By Juergen Nies
The weather was severe clear, but a little cool for the end of March. John Ely in his RV-7A and Bob Metcalfe in his Panther Sport departed from Front Royal and Juergen Nies in his Pacer departed from Winchester to fly to Altoona for lunch. It was quite bumpy below 4,700 feet, but very smooth above. However. at that altitude we found a stiff headwind of 35 knots right on the nose. Nevertheless, even with the headwind the trip was under one hour in the Pacer and still much shorted for John and Bob in their much faster airplanes.
The food at the Mexican restaurant was (as usual) very good. Sorry, we were so busy hangar talking and eating we forgot to take pictures in the restaurant. This will definitely be a lunch flyout spot for future flyouts.
The flight home was pretty much a carbon copy of the flight going there. Clear skies, bumpy down low and smooth at 7,500 feet going home. Except now we had a tailwind. John and Bob reported groundspeeds in excess of 180 knots while the Pace clocked in at 130 knots at times.
We hope to see more of you at future flyouts.
A regional Jet leaving Altoona.
John Ely arriving.
Bob Metcalfe arriving
The three participating airplanes on the ramp. Ready for some Mexican food.