Early morning flight to Martha's Vineyard

Today's passenger was Richard Lodge who decided to share some air time for an early morning jaunt to the Vineyard for breakfast. We preflighted the aircraft and I gave Richard the nickel tour of he 172SP Skyhawk which we were to fly including the 13 fuel sump points. After strapping in, we contacted clearance delivery to obtain an IFR clearance to KMVY via radar vectors using the Hanscom Six departure procedure. Winds were calm as we taxied to runway 29 and did a run-up. We were #1 for takeoff and before long were airborne and switching over to Boston Approach who cleared us direct to KMVY.

The morning was pretty nice with fairly low humidity providing good visibility of the Cape and islands as we passed by Norwood airport and headed south over the many cranberry bogs of southeastern Massachusetts. We crossed Buzzards Bay over Mattapoisett and were given permission by Cape approach to descent to 1,500 feet at pilot's discretion. Normally, I keep altitude until almost over Martha's Vineyard but since there was no turbulence even at the lower altitudes I decided to descend early. This way we were at 1,500 feet before crossing Wood's hole giving some spectacular views of the town and the islands.

Cape Approach cleared us for the visual before long and after a frequency change to Vineyard tower, we were instructed to report right base over the sandpit. After entering base and turning final, we dropped full flaps and made a smooth landing, taxiing up to the transient ramp in front of the restaurant.

Even with the light air traffic, we grabbed the one open table at the Plane View and grabbed some breakfast as the waiting line slowly started to form. On the way out, we stopped by a WWII Navy aircraft that looked like a Lockheed Electra which was parked on the ramp. After climbing in and starting the engine, a quick call to clerance gave us an immediate response.

The route back was via FREDO intersection which put us on the western edge of the Otis Air NG base. We crossed the Cape Cod canal over the Bourne Bridge and headed out over Plymouth harbor before being handed off to Boston Approach. As we approached FREDO, I noticed a NAV flag on the HSI and informed approach that we lost GPS navigation ability. They promptly gave us radar vectors around the western edge of the Boston class bravo airspace. We turned east to enter the left downwind fo runway 29 at Bedford and made a trouble free approach and smooth landing.