To Block Island

Block Island is a small island, 12 miles by 4 miles, and about 15 miles off the coast of Newport, RI.

Decided to fly there with Ali on a wonderful sunny day. The plan was to get there, bike for a few hours on the coast, then head back.  Unfortunately the wind was gusting to 25 miles, making it a bit cold for biking, so we dropped our bike plan.

NSAC has a set of folding bikes that you can put in the back of the plane.  They will come in handy for future trips, when the weather is suitable for biking.

We were at Beverly airport at 9 AM, and up in the air with N172EF by 1030 AM. This was Ali's first cross country in a small plane so I could feel the nervousness.  But once we were on route, I could feel him getting more comfortable.

Flew through the Boston B airspace at 4500 feet, over Norwood (KOWD), Newport (KUUU) to  Block Island (KBID). I gained some height before crossing the channel at Point Judith.  I like to fly high over the ocean so I could get to dry land safely in case of an emergency.  The flight was about 50 minutes each way.

The views were magnificent as always.  The world looks much different from up there, and the pictures never do the justice.

My only concern when landing at Block Island was the gusting cross wind. It turned out to be a no factor since the wind was aligned with the active runway at the time of the landing, making it a very smooth touch down.

The Island was dead at this time of the year. Most businesses were closed.  We walked from the airport to the center of the town, found a place to eat, ate, then walked back.  However, this could turn out to be a great destination in summer.

We took off at Block Island at about 3 PM.  Gained some height over the ocean to be safe, then headed back.  Wanted to fly low over the Newport Mansions, but since I had climbed to 5500 feet to cross the ocean, decided to leave that plan to some other day.

On the way back, crossed the Boston B airspace direct to Beverly.  We got so close to Logan, that we could see jets taking off under us.

We landed at Beverly at about 4 PM, fueled the plane, tied it up, and headed back.  On the drive back home, I was lost in the beautiful memories of the day when someone honked and reminded me that I needed to concentrate on the road.

Ali did a good job helping me navigate.  He took some great pictures as well. The pictures in this page are courtesy of Muazzam Ali.

I was going to fly this Saturday, but the weather had other plans.  We were supposed to get a few inches of snow.  We got dusting instead. I could have flown to Martha's Vineyard.  But its better to respect the weather and be safe.