Logistics
With the start of September, The Bear was ready to depart for western Massachusetts and her second year of college. As befuddling as this is for me, I have colleagues who still remember her birth announcement as though it occurred last month and they are even more surprised. Time is a slippery beast.
With tuition paid, prescriptions preemptively filled, and bags packed, we paused to debate the most efficient use of two Subarus, one Honda, and one Piper to accomplish a move-in for The Bear and a timely return to a nest once again made empty. Ultimately, we settled on Kristy and The Bear driving The Bear's car to Massachusetts, followed by me in Warrior 481. The Bear and her roommate had a storage unit in the next town over, so we would use The Bear's car to shuttle their possessions to the dorm, then the car would stay behind in Massachusetts. With the Warrior involved, Kristy and I would halve the 4.5 hour drive back home. It was a good plan.
My life has been hectic in 2026 and I have found myself craving time for simple rejuvenating activities, like sitting quietly and reading. Once Kristy and The Bear departed for Massachusetts on Saturday, September 5, I spent the next two hours doing exactly that before packing an overnight bag and driving to the airport.
Cloudscapes
| Date | Aircraft | Route of Flight | Time (hrs) | Total (hrs) |
| 05 Sep 2026 | N21481 | SDC (Sodus, NY) - 7B2 (Northampton, MA) | 2.2 | 3236.6 |
It was a calm, beautiful day to fly, but I filed IFR because I expected to encounter intervening clouds and there was a possibility of needing an instrument approach to get into Northampton, the idyllic little country airport just fifteen minutes north of Mount Holyoke College (MHC). I topped off the tanks and took to the sky.
 |
| Lake Ontario. |
Over the New York countryside, I spied the first hint aerial of impending autumn.
Filing IFR was a good choice. I traversed a series of diverse cloudscapes on the way to Massachusetts.
I watched the Warrior's wing slice through the atmosphere, clouds drifting both above and below, and experienced a feeling of tranquility that I have never felt while zipping along I-90 in traffic.
As a student pilot, I was an experienced highway driver who felt significant anxiety during many of my early flying lessons. While I was not so anxious that I stopped flying, I certainly fought against those feelings prior to "strapping on" the Cessna 150. But today, I would much rather flirt with innocuous clouds in a mostly empty sky than dodge SUVs and eighteen-wheelers on the New York State Thruway.
Over, under, and through the clouds I passed.
I have travelled this route so many times recently that I immediately recognized Otsego Lake. Cooperstown, NY, home to the National baseball Hall of Fame, is situated on the south end of the lake.
Capital City Stealing the Spotlight
Sunlight passing through various cloud layers illuminated downtown Albany, NY in a celestial spotlight.
For a moment, the sunlight was focused so precisely on downtown Albany that it seemed like there was an intentional intelligence behind it.
After crossing the Hudson River and the Berkshire Mountains, Albany passed me to Bradley Approach that cleared me direct to CAAHL for the RNAV-14 instrument approach. Closer to Northampton, I descended below the clouds, sighted the airport nestled along the ridge of the Holyoke Range, and cancelled IFR to join the pattern for runway 32
Return to Northampton
Downwind pattern legs for Northampton's runway 32 are flown pointed directly at the Holyoke Range, which is a favorite hiking destination for The Bear. A large white structure known as Summit House sits at pattern altitude on the peak of Mount Holyoke itself, the mountain for which MHC is named. Each fall, MHC administrators designate Mountain Day. On Mountain Day, the campus clock tower chimes 100 times to announce the cancellation of classes and call the students to assemble at Summit House. There, they enjoy a festival atmosphere and celebration of a perfect autumn day near the start of the semester. As traditions go, this is a pretty good one.
Northampton Airport lies alongside the Connecticut River where it winds through western Massachusetts.
On left base, runway 32, Northampton.
It was Colin who originally suggested Northampton to me. The beautifully situated little field is everything he promised it was and conveniently close to MHC. It was my first time back to Northampton since visiting in the spring for The Bear's orchestra concert ("Call of the Red-Legged Kittiwake"), but it was already starting to feel like a "home away from home" and the friendly welcome I have received on each arrival has reinforced that feeling.
After landing, I secured the Warrior for an overnight stay. At the time, I did not really contemplate the airplane with the tan vertical stabilizer tucked in behind Warrior 481's aft left quarter until I read the news the next morning. Sometime after I took this picture, Archer N7653F departed Northampton after sunset, apparently encountered severe weather conditions, and crashed near Ludlow, MA. Both occupants lost their lives. Other ramp pictures I took that evening confirmed that the accident airplane was the one that I parked next to.
I have no connection to that airplane, did not know the pilot or his right seater, and did not even cross paths with them that evening at Northampton. Even so, the incident felt chillingly close.
To reach the FBO, I had to make a second approach on a different runway 32.
Once I had the Warrior settled in for the night, Kristy and The Bear arrived in the Subaru. From there, we were off to dinner with The Bear's friend Zoe, we visited to the storage unit to inspect the condition of everything left over the summer, and then retired for the night at a hotel.
Move-In Day: September 6
Kristy and I unloaded the car at The Bear's dorm while The Bear retrieved her room key from Blanchard Hall, the student union facility referred to as "Blanche" by the students.
Kristy was sure that we would need to make multiple runs back and forth to the storage unit that morning, especially considering that we were also going to move The Bear's roommate's stuff while we were at. The Bear's roommate is from New Mexico and had not flown into town yet.
"Naw, we'll fit everything in one load," I boasted after seeing what was in the unit the night before.
And we did. It was tight, but who needs to be able to see out the rear window anyway? And, yes, I had to carry a small bookshelf on my lap to make everything fit. In the elevator at the storage facility, we encountered another family that I recognized from the dorm that morning. It turns out that they were from Bloomington, IN and were quite surprised when I mentioned living there for five years.
The Bear's room has a nice view of campus with a four minute walk to Blanche and the adjoining dining hall. In short order, the room filled with The Bear's friends all eager to help with move in. I excused myself to do the most "dad" task I could, topping off the gas in The Bear's car and putting air in the tires.
The Bear had Kristy and I back at Northampton Airport before lunchtime for our return flight.
$100 Sushi
As I undid Warrior 481's tiedowns at Northampton, I watched a Cessna 150 pilot at the fuel farm overfill his tank so that a tsunami or avgas surged over the wing's camber to cascade off the trailing edge. Oops. When the pilot looked in my direction, I averted my eyes and pretended to have been looking elsewhere.
| Date | Aircraft | Route of Flight | Time (hrs) | Total (hrs) |
| 06 Sep 2026 | N21481 | 7B2 (Northampton, MA) - BAF (Westfield, MA) - SDC (Sodus, NY) | 2.5 | 3239.1 |
We departed runway 33 VFR while pointed directly at a localized rain shower. I made a premature crosswind turn to stay out of the weather, which pointed us directly at Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport exactly eleven miles away. The towered airport in Delta airspace is home to both an Air National Guard unit that flies F-35s and our favorite sushi restaurant, Tobiko. As soon as I reported leaving the pattern at Northampton, I switched to Westfield Tower. The twelve minute flight was likely my shortest of 2026 and it was only that long because we flew past Westfield on the downwind to land on runway 02 pointed back in the direction of Northampton.
Despite the gloomy departure from Northampton, the weather was much better in Westfield.
We launched IFR from Westfield to Sodus, another milestone in our lives bookended by time in the air. I am frequently asked how college is going for her and my standard answer is that "she's killing it". Because she is. I am so tremendously proud of her and the fine person she is becoming.
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