October 8, 2008:  I landed at Schroon Lake Airport (#83, if anyone besides me is bothering to keep track).  At 800 feet elevation and 3000 feet long, this is hardly a "mountain strip".  However, the approach end of runway 34 is obscured by very tall trees and rising terrain that slopes skyward at a greater rate than many light aircraft climb.  A "typical" approach would be impossible here and pilots that dogmatically adhere to 3° glideslopes should not even bother trying.  As a result, landings are recommended on 16, departures on 34.  Unfortunately, the wind was definitely favoring 34.  I flew a very steep final approach in a full forward slip.  As I slid my airplane sideways through the air, I watched the treetops pass just below and was reminded of landing on the grass runway at my old home airport in South Haven, MI.  Even with the steep approach I flew, the trees and terrain made it such that I was unable to touch down until half the runway was already behind me.  It did not help that the long tapered wing on the Warrior simply does not like to stop flying.  In the end, it was a landing I was proud of, but I had to work hard for it.

January 3, 2009:  My Warrior's old tech wing with each rivet highlighted by oblique lighting from the setting sun.  Below, the Genesee River winds through Letchworth State Park.

May 22, 2009:  Warrior 481 waiting outside the terminal at Lancaster, PA (LNS) while I was inside having lunch at Fiorentino's Italian Bar and Grill.

May 22, 2009:  Warrior 481 parked at Grimes Airfield (8N1) in Bethel, PA during a visit to the Golden Age Air Museum.

June 27, 2009:  On the field at Sunbury Island Airport in central Pennsylvania.

July 8, 2009:  Dew on the wing of Warrior 481 at the St Ignace, MI airport.

July 9, 2009:  Kristy and Warrior 481 back at Le Roy, NY after our trip to Mackinac Island, MI.

August 24, 2009:  Warrior 481 on the ramp at St. Mary's, PA.

April 30, 2010:  On the ground at Great Valley airport (N56), a turf-only airport near Salamanca, NY.

April 30, 2010:  Looking along the turf runway at Great Valley.

May 29, 2010:  In Pontiac, loading up for the quick hop to Kalamazoo.

June 15, 2010:  On the ground at Plymouth Municipal Airport, a 2400 foot long grass strip in the foothills of New Hampshire's White Mountains.  It is the first turf-only airport I have ever visited with its own AWOS (automated weather observing system).  For an airport specifically noted in the Airport / Facility Directory as frequented by aircraft without radios, I found this to be a bit incongruous.  After all, if the airport is mostly used by NORDO airplanes, who's listening to the AWOS?

 

July 26, 2010:  Low level formation work with Darrell's Cessna on the ramp at Luray, VA.