Trip to Wiscasset, Maine

[Rich]

We took our first trip to Maine (June 22-25).

The flight there was beautiful and for the last 20 minutes we were between scattered cloud layers. We landed at KIWI to a really nice reception by the airport manager. The trip took 2:25 compared to an 8 hour drive. Not included in the 2:25 was the 45 minute trip to the airport and .5 hour pre-flight, so, I guess the trip total was 3:40 if you add that in.

 

We visited with friends who took us on a 2.5 day tour of the area. The Bath shipyards and Booth Bay Harbor was the highlight of the trip.

All the towns we visited were spotless and the people very friendly.

 

I'll include a few pictures at the end of the post. Click to enlarge to view the cloud formations hugging the islands.

 

The trip back was good but mostly overcast at 6K MSL. We had to divert south down the Hudson River, near Columbia Co. and Kingston, NY due to low visibility in rain showers. The 15 minute diversion got us to better visibility so we continued north west to PA and N30 where the plane is hangared. The flight back took 2:50.

 

Flight watch and ATC were very helpful with the wx along our route as well as ATC providing a timely PIREP from an aircraft that had just flown through the wx aloung our return route.

 

My 796 froze and would not function so I could not see the wx like I did on my last trip to Florida.

I had a back up GPS (without wx or traffic readout) and my wife had our location always pin-pointed on the sectional. She did a fantastic job.

(Usually she reads a book on her Kindle.)

 

So, it's good to have redundency.

Flight plan, flight following, Primary GPS, back up GPS and a current sectional.