Day 8: Burlington – Boston

by MarkusPosted on Comments are Disabled

As the airline would take us home later that day, it was time to make our way back into the Boston area. After another morning run we went to the airport to get the TBM ready for a last flight of this adventure. As Boston Logan isnt very general aviation friendly and charges 600 USD for a landing, we chose the Lawrence Airfield right next to Boston as our final destination. The ride was short and smooth and with a last very windy landing we touched ground for the last time. A non-alcoholic beer right on the apron next to the field concluded this epic 8 days journey across the Atlantic.

In summary we flew 7 legs and more than 4000 miles across 6 countries within 8 days. We experienced Scotland, the amazing nature with its geysirs and waterfalls and endless widths of Iceland, the northern Lights and Icebergs and wonderful people in Greenland and the impressive coast line of Maine as well as the beautiful mountain area around Burlington. All worked as planned and the weather could not have been more perfect. We had blue skies in Iceland and Greenland which is anything else than a given in fall.

In Lawrence we said good bye to the TBM which will stay in the US for a while and took a taxi to Logan from where we would fly back to Europe. Packed with many exciting memories and some amazing photos. And already some ideas for a next trip.

Day 7: Portland – Burlington (Vermont) and some low clouds in the approach

by MarkusPosted on Comments are Disabled

Flying in the US is as simple as it gets. We spontaneously decided to follow the sun and add one more destination to our trip before heading back to Europe the day after. The choice was Burlington, Vermont. A very short 40 minutes hop from Portland. The flight planning was completed within minutes and the flight plan submitted and accepted. So drove back to the Portland Jetport, returned the car, walked to the General Aviation Terminal and got the TBM ready for another trip. The weather forecast for Burlington was good, however for our arrival some very low clouds have been reported. Burlington is embedded into some impressive mountains with high terrain. Flying here in low visibility is possible with instruments flying but not necessarily what one is looking for.

We started the engine and took off towards west and after a very short cruise started our decent into Burlington. The weather was clear all the way but low clouds were hanging directly over the airport. The approach here is impressive and leads across some high mountain peaks. We dove into the clouds and slided down the approach to break out of the clouds just a few hundred feet above the runway.

Greeted with a red carpet and very friendly personnell we got our lugage, had the FBO lady drive us to the rental car station and drove directly to the city. As the AirBnB wasnt ready that early we decided to make good use of our time and the beautiful weather and rent 3 bikes to cruise along the shores of Lake Champlain. A beatiful bike track along the shores, beaches through woods and across a long dam. We drove until the trail ended and stopped on one of the beautiful beaches on the way back

After returning the bikes we made our way through the city and to our house for the night. Burlington is a pretty city with a lot of historic buildings, a big university and a beautiful old town. Everything is clean and well maintained. There plenty of ski resorts around the city and it feels a little bit like central Europe or Switzerland. Definitely a recommendation for a short trip.