December 17, 2006 - Nine Airports
Last weekend I had attempted to land at every public airport on the Eastern Shore.  I landed at eleven airports before I ran out of daylight.  Today's plan was to land at the remaining nine strips.  The weather was supposed to be great.  

I took off, crossed the bay, then I headed southwest to Chorman.  The air was a little bumpy for some reason.  First time I’ve landed at Chorman which has a nice grass strip alongside the asphalt runway.  I’ll have to make Chorman part of the MD/DE All Grass tour. 

Next I headed north to Henderson.  The grass was a little long and the place was deserted.  All there is there is a hangar and someone’s house.  The sectional and Airnav.com says it's a public airport but it looked private to me.  I stayed only long enough to snap the picture and I was outta there.  I took off to the south and there were some rather tall trees at the end of the runway.  The Citabria had no problem clearing them, however.  I won’t be back to this strip. 
Next stop was Jenkins.  I landed on the east-west runway for the first time and got a good look at the north side of the boneyard.  The areas in front of the Quonset-style hangars have been cleaned up. 
I snapped the picture and taxied out. 
The east end of the runway is next to a road.  There is no fence or barrier.  I could have just taxied onto the road! 
Starting the takeoff roll.
Another aerial shot of Jenkins.  The owner, Mr. Jenkins, flew P-61 Black Widow nightfighters in Europe during World War II.
I continued north to Delaware airport.  They have a nice, modern FBO terminal building which is staffed.  An older guy was manning the desk.  He left and a young guy took his place.  I asked the young guy who owned the RV in a hangar across the runway.  The older guy did.  The RV took off ahead of me, probably headed for Georgetown where the RVers were having lunch.  Turns out one of them did a roll on climbout and an FAA guy present wasn’t too happy about it. 
An RV sighting at Delaware! 
I left Delaware for nearby Chandelle Estates which was practically within Dover AFB’s airspace.  There were trees at the north end and I landed to the south so it was sort of like Mountain Road.  The strip was sort of like the way Essex’s used to be.  Old, single story houses lined the west side of the runway.  There were some beat-up old hangars.  In summary, a great airport for the aviation enthusiast!  I liked it.  To the east were marshes. 
Me and a 172 waiting for another plane to takeoff before we can taxi back at Chandelle Estates.   This was my first time at this airport.
Chandell Estates is to the right.  The left arrow points to Dover Air Force Base. 
A private airstrip just north of Chandelle. 
Marshes to the east.  Beyond them is the Delaware Bay.
 
From Chandelle I headed northwest to Smyrna.  At Smyrna I talked to a Champ owner there for awhile, took the picture, then headed north to Summit. 
A big trailer park in Delaware. 
I was going to land on Summit’s long asphalt runway, but their grass strip looked inviting and it was aligned with the wind as well, so I went for it.  There were four big CH-47 helicopters on the ramp; I have an old friend who is a project manager for them.  Just before taking off, the RV-4 I saw a week ago at Cambridge came in and landed. 
I scooted over to Cecil County which is just ten miles away but so different in that it is smack in the middle of a forest on a peninsula at the head of the Chesapeake Bay.   
Cecil County has a cozy pilot's lounge with coffee and donuts.  The pretty RV-4 pulled up, but this time the pilot pushed it into a big hangar.  I guess this is his home base. 
 
There's the RV-4.
After leaving Cecil County, I headed for Massey.  That's a large flock of white birds down there.  The new camera really takes great pictures. 
The final stop was at Massey.  I tried a turning base-final approach which worked really well.  If I’m high,  instead of leveling out on final, I just slip it in.  I had had trouble all day being high on final, so the turning approach, ala Tom Beamer, worked well.  I talked to some people flying a Decathlon for a few minutes, then had to leave to make my ADIZ window.  Potomac asked me if I had filed a flight plan -- I had -- and I thought I was going to have to refile, but then they gave me the code.  I made another turning approach at Essex and it worked great.  I greased it on 16 and turned off at the first taxiway.  One of my best landings ever.

They said this DC-3 has severe structural problems and isn't worth restoring. 

A good shot of the Chester River. 
Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. 
Heading west across the Bay.  Not a lot of boats on the water in December. 

So I've landed at every public airport on the Eastern Shore.  I'm enjoying participating in the Conus Challenge.  During the winter months when things aren't as scenic, it gives you a reason to fly.  Not that I need much encouragement! 

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