Training Tip: Pitching a cross-country
When the aviation community rallied around an unpaved Maine airstrip threatened with closure to clear the way for an energy-generating project, pilots went to bat for the airport by executing a perfect game plan: They fired up their aircraft and flew in to show support.
Crowd-pleasing numbers showed up for the impromptu November fly-in. For other pilots, a similar opportunity may come on a date to be set in June, when the home team plans to celebrate the late-inning turnaround for Charles A. Chase Jr. Memorial Field in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. Not only is the airport no longer down to its last strike, but it has won new support from local officials with offers of some facility upgrades, said pilot Chris Arno in a presentation about the airport February 15 at the annual Maine Aviation Forum.
About sectional charts: If you last flew in Montreal Sectional airspace when the Expos were playing baseball in Montreal, take care not to get caught off base with obsolete information. (See those tall wind turbines west of the airport in the Condor 2 Military Operations Area? They weren’t even on deck when the last-place Expos played their final game up north and then reinvented themselves as the Washington Nationals, who know something about come-from-behind victories.)
Chase Memorial Airport’s airspace depiction has also evolved a bit since the Expos struck out for Washington, D.C., and don’t drop the ball by using the old common traffic advisory frequency.
When reviewing any airport’s chart supplement listing, note key details in the remarks section. Chase Memorial Airport’s remarks note that a roadway crosses Runway 27, 110 feet from the threshold, and there are runway line-of-sight limitations.
Mind the trees on approach—after all it is nicknamed “the Pine Tree State.”
Online airport imagery and Facebook pages are worth reviewing. Bolster your bullpen by noting nearby airports as weather options and for fuel resources.
Whether you expect to add a resilient airport to your lineup this summer or just need to plan a cross-country for training, pitching a new destination to fly to is a great way to transition from spring training into the regular (flying) season.
Dan Namowitz
