Rob takes a slightly different route on our return flight to Lehigh Valley International Airport (KABE) so that I can see one of the ridges near West Milford, NJ. There is a small general aviation airport in West Milford, NJ near Greenwood Lake (4N1), so we fly from Westchester County Airport (KHPN) to 4N1 to KABE. This is not far from the Sparta VOR we flew over on our flight to KHPN earlier. Rob gives our course to the controllers. After we clear the immediate airspace around KHPN, we are told to fly under class B airspace. The floor of class B airspace in the area is 3,000 feet, the controllers tell us to fly at 2,500. Rob does not request flight following, he will be navigating using the instruments in the Cherokee and his aeronautical charts. I continue to scan for other aircraft.
There is an area that I had done some hiking a few years ago, the Abraham S. Hewitt State Forest, not far from 4N1. I think it would be fun to fly over the this ridge top forest. I regret not taking photos for you. See the Google Earth image below showing some of the locations mentioned in this article. The image at the top of this article is an extract from an aeronautical chart.
The airport, 4N1, is near the southern end of Greenwood Lake, so I help Rob look for the airport. Rob spots 4N1 first, he radios the common air traffic frequency used at 4N1 to say that he is overflying the field from west to east at 2,500.
Rob is flying into a head wind. Our ground speed to about 93 knots, 20 knots lower than our ground speed on the flight to KHPN.
Rob circles around to the north after overflying 4N1 and we fly over the ridge I hiked a few years ago. Things are starting to get quieter on the radio as we fly farther away from the edge of class B airspace. It is getting a little late, so I tell Rob that I have seen what I wanted to see in the Greenwood Lakes area. He sets a course to KABE. We fly over the Sparta VOR. Soon we are in airspace that is more familiar to me.
All to quickly we enter KABE airspace. KABE approach hands over to the tower and we enter the pattern for landing. We taxi to the ramp. Rob has to tie down the Cherokee for the night. Rob asks me to get out of the Cherokee and help out by pushing/guiding the plane back to the tie-down area.
I will be posting one final article in this series, probably this Wednesday, with some references where you may go for more information on some of the aviation terminology that I have used in this series.
No comments:
Post a Comment