Yup, finally rented a plane and did a little flying on my own. Been over 4 years.... my recent review went OK, and I felt pretty good about things.
As luck would have it, between my wx brief and arrival at the airport, things get a little blustery for 9AM: stiff crosswind at nearly a right angle to the runway; 10 gusting to 15 or thereabouts. Hm. And variable... double-hm. Need to gas up ol' 715 anyway, so I decide to wait and see, as I take care of that.
Not much change by the time I'm taxiing, but the now-substantial gang of flyers using the field decides to start departing east instead of west, so it's time to burn more money taxiing down to the departure end of 07. By the time I'm set to go, it's an hour into my block of time on the plane. So it goes... I check the sock again; still seems within limits.  Let's roll!
My takeoff is not bad; pretty much got that upwind wing down, and settled into a good crab on climbout.
Feels so good to be alone at the controls again- the butterflies vanish, and I'm right at home, mild turbulence and all. Time to whip out the new camera for a few "blind" shots. Sadly, these are the best of the bunch...


Quick climb to about 2500; pass the Solberg VOR, and it's off to Blairstown. I'd planned originally to land there, then continue to Wilkes-Barre/Wyoming Valley, but time's getting short, and the clouds are rather low. And if this wind picks up as the day heats up, my arrival back at 47N could be more interesting than I'd like.


My nav is good; I'm very happy with it. Hackettstown Airport slides past right on schedule: I veered a little off-course to get a closer look at it; didn't even notice the sculpted greenery until I checked the pics later!


Since I'm shooting "blind" out the window, may as well try a self-portrait. I know I look dour, but the smiley one was just too goofy. I was having fun- honest.


Conditions are about the same at Blairstown; little bumpy over the rising terrain as I make my pattern entry, but the landing is acceptable. I consider doing some pattern work there, but it is getting  busy, and I'm still fretting about the weather. Best to hop out for a smoke and a wx update, stretch my legs,  then head home.
But there are distractions:



I like Blairstown... haven't been there in a while. It occurs to me just now that it is a place of milestones for me: first intro flight, first landing as PIC with a passenger, first solo landing after longest hiatus yet.

Couple more from the leg back to 47N: Spruce Run Reservoir near Solberg, and a train near 47N.



As for my arrival at 47N: not my best. Bounced sufficiently to have to go around on the first approach; bounced again the second time, but got it on the runway and stopped with a little  to spare. Despite the xwind, I was tempted to have another shot at it, but my time was almost up, and somebody was waiting for 715.
Of course, the wind settled down a bit as soon as I had the plane parked...
  Been thinking about where I went wrong.... I think the next flight will be nothing but pattern work.
I know I'll get it right, but I've got to say the poor landings put a bit of tarnish on the otherwise nice day. Nobody hanging out outside the FBO even gave me a hard time about it- that really hurts!
Chatted afterwards with a lady who was also taking pictures, she thought she'd caught my "arrival"; I was very relieved  to see only a picture of me taxiing.
Whatever; back in the saddle I go, and 'round and 'round until I get a firmer grip on landings.
  I have a few more interesting pix from 47N, including a big SimV-related surprise, so watch this space!!

Dude! Next time you go up let me know. Spruce Run is like, 10 miles from my house.

Sweet. Let me know.

Thanks... I'm not that blue about it; my first landing of the day was pretty damn good, considering.
Definitely shed a couple of layers today, if you know what I mean (and had fun doing it)-  after some more hard work, I think I'll have my groove back.

Hi Rotty:
I still do this
When I take a passenger up whether they are a pilot or not (and this includes the old girl) I will explain the circuit to them and if there is no traffic I will ask them to slowly ease the power off on downwind or base and not tell me when they are going to do it.

It certainly makes for an interesting circuit sometimes and it is great training.

It is also good to let your passenger fly, brief them on what you learned, not is so much detail but it refreshes you and keeps the passenger active.

I once told a passenger to get his nose up, he looked at the ceiling of the aircraft and wanted to know how we flew that way LMAO
I laughed so hard I was crying.

Have fun Rotty

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

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Nah. I will however bring my camera. Muahaha.

Aye. Same to you.

Don't know how I missed this. It's a tad late but a very interesting thread. Nice shots too. Great stuff.

PS. If I ever visit the US again (which seems unlikely) don't be surprised if I look you up.

Yeah, what Paul said-the weather was like that on my first solo, shooting past the clouds just a couple hundred feet above me.

Glad to hear you're back in the saddle!

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Y'know, normally I enjoy that, but I was a little taken aback by it that time- the clouds were lower than reported, and since they had pretty much just started forming, it was pretty bumpy underneath. My route was taking me into slightly higher terrain, also- had I not had to abort the second leg of my flight due to time, I probably would've had to do so anyway, rather than find a way up top and risk getting caught as the clouds grew taller and more numerous.
  But oddly enough, I found that at 2500, the ride was too rough (not fun getting "tipped over" when you're out of practice!), but at 2900 it was very smooth for the most part, although occasionally I'd still "hit a bump" and lose some altitude. A little higher, and I'll bet it was bumpier again... and higher still it'd have been: "where'd everything go, and which way is up?!"
But of course, I was no less than 500 feet from the bases of the clouds at all times, as per FAR 91.155...

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Flying W or Lancaster are pretty good for food ... 

About your bounces ... if it makes you feel any better, i have about 600 something landings and 180 hours and all of them in less than 2 years so I am in pretty decent shape.

And yet, no matter what the wind, whenever I land at flying W I drop it like a sack of potatos.

I just can't get landings at Flying W straight.

Sometimes I can grease landings in pretty hefty x-winds but when it comes to flying W, especially landing on Runway 1 I do some of my most horrible, teeth-jarring landings I can remember.