January Flying

Saturday was the first sunny day we have had all week so we went for a ride in the Decathlon

After a few preliminaries we were loaded up and got our clearance to taxi to the active runway.

180 hp and crisp below freezing temps, makes for a quick climb to pattern altitude still abreast the commercial terminal.

We are soon over the Maine Mall packed to the gills . . .Yes, the sheeple go there voluntarily. . . god only knows why.

It is winter out there.

We head west for a spell and after bucking a headwind for about a half hour we are over a dark and gray Lake Winnipesaukee.

We check out some of the summer rentals along the shoreline.

Past the old runway now turned in to a failed residential development by the Hiltons.

 Cold and dark.

A swanky place with a big boathouse.

Kind of hard to see ahead from the back seat.

Over Wolfeboro.

A bit easier to fly from the back if the front passenger scoots over to one side allowing you to see the instruments.

Some of the smaller lakes are starting to freeze over, no doubt some will tempt fate by going out on the ice before it is thick enough, and Darwin will win. He always does.

Headed back east with a strong tailwind makes for a quick ride back to Portland and the plane wallows like a boat riding in following seas.

We are soon back in the downwind leg for RWY 29 when the controllers ask for a a 360 turn to allow more spacing for a landing Cessna Caravan on a long final, so we oblige with a turn over Rigby Yard.

On our base leg we get a good view of the Portland harbor and the Casco Bay Islands on our right.

And the Calvary Cemetery at Cash Corner in South Portland on our left side.

Another shot of the harbor.

The tank farm with barges unloading fuel, and runway 29 up ahead.

On short final we pass the new Mercy Hospital on our right.

And about 400 ft on final when the camera battery gives up the ghost.