N40

Crowd watching us depart at 7N8

Good place for breakfast, busy on Sunday

Beautiful blue sky before 10:00AM, but lots of chop and gusts after noon. We  had tried this "$100 Hamburger" run before but aborted due to turbulence.  But we had started later in the day, this time we should be home before the thermals started in the afternoon heat.

Crossing back into PA

Final Approach to Rwy 34 at 7N8

A Citabria parked near us and my acquaintance from Beltzville (14N) stopped by to talk about airplanes. He had been an instructor in Slatington (69N) when I was just starting out. Still has the original seat cushion from the Champ I had trained in.

We completed the preflight and started her up. Saw the crowd in the parking lot as I lined up on the runway. (Not use to having an audience, but I was in the right seat and could blame any embarrassment on her.) It was a smooth normal take off and we immediately picked up the purple line and climbed to 2500'. I engaged the autopilot, did my cruise checks and generally 'cleaned up my office' for the flight out of the state.

Sky Manor is a pleasant little airport just past the Delaware river in NJ. There was a Cessna departing as we entered the pattern, and just a mild wind, pretty much down the center line as I rolled onto final. The Place was really busy on a beautiful Sunday morning. Many folks sat in lawn chairs watching the runway as we landed. Nice breakfast as we watched a helicopter student learning to maneuver. At least 3 folks stopped us to ask questions during the preflight to leave...one was particularly interested in a transition due to a medical condition. (An interesting discussion on FB: should pilots have the option of "self approval" and will this be abused and lead to LSA accidents? Time will tell.)

We excused ourselves from the conversations and climbed in for the return trip. The heat was starting to churn the air and we encountered light chop most of the way home. Disconnected the autopilot over Pennsberg and headed toward the reservoir to set up for a long straight-in to Rnwy 34 at Butter Valley. 

I kept it a little high knowing that once past the 'big ugly tree' she sinks pretty quickly over the grass. Cross wind from the left kept me busy in the round out and a few extra knots helped me cushion the flare, but it was a good workout keeping everything going in the right direction.

Overall a very nice trip, one I hope can be repeated often.