December 4, 2021 - RV Flight to Jamestown, Suffolk
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The flying weather on the mid-Atlantic coast this weekend – Dec 4-5 – was exceptionally good: light winds, clear skies, smooth air, outstanding visibility, a little cool but not cold. The RVs at Essex Skypark took full advantage both days. On Saturday I got to the airport and we were talking about where to go. I offered two suggestions: 1) fly down to Jamestown, Virginia for lunch at Charley's restaurant. Have fun flying low down both coasts of the Delmarva peninsula on the way to and from. and 2) fly the Jersey Coast up to the Hudson River Corridor, then continue on for lunch at Sky Acres Airport in New York. Chuck said let's fly Jamestown today and the Hudson River Corridor tomorrow. OK!
On Saturday three of us -- Mark B., Chuck B., myself and pax Nhu-An -- flew down Delmarva (Delaware-Maryland-Virginia) peninsula to Jamestown Airport then to Suffolk Airport for lunch. We flew back up barrier islands on the Delmarva peninsula. On Sunday we had seven planes (4 RVs) fly up the Jersey Coast, then Hudson River corridor to Sky Acres Airport and restaurant, then back.
Here's a nice shot of Mark over Kent Island with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in the background at left.
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| And one of Chuck. Nhu-An took most of these shots with my camera. |
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| Mark with Kent Island in the foreground and the Severn River at top on the western shore. |
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After passing the mouth of the Choptank River, we descended to fly over the marshes down the west side of the Delmarva peninsula.
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We were flying into the sun so the photography wasn't that great.
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| Notice the bird at center left. |
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This reminds me of B-17s in the movie 12 O'clock High for some reason.
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| Chuck turning and burning. |
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Whoops, forgot to shave this morning.
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| We stopped for gas at Accomack Airport down at the bottom of the Delmarva peninsula. Nice airport. |
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Leaving Accomack, we turned west towards Jamestown, Virginia and went feet wet. The Bay wasn't too wide at this point.
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| Overhead Jamestown Airport (KJGG) which was fairly busy for a relatively small airport. |
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Parked outside the terminal and Charley's Restaurant. We were here for lunch, but the place was jammed and the waiter told us they had run out of food.
Flying here, we had talked to some other pilots on the radio, and they were talking about the airport restaurant at Suffolk and how good the Bar-B-Que was there. Suffolk Airport (KSFQ) was only 35 miles or so south of Jamestown, we were hungry, so we decided to go there.
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| Mounted up, ready to go. |
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A sweet PT-19 taxiis by.
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| Overhead Suffolk Airport. I haven't been here in a while. I know the airport restaurant had closed, but I guess now it is opened again. We shall see. |
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| Parked outside the FBO/restaurant building. |
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| Suffolk Barbeque & Co. at the Airport. It's a relatively small restaurant but it wasn't crowded and the food was excellent. We had a nice lunch. |
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| Our birds parked on the ramp. |
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Chuck B. the photographer.
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| There is a big parachute operation here. They have at least two of these big twins to take jumpers up. |
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We took off from Suffolk just as skydivers were raining down. We headed northeast and climbed to 5,500 to get over all the Norfolk area airspace.
Now we are past the Norfolk airspace and descending down to Cape Charles. The plan is to fly up the ocean coast along the barrier islands. I have done it many times and it's always fun. It would be the first time for Mark and Nhu-An.
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| We had a lot of altitude to lose we we made a big circle turn over Cape Charles. |
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A nice look at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel as it heads south towards Norfolk.
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| Getting lower. |
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| The first barrier island dead ahead. |
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| Here we go! |
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Chuck off our wing.
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| As usual, the beaches were deserted. Not even the birds were out. |
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| When we got close to Wallops Island we turned northwest for home. It was only 4:30 but the sun was already starting to set. |
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Which made for a beautiful view on the way home.
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Beautiful.
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| Chuck tests out his smoke. |
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| Crossing the Bay towards home. |
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Passing a big container ship.
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| Mark took this nice shot with his smart phone. |
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| The majesty and the glory of Essex Skypark. Fun day. |
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