April 9, 2022 - Flying to Millville, NJ for Lunch

We had really nice flying weather this Saturday:  outstanding visibility, broken cloud layer, fairly smooth air.  There was wind that kept most of the Essex Skypark planes on the ground but not the RVs.  We had Chuck in his RV-7, Brian in his RV-8, plus Charlie flew over in a Mooney with his sister Army and her friend Emily.

We took off from Essex and headed across the bay.  Today's destination:  Millville, New Jersey.

Here I am joined up on Charlie in the Mooney.
   
This is the first time I've ever flown with a Mooney.
 
Gotta like those retractable landing gear.  Clean.
   
The Mooney has good speed, only about 10 mph slower than the RV in transit.
   
Would you believe this plane is 53 years old?  Yes, it was built in 1969.
   
Cruising over the bay.
   
Now over the Eastern Shore.  It's nice to see some green on the ground, finally.  Visibility was phenominal today.
   
I like a broken cloud layer.  Clear skies are boring.
   
Following Brian and Chuck as I emerge from just below a cloud.
   
Looking down at the south New Jersey marsh.  The marsh hasn't turned green yet for some reason.
   
On final for runway 28 at Millville.
   

Short final.  Brian has landed and exited the runway.  Chuck has landed and is on the cold side.  He'll be off the runway by the time I touch down.  Even if he wasn't, the runway is so wide I could just pass him on the left.
   

We had a nice brunch at Verna's Flightline restaurant.  They serve the food lightning fast, remarkable in this era of short-staffed restaurants.

Returning to our four planes parked on the ramp at Millville, along with another bird on the right.
   
Deuling smartphones on the ramp.  Notice the clear skies.
   
Preparing to board.  Notice the whispy clouds to the right, descending almost all the way to the ground.
   
Chuck displays the RV grin!
   
No sooner had I gotten into my plane but it started to rain!  Hard.
   
I couldn't believe it.  I thought it might hail for a second.
   
But the rain was over in less than five minutes and we taxiied out.
   
Ah, you hate to see this.  A 1968 Iskra 408J made for the Polish Navy.  Also known as the PZL TS-11 Iskra.   It looks like the plane has been abandoned.
   
This is what the Iskra looked like when I saw it in January 2020.   I found an online want-ad for it dated January 2020.  At that time it was still in annual.  The owner lost his medical and was trying to sell it for $8,000.  Apparently there were no takers.  It costs $500/month to hangar it at Millville so now the Iskra sits outside and clearly looks worse for wear.
   
Run-up for takeoff.
   
Section takeoff.  The Mooney and RV-8 are over the runway.  The RV-7A is to the left.
   
Looking down at Millville.
   
Flying in a V formation with the Mooney and RV-8.
   
Look at how much smaller the RV-8 is compared with the Mooney.
   
The Mooney looks great in the air.
   
 
   
Looking down at the Chester River.
   
Descending to take a closer look.  An RV ahead of me has laid down a smoke trail.
   
I've flown the Chester River a million times but this is the first time I've seen another plane on it.  Look in the center of the picture.
   
Zooming in on the above picture -- it's a blue and yellow Stearman!   Needless to say, I soon passed it on the right.
   
Passing by the new waterfront mansion on the river.
   
Approaching a smoke wifferdill left behind by a previous RV.  Yes, of course I flew through it.
   
Pretty day.  Rain squall in the distance.
   
A few weeks ago a 130,000 ton container ship out of Baltimore ran around.  That's it, right of center.
   

The ship - the Ever Forward -- left Baltimore on March 13, almost a month ago, and apparently missed a turn, then suddenly wasn't in the deep shipping channel anymore.  The Ever Forward has a draft of 42 feet but the Bay is only 24 feet deep there.  That dog don't hunt.  So now its hull is buried in 15 feet of mud.  Somebody is losing a lot of money.

Just a year ago another of Evergreen Marine’s containerships, the larger Ever Given, became stuck in the Suez Canal blocking traffic for six days.

Crews have been dredging - basically digging -- around the ship to try and free it up.  Plus they are siphoning off fuel and also some of the water that's carried as ballast.  They have to keep the ship upright and balanced so the containers stacked six stories high don't slide off.

Notice the sailing vessel to the left.  I saw this ship heading out into the Bay from the Key Bridge as I drove to the Skypark this morning.  At that time it only had a topsail up.  Look how small it is compared to the container ship.  Back in the day, that's all they had.
   
We had heavy rain at the Skypark Wednesday so there's a lot of water about.  Notice the big lake at the southern end of runway 16 -- there was a project to fix that -- as you can see, it wasn't too successful, although at least the water isn't on the runway like it used to be sometimes.
   
 
   
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