Another flying update

I wrote before about not flying as much as I’d hoped throughout college. I always imagined that I’d be able to go to cool places with friends every weekend, easily exhausting the classic $100 hamburger places in and around Upstate NY. Unfortunately, that never really materialized, and I found myself always wishing to be in the air when studying for exams, doing course projects, or caught in job interviews. Alas there’s not enough time for everything in life, but now here we are in my last semester at Cornell, and I still don’t have time—it was silly to believe that I would just be able to have a free day magically.

So instead I’ve said, “screw it, let’s go.” And I’ve already had a chance to do two longer cross countries from ITH. Earlier in October, I flew with some friends and checked the Niagara falls sightseeing route¹ off my bucket-list. The falls don’t seem as tall when you’re 3500’ in the air, but they’re beautiful regardless—and I was even a part of the lucky few to cross over into Canada amidst the COVID-caused border closure (it was just into Canadian airspace, but that counts, right?).

Today, I found myself amidst a streak of CAVU² weather—a true rarity for an Ithaca November. I checked the weather all around and found a good destination—Erie, PA. With an FBO with a crew car and lots of outdoor activities nearby, I flew out to explore a new destination. The fall colors are starting to fade, but visiting a beach in November on a sunny day was already enough to ask for.

The flight out was uneventful, albeit quite longer than it would seem (30+ kts of headwind really does a number on the 110 KTAS cruise speed of a 172P), and after being handed off to Elmira Approach, then Cleveland Center, then Buffalo Approach, and finally to Erie Tower, I taxied into the sole FBO at KERI, North Coast Air. During COVID times, I’ve found that FBOs offering snacks and drinks has become limited, but NCA was offering bottled water and had a water bottle filler station available. Crewcars were still plenty, and there was no fee with a fuel purchase. I drove out to Presque Isle State Park and found some lovely fall foliage and a nice view of the town harbor. I opted to park at a lakeside beach and enjoy a quick lunch before heading back to the airport to flyback to ITH before sundown.

All in all, I netted 4 more hours of loggable flight time and had a wonderful time on the small stretch of coastline Pennsylvania has on Lake Erie.

[1] AOPA link

[2] CAVU: Clear and visibility unlimited