22. Jan 2006: Cross Country to Nantucket Island.

"Oh, you're going to have a loooong flight", said the weather briefer at the Burlington Flight Service Station. I had called for a weather briefing and to file my flight plan from my home base of Bedford, Massachusetts to Burlington, Vermont. The anticipated three hour jaunt was to build up some cross country time and train on the use of the autopilot in my rented Cessna 172SP.

"Winds aloft 6000 feet are 320 degrees at 65 knots but they'll be dropping later on this morning." Great....... dead-on stiff headwind for the ride there and no guarantee of a nice push on the way back. Plus, turbulence over the White and Green Mountains was pretty much guaranteed with that much wind. Since I only had the plane and instructor for 4 hours, I decided to change destinations to something a little closer......hmm......never been to Nantucket!

So off to Hanscom Field to preflight the plane, always a fun experience when it's 20 degrees out with a nice stiff breeze. At least there is no need to de-ice this morning, no recent snow and too cold for frost. Josh, my CFI, arrived around 7:30 and suggested we file IFR for the first time. We filed direct KACK (that's Nantucket Airport by the way, not the sound made by Bill the Cat which would be Oop-Ack!) and headed out to the plane, N21693.

After starting the plane, setting up radios and instruments, I was ready to copy my first IFR clearance. Josh said it was inevitably going to come back "as filed" so there would be very little to actually copy. After contacting Hanscom Ground control, were cleared via the Marconi VOR, southeast of Provincetown on Cape Cod. A 40 mile stretch of open water over Cape Cod Bay, but we'd be tooling through Boston class bravo airspace!

We taxied to Runway 5, obtained our release and were cleared for takeoff. After a normal departure, I leaned the engine for our climb to 4,500 feet and contacted Boston approach expecting a right turn to a heading of 120 or 130 degrees to get us pointed to Marconi. Instead, we were told to turn left to 220. 3 minutes later it was left to 210 then left to 200......We were being vectored into an arc around the southern part of the class bravo airspace, almost in the same pattern I would have flown if we filed VFR. It really didn't matter, it was a beautiful, clear morning and the GPS was showing a 165 knot groundspeed.."Cessna 21693, Boston Approach, Proceed direct Nantucket VOR".. we were on our way.

We requested an instrument approach and were told to expect the GPS approach to runway 33. Cape Control vectored us south over Nantucket Sound and told to descend to 1,800 feet. Looking out of the window, all you see was water as far as the eye could see and whitecaps that looked close enough to touch. Descending into all of that blue was quite a memorable experience. Josh said that if we lost an engine, we'd have a long swim back to the island. I pointed out that we'd be dead in 3 minutes from hypothermia anyway......what a cheerful bunch we are!

After turning back to land, I intercepted the localizer and flew the approach. The wind was almost 90 degrees from the right at about 15 knots gusting to 25! Just into the flare I was caught by a gust and ballooned but a second flare and a little power made the landing work out. After being given our taxi instructions to the ramp, the tower decided to shift the pattern to runway 6.


We were the one of only three planes on the ramp. Quite a difference from the summer when the flight line extends all the way to the beach and you're taken to your plane on a golf cart ! Quick trip to the FBO for bathroom and a sampling of their free, rather chewy coffee.

After starting up, we received taxi instructions back to runway 33. The crosswind was still there so I took it personally that we weren't given runway 6. Despite the crosswind, takeoff was uneventful and we climber to 4,500 feet. This was my first time programming the Bendix/King KAP 140 autopilot. Quite a long cry from Otto the autopilot of "Airplane" fame. I programmed a flightplan to Martha's Vineyard, then Norwood airport and finally back to Bedford at 4,500 feet and engaged the autopilot.

The plane rolled to the west and started a direct track to Martha's Vineyard. It was slightly unnerving keeping my hands off the yoke and feet off of the rudder pedals as we reviewed different settings for the autopilot and how to disconnect it in an emergency. It did give me a chance to do a little sightseeing and picture taking.The course that I had set took us over Chapaquiddick Island (site of an old Kennedy family tragedy).

Looking down at the beach, the water was crystal clear; you could see the sandbars extending below the surface of the water.

Out of the left window, the view was of Gay Head and the cliffs on the southern side of the Vineyard. Beyond Gay Head, JFK Jr. crashed his Piper Saratoga one night in a more recent Kennedy family tragedy.
The plane continued flying until it was over Martha's Vineyard airport where the autopilot sensed it needed to make a right turn according to the flight plan I had programmed. It did so flawlessly and we crawled back toward Buzzards Bay at 75 knots grounspeed fighting a 60 knot headwind.

Our groundtrack took us right over Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and you could make out a white research vessel in the dock at the institute.

Out of the left window one could see Naushon island where Malcolm Forbes has a private residence. The rest of the island stretched out to the southwest. As we neared the mainland, I was shocked to have Boston approach control clear us into the class bravo airspace without asking. We could stay at 4,500 feet and descend at our discretion as we approached Bedford.

As we passed over Lakeville, you could pick out the cranberry bogs below, some of which supply Ocean Spray. Some were flooded and it must be beautiful to see them at harvest time with the bright red berries floating on the water.

Finally, the Boston skyline came into sight as we overflew Norwood airport and past just west of the Needham towers. As we descended through 3,000 feet, we finally picked up some light turbulence. Traffic was still light and we landed on runway 11 without any delay. What a nice trip and all in 2.6 hours of logged time.