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| I'm, once again, out of job. Needed a break from the previous gig, and not yet certain when the next one is going to come around. So, what can I do with my free time? I could pick up a few computer books and familiarize myself with the latest technologies. But that would mean I'd have to waste a perfect day of good flying. Renting planes can get quite expensive, if you fly a lot. That's why I want to get my own plane (but that's a totally different issue, and I'll leave that to another day.) But I think I've just discovered a good way to finance this expensive hobby. The weather was great. A little windy, but sky clear, visibility unlimited. I called up the FBO, made sure the plane was available, and that I could have it for a few hours without having to worry about returning it for the next person. The plan was to take off in late afternoon, fly to Atlantic City, spend a couple of hours there, and then a nice and easy night flight back. With that in mind, 3:30pm EST: Finished pre-flight and getting ready for the take off
3:45pm EST: Departed Caldwell and started the outbound leg of the flight En-route: After clearing the busy NY airspace, I flew right toward to ocean, then turned south-bound and flew along the shore. With a 25mph tail wind at 4500 ft, ocean and land was just gliding by below me. Before I knew it (figuratively speaking, of course, I knew where I was the whole time), I was approaching Atlantic City airspace. After contacting AC approach control, I started descending to the destination airport, Bader Field, which is just one mile away from the casinos, as you can see from the pictures. How convenient!
4:45pm EST: Tied down the airplane, called a Taxi and I was on my way to work. 5:00pm EST: With $100 in hand, sat down at a Blackjack table, and started making back the airplane rental money. 6:00pm EST: Walked away from the table, $105 richer. Doesn't quite cover the rental, but not too shabby. 6:40pm EST: Back at Bader Field and getting ready to go home. 6:50pm EST: Airborne, yet
again, into a clear, crispy night sky. Circled above the city one
more time before turning on course. Chatting with air traffic
controllers the whole way back just to make sure that they kept an eye on me,
and another on all other airplanes. I sure as hell didn't want a Boeing
747 run into me in the dark. 8:00pm EST: Touched down at Caldwell. The end to yet another field trip, one that almost paid for itself. Here are two video clips from the trip. You'll need RealPlayer to see them.
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