Return from The City

It was a disappointing Wednesday. I had just planned what promised to be a wonderful trip down the eastern seaboard, flying over Delaware, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Outer Banks, before heading west to Charlotte. I was headed to visit a customer down there, and we had hoped to stop at Dillon's Aviation, where our trusty C172K is undergoing open-heart surgery (or a 160HP engine & ehaust upgrade). Well, it was not to be. The wives were lonely, Dad was getting antsy, things at the office were piling up, and the weather for the flight back on Friday promised to be fairly sketchy. I was all about getting stranded somewhere, or having to fly "the long way" back. You know...part of the adventure, but it worked out best this way. I'm flying down Monday, Lord willing, down & back in one day. It promises to be clear and beautiful, so I'm actually pretty glad that I don't have to slog it out in turbulence under an overcast in the Appalachians. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. Anyhoo, on to the subject at hand.

Flying out of Teterboro at 6PM is tough. The place is literally swarming with corporate jets, and the departure procedures were rather cryptic. We listened to ground, and it seemed that the controllers were asking for engine starts. We called a few times, telling the ground controller that we were ready for departure, awaiting taxi instructions, and you could hear crickets chirping as the controllers ignored us for the social elite in their G-IV's. We then switched over to Clerance Delivery, and still couldn't get anybody to respond. FINALLY, the lady on clearance delivery realized that we were VFR, and were NOT a corporate jet. I think they had been scouring the lists for our scheduled flight. Well, we didn't file a flight plan (probably should've to make things run more smoothly). We finally got clearance to taxi and hold short. Right behind a bunch of jets stacked up, waiting for departure as they burned through more fuel than I could possibly hold. (Note the Piaggio P-180 Avanti at the rear of the line - not a common sight!)
I was stoked because we were sitting at the departure end of runway 1, just sitting and watching jets takeoff. It was pretty cool, and some of those Gulfstreams just stood on their tail - I swear that they must've cleared 800-1000ft just off the end of the runway. We finally got our takeoff clearance, and we navigated our way back to Wilkes-Barre, where we hoped to find cheaper fuel. In addition to the $75/night ramp fees, Teterboro was asking $5-$6 for 100LL. I guess that's why no other piston aircraft were around. Since we were flying back late (after 5PM), we needed a stop with 24hr fuel, and the lights were always on at KAVP! We landed at Wilkes-Barre, which is a rather tricky approach - the airport is down in a valley, so you can't see it from the east or west, until you're about 6-10 miles away.
We followed a Beech 1900 in on final, and taxied to First Flight, where we enjoyed free coffee (with $150 fuel purchase), wireless internet, and a beautiful baseball game on their 32in flat screen. After relaxing a little bit, we got back in the DA40, and dialed in Coshocton, OH. You can see the joys of having XM Nexrad, and why it was nice to be flying in Pennsylvania, and not watching FOXNEWS in a hotel in North Carolina!
The sunset was amazing - my camera really couldn't capture it well. I tried taking other pictures during the flight from AVP to I40, but they didn't come out, even with a 30-second exposure in smooth air and a full moon. I was astounded at just how D-A-R-K north-central PA is - there were these vast segments of pitch black on the ground, and it wasn't until we got to about the Clarion/Emelonton area that lights from farms and small towns started peppering the landscape. I thought the area around Coshocton was dark at night! It was a smooth and uneventful flight back, and Dad got to log 4hrs. Lucky!