Back to Niagara

Sunday and we were up good and early. Again the last of the packing had to be completed and us checked out from the hotel in time to catch the 6.20 am bus to the airport again sharing it again with South West crew At the airport the FBO sent around the courtesy “pickup” to bring us to the FBO. Planned departure time was 8.30 so whilst the lineman brought the aircraft to the front of the FBO I busied myself with filing the flight plan. It was the trip down in reverse.

Matt was hiding his apprehension by dozing in the pilots lounge. Unfortunately the vending machine was broken so there was no chance to stock up with in flight goodies other than Pepsi.

By about 8 am we were ready and rather than just hang around I suggested to Matt that we get on our way. 8.10 am and I call up for the clearance; again I am cleared as filed. Another short taxi to runway 23 and a hold for a couple of minutes awaiting the release. At 8.25 am we are cleared for take off and are on our way. For the first five minutes we have to remain below 3000 and then we are cleared to our cruise altitude of 6000 ft. as we leave the Providence departure frequency we are cleared direct to Albany.

This early in the morning the air is so smooth that Matt began to relax and enjoy the flight. He had my handheld GPS in front of him so he is able to follow the route. I knew he was feel better about the trip when the camera came out and he started clicking away.

As we neared Albany we got cleared to Utica again saving the odd mile. The flight is now in a steady routine. The autopilot is on, small heading adjustments are made and the systems monitored. As we pass each checkpoint we mark the time on the chart. Being off airway makes it little more difficult.

It is quite slow going. There is a strong westerly wind and our ground speed was as slow as 89 kts at times. This contrasted with the 149 kts on the way down. This added a full hour to the trip back to just under 4 hours for the 350 nm giving us an average ground speed of 95 kts.

Arriving back in Niagara there was a real sense of deja vu. It was pretty busy too. The weather west was not too good and many pilots planning to go to Oshkosh for the fly-in, were holding fast at Niagara Falls. We arrived not long after a downpour had drenched the place. From EHMAN we were given almost a 40 mile straight in approach to runway 24.

We had finished for the day. Almost four hours in the air was enough and I had no intention of trying to get to Madison that afternoon. The weather in Wisconsin was all thundershowers, the winds were westerlies and it would take another 5 hours at best to get Madison without any diverts. I did consider flying to somewhere in Michigan but decided that Niagara Falls was as good a place to be and at least we could go and see the Falls again.

But at 1 pm we needed food and across from the FBO was just the place. Matt and I ate as if it had been weeks since we last had food. He had two enormous hot chocolates along with a beef sandwich. I went for a local burger.

Thirteen dollars later we rolled out of the restaurant got the FBO to book us another hotel room and call the cab.

There was no need for a sleep this time. Although the flight was almost as long, there was less emotional energy expended.

This time we visited the American side of the falls before drifting into the casino for another buffet dinner. Matt piled the food in again which was a good sign.

Before we went out I had a chance to look at the weather again from the hotel room and it was not looking too good for the following day so I had to give some thought to an alternative route.

Back in the room, whilst Matt was watching TV I was looking at the possibility of flying south of lake Erie, under Chicago and then up to Madison. I would decide in the morning when I had the latest weather.


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