It was the best of times ...
The guys at work arranged for my last trip in the Global Express to be a special one and the fellows at Farmingdale Airport operations went along with it ... the crash trucks positioned themselves on either side of the taxiway and hosed us down as we left the ramp for the last time ...
There again the guys at Arrindell Aviation were just terrific ... they set us up with some really nice hotel rooms right on the Caribbean ... Frank Arrindell flew in especially for the occasion and they gave me a nice plaque to hang on the wall (and a nice bottle of brandy, too)! I'm going to miss Frank and Henke and Roy and all the great guys at Arrindell.
And just like that, my jet career was history. My only regret: I couldn't buy a decent landing.
So I packed up my kit bag and said goodbye to the gang at Bayport Aerodrome ... that's a picture of my old Cub that belongs now to 7 of the guys and Bob's Stearman ... Bayport will always be a fondly held memory.
The Big Day came and Champ was ready to go ... Stu took me to the airport and we hung around together while a sea fog dissipated along the south shore of Long Island ... when it cleared enough to take a look, Stu and the Cub flew with me as far as the Captree Lighthouse and left Champ and me to go the rest of the way on our own.
This is the route that I chose using AOPA/Jeppesen. I decided to use 1.5 hours as my leg lengths for my own comfort and to get to know the airplane on a long trip.
We just missed being able to do the whole trip in one day. The sea fog delay made us run out of daylight 30 miles from the new home base.
And here it is: The Western North Carolina Air Museum at Hendersonville NC (0A7)
More to come.
