Hi! New member here from the DC area. Currently flying full time as a police helo pilot but anytime I can get away from work, kids and life i'm flying my newly acquired highly modded PA-12.

Are there any folks from the forum here on the East Coast? Better yet anyone know of any good places to go exploring in the Mid Atlantic. Not as lucky as all you guys to live in such senic beautiful places!

pathfinderheli wrote:Hi! New member here from the DC area. Currently flying full time as a police helo pilot but anytime I can get away from work, kids and life i'm flying my newly acquired highly modded PA-12.

Are there any folks from the forum here on the East Coast? Better yet anyone know of any good places to go exploring in the Mid Atlantic. Not as lucky as all you guys to live in such senic beautiful places!

Pathfinder,

I live in Southeast Ohio, but I work near Allentown, PA. I am based out of P91 (The Flying M Aerodrome) most of the time. Feel free to PM or email me and we can hook up and do some flying. I am currently planeless, but that is fixin to change.

There are quite a few East Coasters on the forum. I recently connected with Milford Sound who is very close to me and he flies a Maule M5-210. Farmaule is very close to DC (West Virginia Eastern Panhandle) and he flies an M4-220. We have a few more up in NY that I have spoken to (Fshaw and Pburns) but we have not connected quite yet.

Get ahold of me anytime. Hope to have a 180 in the hangar by June at the latest (maybe sooner).

[email protected]

Welcome! I lived in southern md last year but now we're down I northern al. If you're ever flying south and want to link up let me know!

Welcome! I have a son in Charlottesville, Virginia. I get there once a year. Early June this year.

Better yet anyone know of any good places to go exploring in the Mid Atlantic.

I have some friends that fly a 182RG out of W75 south of you. Very good German food across the road from the airport. They seem to fly over to Tangier Island and Crisfield quite a bit. They also flew down to Smith Mountain Lake and stayed at Bedford Landings Bed and Breakfast. That looked pretty cool and the people that own BL have a 170 Cessna and a Pietenpol I think. Check it out on Facebook. There's also a guy that asked a few questions on this forum awhile back at Ophelia. That is on the Northern Neck southeast of you. I think he had a PA 12 and a Cessna 180 on a private strip.

I forgot about BCP member Cliff. He is south of me I think south of Harrisburg PA.

I have done a bit of exploring around eastern PA but have not done enough to know all the good spots. I enjoyed flying up near Lock Haven and then up the "Grand Canyon of the East". Pretty country.

Milford Sound showed me some fun places, but I would have to get back up in the air to find most of them.

You are welcome to visit me at Circle W Airport (PA72) in East Berlin PA. 2700 ft grass with trees at both ends. I have a 180 , L-16, and am finishing a Kolb ultralight this summer some time. There are a bunch of private strips in my area, but no backcountry ,Off airport flying that I know of. If you landed off airport in my area it would be on the 6 o'clock news with video of you being escorted, in hand cuffs, to a police cruiser.

I usually have some cool projects in my body shop (hangar). Right now we are assembling a 1970 Mustang Mach 1 after a fresh paintjob, bodyworking and painting a 1928 ford roadster pick up, Custom painting several motorcycles, and painting some champ wings and tailfeathers. Next week we will be starting the bodywork on a Cheetah replica sports car. I always have a beater car here if you want to run into town and get a bite to eat.

I left Manassas, VA a little over a year ago for the Pacific Northwest. I don't miss the traffic or the humid summers at all. There were a couple of back country pilots I flew with in the Martinsburg area. One flew a Supercub out of KMRB, and the other has a Maule on a private strip nearby. I tried setting up a regional group on this website when I lived there and had some success connecting to other pilots through it. Most folks I met just flying around. There isn't much real back country there, but there are some magnificent grass strips. Lots of places to play with your Piper.

Pathfinder

My first glimpse of the title of your post had me grab my desk to keep me from grabbing my chair and doing a Split S and head or the deck. Hard for an old Organic - Analog pilot to perceive that a private pilot could fly within two states of DC without gettin' shot down. Figured you were either a LOT smarter and trained, enough brain to know how and where to duck, or just .lucky and not too bright,

After getting my chair right side up I managed to read the second sentence, Oh Well, looks like Just another emotional jumping to another concussion on my hair trigger fear of complicated air space.

I used to help a ground school instructor (in hia late 70s) - Nasa eng.and faltering test pilot, He described the DC area as a suicidal, death threat air space.

I will take a early morning dark canyon on the Middle Fork running fifty to 100 feet of the trees knowing where most of the old stags stand out in a ghostly lighter color. The "Snag Zone" than to ever fly in controlled airspace with so may "Mother May Is" I have only flown solo through a Class C at Boise once. Worked myself into a fit with learning and noting all the frequency changes on a Thursday mid-day - Lucked out - only one person in the tower and he used the same frequencies for ALL operations

Either way Welcome "home"

PA-12 was my favorite plane for years but every one I looked at had hard poly-xxx paint and I wanted the old Butyrate Dope for easy patches.

How many and which mods do you have> Took serious look at a yellow one in McCall but the shop manager friend told me,:"No! It had soo many mods that,as he put it, it was over gross with no fuel.

Take Care Trim

Thanks for all the replies! Sounds like there are some great folks on this board. I fly up to 2G4 (Garrett County / Deep Creek lake) as my dad has a hanger up there. I know a few guys up there that have small private grass strips that I'm hoping to get some practice on here in the summer months...

Trust me, if I didn't have to fly in the DC area I wouldn't! But my job is pretty cool and it almost pays all the bills...

I'll post some PA12 pics... It was rebuilt in 2007. PA18 Elevator / Tail, Extended gear, larger tires (not bushwheels...), Seaplane doors both sides, VG's, and a bunch of other stuff. Nice performing plane from what I can tell in my limited tail wheel knowledge.

Looking forward to being a part of the forum!

I'm just SW of Martinsburg and open for business PM me your info and maybe we can get together sometime. Just mowed today

Beautiful Farmaule

I realise you guys all talking about the DC area but are there any within reasonable distance of NYC? Will be taking a vacation there first week of May with the Mrs and would love to see a great little grass strip out of the city. Might get to meet a fellow Maule driver, from the Maule group.

Hell, will even pay for the beers!!

44N is a nice spot to stop into. Paved, but good burgers.

Aeroflex-Andover (12N) might be a place to consider west of the city in New Jersey.