More: "Green is the Colour". Or, in this case, "Greene". (Sadly, the song has nothing to do with aviation or turf runways.)

West end of the Greene Airport with a prominent "7" marking the end of the runway.

My habit before visiting new airports is to survey satellite imagery to understand how the airport and its surroundings will appear when I arrive overhead. In that imagery, the opposite ends of Greene's runway ends were marked with "7" and "25" as dark stamps outlined in white. I was puzzled initially and wondered if the labels were added digitally by mapping software that somehow knew a runway lay there.

Approach end of Greene's runway 25.

But from the pattern, it was clear that Greene's runways were physically marked with their numbers just like their paved counterparts. Greene's green grass runway stood out against the brownish yellow of an adjacent harvested field. Alyssa and I followed Tom and Alicia on a left downwind for runway 25, flying close to the top of a ridgeline southeast of the airport that defined the Chenango River valley. A Cessna 170 preceded our arrival by a few minutes.

High forested terrain off of the approach end of runway 25 necessitated a steeper than normal approach and I transitioned the Warrior into a slip on short final to move our touchdown point closer the start of the runway. Touch down and roll out were smooth. Greene's runway was well maintained. Tom and I parked near a large hangar building in the northwest quadrant of the airport where we saw a tie down.

Getting Lippy

Lippy's Bar & Grill is at the west end of the runway. Lippy's hours are limited; they are only open on Thursday (3-11 pm), Friday and Saturday (3 pm - midnight), and Sunday (noon - 8 pm). With a menu focused on burgers and barbecue, prices are reasonable and portions are large. We realized this when we saw a neighboring table receive a slab of ribs about the size of the one that tips over the Flintstones' car at Bronto Burger in the closing credits of the 1960s cartoon.

My BBQ chicken sandwich so overflowed the bun that my meal appeared to have wings. We all enjoyed our meals.

Exploring the Turf

Annotated Google Map showing the layout of Greene Airport.

The runway perimeter at Greene is defined by a set of non-standard light fixtures. Beyond them, there is room for aircraft parking off the west end of the runway directly behind Lippy's. Clearly, we could have parked closer to the restaurant than we did.

Lippy's Bar & Grill as seen from the runway.

Greene's runway markings were asphalt pads placed flush with the turf and outlined in white paint. Protection for the nonstandard runway lighting was provided by aircraft tires and what appeared to be Mason jars.

There could be little doubt over which runway this was.

The appropriately named Airport Road crosses the runway near the approach end of 7. Airplanes purportedly have the right of way. I hope drivers on Airport Road pay better attention to signs than the drivers at home.

Me, Tom, Alicia, and Alyssa. Getting the Mackinac band back together.

We paused for the obligatory group selfie before climbing back into our aircraft. Tom remarked that we landed at a lot of grass fields (for us) in 2024: Woolsey Memorial (5D5) in Michigan, Basin Harbor (B06) in Vermont for lunch at the Red Mill, Shelburne Airport (VT8) in Vermont for a visit to Fiddlehead Brewing, Benton Airport (PA40) for the annual fly-in, and now Greene. I have always loved landing on grass, but tend to be suspicious of unfamiliar turf runway without foreknowledge of surface condition.

Warrior 481 at Greene just before departure.

Departure

Tom and Alicia taxied out first for departure. 

Once they were airborne, we also backtaxied runway 25 for departure.

I performed a quick runup next to the runway 25 asphalt markings embossed in the turf. As magnetic north moves over time, renaming these runways is likely to be a lot more work than just painting a  new number and revising paperwork with the FAA.

On departure, we turned slightly to the left to follow low terrain away from the airport as we climbed for altitude.

Greene is one of the closest fields with a restaurant to the Williamson Sodus Airport. As an airport with high quality grass and good  food, I am certain that this will not be our last visit.