I flew a new Eurofox light sport aircraft to Sun N' Fun for Rob Rollison from Frankfort and then delivered it to a customer, Dave Gelinas, in Belfast, Maine after returning in it from Sun N' Fun. N161 DG What a great little airplane, Paula and I really enjoyed the trip to Maine. We left Frankfort heading to Maine at 1330 on May 1, 2007, attempting to beat the arrival of some threatening weather. As you can see in the picture below it was a nice sunny day when we left. The Derby Breakfast tents are assembled in the Capitol parking lot waiting for the revelers!
Due to cloud cover and turbulence we climbed to 11,500' and picked up a nice tailwind!
Our first planned stop was Williamsport, Pennsylvania, but due to thickening clouds, a lowering ceiling, and impending rain we decided to land in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania instead. What a fortunate choice for us as we found Piper Memorial Field (KLHV). Which has parallel asphalt and turf runways and was once the home of Piper Aircraft! What history and the people were very helpful, friendly and accommodating. The flight from Frankfort (KFFT) to Lock Haven (KLHV) took 3.1 hours and was 446 miles. We averaged 144 mph
We spent the night at Lock Haven and had a nice room at the Best Western, the airport furnished us with transportation to and from the hotel at no charge and had the lowest price aviation fuel of the trip. We rented hangar space for the plane and that was money well spent as it stormed during the night with high winds and hail. We waited until 1000 the morning to leave in order for the skies to clear. Our next scheduled stop was South Bethlehem, New York (4B0) 215 miles northeast. We climbed above the murk and clouds to 11,500' again, but the winds were not as favorable and we only averaged 108 mph.
The final leg of our trip was to Belfast, Maine from Albany, New York. The following images are from that leg. A ski resort over Vermont, an interesting cloud, Mount Washington, Belfast, Maine, and the Belfast Airport (KBST). Once again to avoid turbulence find the best winds and stay above the murk we flew between 9,500' and 11,500'. Belfast is 273 miles northeast of Albany, New York. We averaged 109 mph for this leg of the trip.
Vermont ski area, note the snow on the runs!
Mount Washington, home of the highest recorded wind gust on the surface of the earth, 231 mph!
