October 21, 2023 - Fly-In at Ophelia Airport
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I've been looking forward to the fly-in at the Ophelia private airport community for weeks. But today, the forecast was for high winds. Furthermore, it would be a crosswind at both Essex and Ophelia. However, Mugsy went to Ophelia early and let me know that once you dropped below the treeline that ran perpendicular runway, the winds dropped way off. So I decided to launch.
The Chesapeake Bay was angry today, my friends.
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It was bumpy below the broken cloud layer as I approached the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
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| But once I got on top, about 4,000 feet, it was nice and smooth. |
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Cruising down the Eastern Shore.
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| Looking north at Tilghman's Island. |
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| Looking south. Ragged Island is just left of center. |
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| Turning southwest to head back across the Bay. |
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ZZZ
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| Approaching the Virginia side. |
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Heading south, enjoying a righteous tailwind. 230 mph!
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| After marking on top St. Marys Airport, I crossed the Potomac River and then headed southeast down the big peninsula formed by the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. |
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| Looking across the Potomac River at Point Lookout which juts out into the Bay. |
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| Passing by Jett Air Park, another little airport community. |
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And there is Ophelia Airstrip (VA99). This would be the third time I've been in here. Winds were from the northeast.
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| Mugsy was not wrong. The winds did drop off once I dropped below the treeline. That said, the RV floated a long way down the runway before finally touching down. |
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Parked on the ramp at Ophelia.
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| Other than the wind, it was a beautiful fall day. |
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| A Piper Arrow and Cub. |
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| An Oyster Bar, no less! Too bad I don't care for oysters too much. |
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The catered lunch buffett line is now open!
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| Soon everyone was chowing down. |
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The fare was first rate: wings, pulled pork, baked beans, deviled eggs and more.
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| There was even live entertainment. A husband and wife band who've been playing since high school days. They could really sing and play. |
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| Another Cub and a Maule. |
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| Surprisingly, the winds had almost disappeared by the time lunch was over. So they decided to go ahead with the flour bomb drop contest. Here everyone is gathered to watch the contest. |
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Here comes the Maule for a drop!
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From the other direction.
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| A Champ is pretty blue livery. |
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Mugsy and I departed together and then did a low pass.
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| Heading back home. Mugsy got us cleared with Patuxent Approach through Restricted Area R-4005. (Actually, Approach told us it was cold and just to stay out of Patuxent Naval Air Station's Class D. ) So I got a rare opportunity to see Pax River NAS from the Bay side. |
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There's a good shot of Pax River NAS from the east.
Although the winds were light at Ophelia when we left, they were still blowing erractically at Essex Skypark when I returned. It was a sporting landing but I managed to pull if off without bending anything on my airplane. Great aviation day; glad I went.
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