Tonight was a good flying evening, if out of the norm for me.
My wife is out of town and there's not much in the fridge, so as it was a beautiful evening for flying I figured I'd fly up to Hartford, CT for dinner, there's a nice restaurant on the field. HFD is a tower field and this would be only the third time I've landed at a tower field since I learned to fly in the 1970s... things are a bit different now, but I had no trouble. And they actually have a grass runway alongside the paved one, so naturally I used that.
After getting taxi instructions to the restaurant which shares the building with the FBO, Hartford Jet Service, I went inside, and the girl at the counter informed me that there was a $40 ramp fee, reduced to $20 if I was patronizing the restaurant. The remaining $20 would be waived if I bought gas, naturally at a higher price than any other airport around. Then the line guy piped up and said, "just buy 3 gallons", so that's what I did.
The catfish & chips dinner was excellent, the tower controllers were friendly even when I made a wrong turn while taxiing (I realized it before they said anything and asked them what I should do), and the beautiful calm evening made it a great day.
But this past weekend was more my kind of place... flew out to 76N in PA and stretched out my sleeping bag under the wing, no cost, didn't even have to ask... "I'm camping out under the wing." "Oh, cool, have a nice time." Walked 3/4 mile to a restaurant in town, cooked breakfast on the camp stove while still in my sleeping bag. Broken gas pump but they provided 100LL in 5 gallon jugs that they had available just in case somebody needed it.
My wife is out of town and there's not much in the fridge, so as it was a beautiful evening for flying I figured I'd fly up to Hartford, CT for dinner, there's a nice restaurant on the field. HFD is a tower field and this would be only the third time I've landed at a tower field since I learned to fly in the 1970s... things are a bit different now, but I had no trouble. And they actually have a grass runway alongside the paved one, so naturally I used that.
After getting taxi instructions to the restaurant which shares the building with the FBO, Hartford Jet Service, I went inside, and the girl at the counter informed me that there was a $40 ramp fee, reduced to $20 if I was patronizing the restaurant. The remaining $20 would be waived if I bought gas, naturally at a higher price than any other airport around. Then the line guy piped up and said, "just buy 3 gallons", so that's what I did.
The catfish & chips dinner was excellent, the tower controllers were friendly even when I made a wrong turn while taxiing (I realized it before they said anything and asked them what I should do), and the beautiful calm evening made it a great day.
But this past weekend was more my kind of place... flew out to 76N in PA and stretched out my sleeping bag under the wing, no cost, didn't even have to ask... "I'm camping out under the wing." "Oh, cool, have a nice time." Walked 3/4 mile to a restaurant in town, cooked breakfast on the camp stove while still in my sleeping bag. Broken gas pump but they provided 100LL in 5 gallon jugs that they had available just in case somebody needed it.
