One of those Flights...

Do you ever just have one of those flights where everything seems to just come together? Well I had one last week and it makes all those hours of studying, planning, arranging schedules and of course financing, worth it.

Our destination was a small airport at the tip of Cape Cod and our steed was a formidable Baron 55. Weather was looking good with winds out of the northeast and a scattered layer at 3000 feet enroute. I called a friend the night before to see if he was interested in joining me. I told him he’d have one of the best views of Boston’s morning skyline from the copilot window, he was sold.

I called up weather the morning of the flight on DUATS and filed direct from Nashua NH, not knowing what sort of route they’d give us to keep us out of Logan’s flight arrivals and departures. After pulling the plane from the warm hanger and preflighting, we were off to the run-up area along runway 32.

Having done my undergraduate work at Daniel Webster College, I was familiar with the airport and I couldn’t help but take a few moments to reminisce on all that I’d learned since getting my private pilot license here some 20 (ahem) years ago. Kids, family, countless preflights, articles, books, and stories separated me from that life of the innocent college student. I have lost much of my innocence of youth, but not the zeal for lifting off at rotation speed to see the world beneath me float away along with all its chaos, noise and politics.

After copying my clearance (they gave us direct Boston direct Provincetown), and making sure the IO 470’s were functioning properly, we were cleared for takeoff. “Let’s go flying.” I said, as I pushed the throttle levers forward. As always I was impressed at how much faster twins will accelerate than the light singles I’m used to flying. In no time we were up at 3000 feet enjoying the view and trying to keep up with the numerous frequency changes enroute. After only 30 minutes we were cleared for the visual by Cape Approach, and despite a hefty crosswind, the Baron handled the landing well. After cleaning up the plane and completing the shutdown checklist we sauntered into the quaint airport and enjoyed the views of one of the neatest communities in the Northeast.
Provincetown is home to but a few thousand locals in the winter months, but surges to over 30,000 in the summertime. We spent an hour enjoying the views of sand dunes, galleries and seabirds before heading back for Nashua.

The return flight was also uneventful with a few more vectors around traffic than on the way down, but still fantastic views and good company made it all worthwhile.

I hope you have flights like this one where all the hard work seems to pay off. I don’t think we should ever take for granted what it means to have a smooth flight where we think “wow, this is easy”. In my mind, that usually means we’ve done our homework and there is always something to be learned from every flight. At the same time, one of the things that I love about aviation is that it’s never seemed like burdensome “work” for me. I actually love reading books, flight manuals, practicing approaches in simulators and figuring out the nuances of a weather report. I can’t think of a better gift than a spectacular view of this amazing planet when all that “work” pays off. Safe and happy travels.