Maine to Pinehurst North Carolina and back in one day

1600 miles and 9 hours of flying in one day.

We taxi out to rwy 11 at KPWM with a heavy overcast.

Wheels up at about 7:30 am in to a layer of clouds at about 500 ft

At a 1000 ft we are over the deck headed south east with Old Orchard Beach poking through a hole in the clouds.

The Garmin shows the way

It's good to be in the sunshine

We are past Massachusetts and through Connecticut and cross out on Long Island Sound over Groton, Connecticut.

The north eastern tip of Long Island as we fly over the sound.

At 8000 ft we are bucking a bit of a headwind with a true airspeed of 166 kts we are only making 156 kts over the ground. Outside air temp at 50 deg when on the ground it's near 90

An overview of the front office

We travel the length of Long Island and over Queens are about to cross over JFK airport

Right over JFK, one of the busiest airspaces in the entire planet

We hop across Roxbury looking down Rockaway Point with the old Floyd Benet Field off to the right

Crossing Lower Bay on to the New Jersey Side where we get a good view of the Sandy hook peninsula and the freighters making their way out of NY harbor.

A shot Looking back at NYC, Rockaway Beach and the East River Upper Bay over the right wing.

Soon we fly pas Lakehurst New jersey site of the famous Hindenburg accident. The scale of the big hangars that were used to keep the dirigibles in is hard to fathom. But to gives you a basic idea the small structures on the lower left of the photo are full sized American houses.

An other shot of Lakehurst as we leave it over our right side.

Most folks think of New Jersey as a big crowded urban metropolis, not realizing how big it is. This is agricultural NJ, almost rural America.

Coming on down the southern end of NJ over the Maurice River delta we are about to cross on to Delaware Bay.

The moving map in the Garmin radio gives us an amazing sense of orientation never quite possible with the old steam gauges.

Soon we are across Delaware bay and over Dover AFB.

At 11 am after about 3 hours of flight we make a pit stop in West Point Virginia, to relieve the bladders, add some fuel and buy some lunch. We borrow the airport car and run to Antonios Pizza for some grub.

 

The Fight-Aware page shows out track for the first leg of our flight from Portland Maine to West Point, Virginia. And Soon we start the second leg of the journey.

We get going and level off at 10 thousand feet and settle down for our first inflight meal of the trip. A fish sandwich and onion rings for me . . .

And Greek Salad with a scoop of tuna salad on top for Clint.

Autopilot is handy when dinner time comes around . . .

 After lunch and with only 122 miles to go to our destination we request and receive clearance on up to 13 thousand feet. Still bucking a 9 kt headwind with a true airspeed of 163 kts we are only making 157kts over the ground. Thankfully the outside air temperature is a mere 46 deg F.

We don the Oxygen and at 13 thousand feet the Flight Stat tells me I have a zero O2 blood saturation level and a heartbeat of 91 meaning technically I am dead. So that's my problem ehhhh!!!

By 1:15 pm we arrive at Monroe County North Carolina. Golf capital of the world.

We tun final approach in to Moore County airport.

Picked up our rental car and head for Pinehurst Resort. A Swanky golf resort where Clint has a conference with some clients . 

I hang out in the lobby and find a hotspot to fire up the laptop while watching a steady parade of child-golf-prodigies waltz through the hall. Apparently the International Youth Golf Tournament was in full swing. All-in-all quite a nice place that despite clearly being the playground for the well to do did not exude that air of snobbishness that so many of these places all to often do.

A screen shot of the leg from West Point to Pinehurst NC. An hour and a half later Clint is all done with his presentation.

 

Soon we are on our way after a brief misadventure attempting to procure some sandwiches for our dinner.

We make our way on up to 15 thousand feet to try and take advantage of the tailwinds headed back up north-east and have to dogleg about 70 miles around a line of serious thunder storms on our right. At this altitude it proves we have 23 kt a direct cross wind but we are now making some headway. We show a ground speed of 178 kts and a true airspeed of 178kts. Outside air temp is just below freezing at 29 deg F

This is what the thunder storms look like out the right window.

Stormscope show some lighting strikes within the cell as we cross the Virginia state line.

 

The O2 at full flow to keep us from getting to goofy

But as we make our way north east the winds turn increasingly in our favor, so we push on up to 17 thousand feet to take full advantage of the 25 to 30 kt tailwind.

Around 7 pm we settle in to our second in flight meal of the day. Chicken salad sandwich for me . . .

 . . . and a Tuna wrap for Clint... the only thing we need now are the cocktails.

As we cross back over the lower end of New Jersey the 22 kt tailwinds really start to turn in our favor and we are covering some ground at 198 kts with a true airspeed of 176 kts. Temp at this altitude is - 6 centigrade

An O2 check shows I better adjust my regulator for increased flow.

As we make our way north the clouds recede below us

As pretty as they are from above I don't want to be in them

The view ahead of us as we near NYC

NYC somewhere in below the clouds as we watch the heavies arriving and departing JFK and listen to the comical mix of international accents on the radio. A couple of Brits, an Ozzy, a German, a Frenchman, a couple of Hispanics, a Hindu and an Arab pilot could all be heard over the frequency within a couple minutes.

The sun starts to set over the clouds now past 8pm

The day is getting long

. . . . as we make our way past NYC

It is for glorious moments like this that we fly

The XM music radio really did the job of relaxing the long day.

We transit NY airspace back over Long Island Sound in to Connecticut making better than 200 kts over the ground

Somewhere over Boston round about 8:45 the last rays of sun finally disappear over the horizon.

And we shoot the GPS RWY 29 approach  to Portland about 9:15pm

Short final for RWY 29 at KPWM

One hop from Moore County, North Carolina to Portland Maine in 4 hours and 15 minutes. 800 nautical miles each way, 1600 miles total and 9 hours of flying in one long day.